Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often touted as a game-changer for the IT industry, promising to improve network management by identifying problems in real-time and enhancing network performance. However, before embracing AI as a magic bullet solution, IT network managers must understand the technology’s practical implications and distinguish its hype from reality.
As modern networks become increasingly complex with device proliferation rising at an unprecedented rate, AI presents an opportunity for IT departments to navigate a path out of these difficulties. By enabling more efficient and quicker remediation of problems, AI considerably reduces network downtime, improves network performance, and drives down IT costs.
AI incorporation into networking solutions, for example, can aid IT departments by taking a snapshot of the entire system and running the data through a specialised engine that learns from issues faced by other customer networks. Such a tool ensures the problem is never repeated, saving time for other organisations.
Moreover, AI can parse huge amounts of output from client telemetry generated within network infrastructures, providing key insights to support essential IT decisions. Previously, IT experts were often the only ones capable of extracting necessary data, but AI tools offer an efficient and cost-effective alternative.
While AI has many advantages, it is important to consider certain factors before implementation, including the business problem that needs addressing, available budget, and whether the tool is effective and reliable. Implementing AI for mundane tasks such as network patches is not feasible.
Although it is a temptation to embrace AI to automate everything, IT managers must focus on the key issues and select tools that improve or help solve their specific problems. AI transformation takes time, and IT managers need to plan accordingly, prioritising proven effectiveness over hype. By following a step-by-step journey, IT managers will benefit from increased automation and efficient network management that constantly improves.
