Network management not a priority?

Kcom claims customers are ignoring networking issues at their peril

Network performance too often remains unoptimised, according to Kcom

Fifty-eight per cent of respondents in a poll of 235 organisations had not optimised their network, with 66 per cent admitting they experience poor performance at certain times of the day.

According to comms integrator Kcom, which sponsored the April survey of organisations with 250 or more staff, network management is often overlooked in IT planning, reducing the benefits that innovative IT can deliver.

Paul Renucci, group executive director at Kcom, claimed the poll results suggest that improvement is needed.

“While IT has an unprecedented opportunity to deliver true value to the business in this period of economy recovery, best-laid plans for new processes and applications ultimately rely on a sound network foundation,” Renucci added.

Employee activity could also be affected, he suggested.

The survey also found that 40 per cent of respondents did not consider the network when introducing new applications, and only 48 per cent of company boards were aware of their decisions’ effect on the IT network.

Of the 235 companies surveyed, 92 per cent said they believed their network bandwidth requirements would rise over the next five years.