Terms

Network Monitoring

Network monitoring is the process of using specialized tools to continuously observe a computer network and its components—like routers, switches, and servers—to ensure it is running optimally. This practice allows administrators to track key performance metrics, proactively identify potential issues such as traffic bottlenecks, and resolve them before they cause downtime. By maintaining constant visibility into network health, organizations can ensure the reliability of their critical services.

Key Tools and Technologies

Network monitoring relies on protocols like SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) to gather data from network devices. Specialized software then analyzes this information, tracking metrics like bandwidth usage, latency, and packet loss. These tools often present data through centralized dashboards for real-time visibility.

Beyond data collection, these systems provide crucial features like automated alerting to notify administrators of issues. They also generate reports for trend analysis and capacity planning. This allows teams to proactively manage network health and prevent potential outages.

Best Practices

To maximize the effectiveness of network monitoring, organizations should follow established best practices. This approach ensures comprehensive visibility and helps maintain network stability and performance. Key strategies include:

  • Baseline: Establish normal performance metrics to easily spot deviations.
  • Prioritize: Focus monitoring efforts on critical infrastructure and applications.
  • Automate: Implement automated alerts for proactive issue resolution.
  • Review: Regularly analyze performance data for capacity planning and optimization.

Network Monitoring vs. Network Management

While often used interchangeably, network monitoring and network management serve distinct but related functions in maintaining network health.

  • Monitoring: This focuses on observing network performance, providing real-time visibility to detect issues and send alerts. It's ideal for organizations of any size needing to proactively identify problems like bottlenecks or outages. However, it is a passive process, primarily providing data rather than direct solutions.
  • Management: This is a broader discipline that includes monitoring but also adds active control, such as configuration, troubleshooting, and optimization. Enterprises and growing mid-market companies prefer it for end-to-end control over complex infrastructures, enabling automation and proactive maintenance, though it requires more resources.

Common Challenges

Organizations often encounter several key challenges when implementing network monitoring.

  • Scalability: Handling data from ever-expanding network infrastructures.
  • Complexity: Gaining visibility across diverse hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
  • Alerts: Managing the high volume of notifications to avoid alert fatigue.

Future Trends

The future of network monitoring is moving toward AIOps, leveraging artificial intelligence to predict failures and automate root cause analysis. There is also a growing emphasis on observability for deeper insights into complex, distributed systems. This evolution will enable more proactive management and self-healing networks, reducing downtime and improving overall performance.

Frequently Asked Questions about Network Monitoring

How does network monitoring differ from APM?

Network monitoring tracks infrastructure health like traffic and device status. In contrast, Application Performance Monitoring (APM) focuses on application-level metrics and user experience. The two are complementary, providing a complete view of service delivery.

Is network monitoring still relevant in the cloud?

Absolutely. While cloud providers manage their infrastructure, you are responsible for monitoring traffic, performance, and connectivity between your cloud resources and users. It provides essential visibility into your specific cloud or hybrid environment.

Can network monitoring improve security?

Yes. By detecting unusual traffic patterns or unauthorized device access, network monitoring can serve as an early warning system for security threats like malware or breaches, complementing dedicated security tools with foundational visibility.

Other terms

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Bounce Rate

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Bounce Rate

Request for Proposal

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a formal document that outlines a project's needs and invites qualified vendors to submit bids to complete it.

Request for Proposal

Marketing Automation Platform

A marketing automation platform is software that automates marketing actions. It helps manage tasks like email campaigns and lead nurturing.

Marketing Automation Platform

Social Selling

Social selling is the art of using social media to find, connect with, build relationships with, and nurture sales prospects.

Social Selling

Decision Buying Stage

The decision stage is where a well-researched buyer chooses a vendor. They compare specific products and pricing before making their final purchase.

Decision Buying Stage

Direct Mail

Direct mail is a marketing method where businesses send physical promotional materials directly to potential customers' mailboxes.

Direct Mail

Total Audience Measurement

Total Audience Measurement (TAM) provides a holistic view of content consumption, tracking viewership across all platforms and devices.

Total Audience Measurement

Enterprise Resource Planning

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a system of integrated software that businesses use to manage and automate their core day-to-day processes.

Enterprise Resource Planning

No Cold Calls

No Cold Calls is a sales strategy that replaces unsolicited calls with warm outreach to prospects who have already demonstrated interest.

No Cold Calls

Product-Led Growth

Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a business strategy where the product itself drives user acquisition, conversion, and expansion.

Product-Led Growth

Hybrid Sales Model

A hybrid sales model blends traditional and digital sales methods to engage customers across multiple channels and buying preferences.

Hybrid Sales Model

Service Level Agreement

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract defining the level of service between a provider and a client, including metrics and penalties.

Service Level Agreement

Mobile Compatibility

Mobile compatibility ensures your site or app works flawlessly on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, for a seamless user experience.

Mobile Compatibility

Robotic Process Automation

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) uses software bots to mimic human actions and automate repetitive, rules-based tasks on digital systems.

Robotic Process Automation

Overcoming Objections

Overcoming objections is the process of addressing and resolving a prospect's concerns or hesitations to move a sale forward.

Overcoming Objections

Sales Process

A sales process is a structured set of steps that a sales team follows to move a prospect from an initial lead to a closed customer.

Sales Process

Sales Engineer

Sales Engineers blend deep technical knowledge with sales acumen, demonstrating a product's value and solving customer problems to drive revenue.

Sales Engineer

Account-Based Marketing Software

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) software helps teams coordinate personalized marketing and sales efforts to land high-value customer accounts.

Account-Based Marketing Software

Inside Sales

Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.

Inside Sales

Competitive Landscape

A competitive landscape is an analysis of your direct and indirect competitors, revealing their strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning.

Competitive Landscape

Persona-Based Marketing

Persona-based marketing uses fictional customer profiles, or personas, to create targeted messaging for specific audience segments.

Persona-Based Marketing

Lead Response Time

Lead response time is the duration between a potential customer showing interest and your team's first point of contact with them.

Lead Response Time

Content Curation

Content curation involves gathering, organizing, and sharing the most relevant online content on a specific topic for a particular audience.

Content Curation

Sales Pipeline Velocity Formula

The sales pipeline velocity formula is a key metric that measures how quickly deals move through your pipeline and turn into revenue.

Sales Pipeline Velocity Formula

Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing is a strategy where businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands and other factors.

Dynamic Pricing

Lead List

A lead list is a curated database of potential customers (leads) with contact information and other key data for sales and marketing outreach.

Lead List

Pain Point

A pain point is a specific, recurring problem your target customers face, causing them frustration, inefficiency, or added costs.

Pain Point

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired goal, like a purchase or sign-up, out of the total number of visitors.

Conversion Rate

Closed Question

A closed question is a type of query that elicits a simple, often one-word answer like 'yes' or 'no,' or a specific, factual response.

Closed Question

Triggered Email

A triggered email is an automated message sent to a user in response to a specific action or event, like signing up or making a purchase.

Triggered Email

Ideal Customer Profile

An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a detailed description of the perfect, hypothetical company that would get the most value from your product.

Ideal Customer Profile

Trade Shows

Trade shows are events where companies in a specific industry showcase their latest products and services to find new customers and partners.

Trade Shows

Sales Compensation

Sales compensation is the total pay a salesperson receives, including salary, commissions, and bonuses, structured to motivate performance.

Sales Compensation

SAM

Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.

SAM

Dynamic Territories

Dynamic territories are fluid sales assignments that adjust based on real-time data, ensuring reps can focus on the highest-value accounts.

Dynamic Territories

AI Sales Script Generator

An AI sales script generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to create personalized sales scripts for any outreach scenario.

AI Sales Script Generator

Data Security

Data security protects digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.

Data Security

No Spam

“No Spam” is a commitment to sending only relevant, solicited messages. It means avoiding bulk, unwanted emails to respect the recipient's inbox.

No Spam

B2B Sales Process

Learn about B2B sales process, including key components of B2B sales processes, & crafting an effective B2B sales strategy.

B2B Sales Process

Integration Testing

Integration testing is a software testing phase where individual modules are combined and tested together to verify their interaction.

Integration Testing

Time on Site

Time on site, or session duration, is a key web metric that tracks the total time a visitor spends on your website during a single visit.

Time on Site

Demand Capture

Demand capture is the strategy of engaging potential customers who are already actively looking for a solution that your company provides.

Demand Capture

HTTP Requests

An HTTP request is a message sent by a client, like a web browser, to a server to ask for a resource, such as a web page or an image.

HTTP Requests

Referral Marketing

Referral marketing is a strategy that incentivizes existing customers to recommend a company's products or services to their personal network.

Referral Marketing

Sales Lead

A sales lead is a potential customer—an individual or organization that has shown interest in your company's products or services.

Sales Lead

Business Intelligence In Marketing

Learn about business intelligence in marketing, including the role of data in marketing BI, key components of marketing BI, & marketing BI vs. market research.

Business Intelligence In Marketing

Forecasting

Forecasting uses historical data to make informed predictions about future trends, helping businesses anticipate outcomes and plan accordingly.

Forecasting

Lead Management

Lead management is the process of capturing, nurturing, and qualifying leads to guide them from initial interest to sales-ready.

Lead Management

Marketing Operations

Marketing Operations (MOps) is the engine of a marketing team, managing the technology, processes, and people to run campaigns effectively.

Marketing Operations

Contact Data

Contact data is the set of details, like names, emails, and phone numbers, used to get in touch with a person or business for outreach.

Contact Data

Account Development Representative

An Account Development Representative (ADR) identifies and qualifies new business opportunities, creating a pipeline for account executives.

Account Development Representative

Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB)

Zero-based budgeting (ZBB) is a method where all expenses are re-evaluated and must be justified from scratch for each new budget period.

Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB)

Siloed

Siloed describes the isolation of data, teams, or systems within a company, which blocks collaboration and creates operational bottlenecks.

Siloed

Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

A Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is a concise statement that clearly communicates the unique benefit a customer gets from your product or service.

Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Early Adopter

An early adopter is a user who embraces a new product or technology before the majority, helping to validate and popularize the innovation.

Early Adopter

Branded Keywords

Learn about branded keywords, including identifying your branded keywords, & strategies for optimizing branded keywords.

Branded Keywords

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.

Accounts Payable

Product Champion

A product champion is an internal evangelist who drives a product's adoption and success by ensuring it solves real problems for their team.

Product Champion

Sales Operations Analytics

Sales operations analytics is the practice of analyzing sales data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire sales process.

Sales Operations Analytics

Order Management

Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Order Management

Account-Based Everything

Account-Based Everything (ABE) is a strategy aligning sales, marketing, and success teams to focus on a specific set of high-value accounts.

Account-Based Everything

Cloud-based CRM

A cloud-based CRM is a customer relationship management tool hosted online, letting teams access and manage customer data from anywhere.

Cloud-based CRM

De-dupe

De-duping, or data deduplication, is the process of eliminating duplicate copies of data within a dataset to improve accuracy and save space.

De-dupe

Sales Conversion Rate

Sales conversion rate is the percentage of prospects who take a desired action, like making a purchase, turning them into customers.

Sales Conversion Rate

Value Gap

A value gap is the difference between the value a customer expects from a product and the actual value they receive, often leading to churn.

Value Gap

Serviceable Obtainable Market

Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) is the portion of the market you can realistically capture with your current resources, sales, and marketing.

Serviceable Obtainable Market

Buying Signal

A buying signal is any action from a prospect that indicates they are interested in making a purchase, helping sales teams prioritize leads.

Buying Signal

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment an employee has to their organization, motivating them to contribute to the company's success.

Employee Engagement

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting computer systems, networks, and data from digital attacks, theft, and unauthorized access.

Cybersecurity

Real-time Data

Real-time data is information processed and made available almost instantaneously, enabling immediate analysis and decision-making.

Real-time Data

Sales Training

Sales training is the process of honing a salesperson's skills and knowledge to enhance their effectiveness and drive sales success.

Sales Training

Git

Git is a distributed version control system that tracks changes in code, allowing developers to collaborate and manage project history effectively.

Git

Forward Revenue

Forward revenue is the total value of all active, committed contracts that are expected to be recognized as revenue in the future.

Forward Revenue

Target Buying Stage

The Target Buying Stage identifies a prospect's position in the buying journey, from initial awareness to the final decision to purchase.

Target Buying Stage

Demand

Demand is the economic principle describing a consumer's desire and willingness to purchase a specific good or service at a particular price.

Demand

Net Promoter Score

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric measuring customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your company or product to others.

Net Promoter Score

Omnichannel Marketing

Omnichannel marketing creates a seamless, unified customer experience by integrating a company's various communication and sales channels.

Omnichannel Marketing

Payment Gateways

A payment gateway is a service that authorizes and processes payments for businesses, acting as a secure link between the customer and the merchant.

Payment Gateways

Demand Generation

Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.

Demand Generation

Electronic Signatures

An electronic signature is a digital method for getting consent on electronic documents. It's a legally binding way to sign agreements online.

Electronic Signatures

Firmographics

Firmographics are descriptive attributes of organizations, used to segment companies by characteristics like industry, size, and location.

Firmographics

Target Account List

A Target Account List (TAL) is a focused list of high-value companies that a business specifically aims to convert into customers.

Target Account List

Data-Driven Marketing

Data-driven marketing uses customer data to inform marketing decisions, optimize campaigns, and deliver personalized experiences to consumers.

Data-Driven Marketing

Marketing Performance

Marketing performance is the process of measuring a campaign's effectiveness against set goals using key metrics like ROI and conversion rates.

Marketing Performance

Loss Aversion

Loss aversion is our tendency to feel the sting of a loss more acutely than the pleasure of an equivalent gain.

Loss Aversion

Webhooks

Webhooks are automated messages sent by an app when a specific event occurs. They push real-time data to another app's unique URL.

Webhooks

Programmatic Display Campaign

Programmatic display campaigns use automation to buy and sell digital ad space in real-time, targeting specific audiences across the web.

Programmatic Display Campaign

Hot Leads

Hot leads are prospective customers who have shown significant interest and are ready to buy, making them a top priority for sales teams.

Hot Leads

Custom Metadata Types

Custom Metadata Types store application configurations as metadata. This makes them easily deployable between different Salesforce environments.

Custom Metadata Types

Personalization

Personalization is the practice of using data to tailor products, services, or content to an individual's specific needs and preferences.

Personalization

BANT Framework

Learn about BANT framework, including implementing BANT in sales strategy, advantages of the BANT methodology, & BANT vs. other qualification models.

BANT Framework

C-Level or C-Suite

The C-suite, or C-level, refers to a company's most senior executives. Their titles usually start with 'Chief,' such as CEO, CFO, or CTO.

C-Level or C-Suite

Consumer

A consumer is an individual or entity that buys products or services for personal use, not for resale. They are the final user in a supply chain.

Consumer

B2B Marketing Attribution

Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.

B2B Marketing Attribution

Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is a model illustrating the customer's journey from initial awareness to the final purchase, narrowing down leads at each stage.

Sales Funnel

CRM Enrichment

CRM enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to make them more complete and accurate.

CRM Enrichment

Inventory Management

Inventory management is the process of ordering, storing, and using a company's inventory, from raw materials to finished goods.

Inventory Management

Lead Generation Tactics

Lead generation tactics are the strategies and methods used to attract potential customers and convert them into leads for your sales team.

Lead Generation Tactics

B2B Sales Channels

Learn about B2B sales channels, including types of B2B sales channels, strategies for effective channel selection, & integrating technology in B2B sales.

B2B Sales Channels

Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs are marketing strategies designed to reward repeat customers. They offer incentives like discounts or exclusive access to encourage retention.

Loyalty Programs