Partner POV | Visibility is Key to Optimizing Experiences

Article written by Jeff Aaron, GVP of Product Marketing, Juniper Networks. 

To properly manage the complexities of the modern enterprise network and deliver the user experiences necessary to digitally transform business operations, it's critical that IT teams have the ability to understand the experience of every client on the network in real-time. Simply seeing data about network performance, what devices and equipment are connecting to it and how employees are using it is not enough. Real-time visibility from client to access point, across the WAN and to the cloud is key to improving management and measuring performance – and most importantly, optimizing user experiences.

Imagine this: In a remote office, there are trouble-tickets reporting decreased performance from some of the employees. Without visibility into the user experience, a network technician would have to make a site visit and test various issues during the day, perhaps for several days, to narrow down the cause. With client-level visibility, that same technician could review user and device data, ideally collected in an automated fashion, and see that the performance dips were happening weekly in conjunction with an executive team meeting held in the conference room on that side of the office. The access point was being overloaded, resulting in reduced performance for all. This is an easy fix and doesn't require scheduling a truck roll and having to trial-and-error your way to a conclusion.

With real-time insights on their side, network teams can move more swiftly than ever before to rectify a problem – often before an employee even notices that there's an issue. The larger impact is that the troubleshooting and repair processes are changed from reactive to proactive, giving back control to the network management teams and helping to ensure a positive experience for all employees.

More than Meets the Eye with Mist AI

With unprecedented visibility into user experience, Juniper Networks' Mist AI makes networking predictable, reliable and measurable.

Mist built the first AI-driven wireless platform nearly a decade ago to optimize user experience and simplify operations, and for the past three years, has been recognized as the unequivocal industry leader. Mist AI gives network teams the deep visibility to easily see any issues across the full stack of wired, wireless and SD-WAN without having to jump between several interfaces or programs to do so.

Figure 1: Juniper Mist AI delivers client-level visibility in real-time with Service Level Expectations (SLEs)

And Mist isn't limited to network visibility. With the convergence of Wi-Fi and Juniper-patented virtual Bluetooth® (vBLE) technology to deliver indoor location services, visibility extends into business operations to locate assets, gain workflow insights and accelerate digital transformation.

While real-time, client-level visibility is a game-changer for network teams, there is much more to Mist AI than visibility improvements. We're talking about, of course, the application of AI-driven tools and technologies that can make the entire network management process even more efficient and effective.

Embracing proven AI within the network management process brings forth a spectrum of additional benefits. AI aids a network team in swiftly identifying problems and diagnosing potential causes. Moreover, AI uses visibility to accelerate the resolution process. It effortlessly identifies issues like Wi-Fi signal degradation in an office space and makes proactive recommendations to remediate the issue. AI steps in seamlessly and takes visibility to the next level, ensuring swift resolution and an enhanced user experience.

Mundane issues like problematic cables seldom top the list in manual troubleshooting. Without real-time visibility and the AI-driven tools to make it effective, an organization could waste valuable time and resources, burdening a key employee, in manually uncovering and solving such an issue.

Changing the Paradigm

The future of network and organizational success lies in the hands of those who prioritize positive end-user experiences. It's a paradigm shift that embraces the philosophy of delivering optimal functionality, seamless operations, and unparalleled user satisfaction to promote continued digital transformation. The journey to achieve this transformation necessitates investing in the right tools, empowering network managers, embracing AI and focusing on what truly matters: ensuring networks work flawlessly to enable employees to perform at their best, without interruption.

With Mist AI, operators save time and money with faster problem resolution and fewer onsite visits. Network teams benefit from incorporating real-time visibility, empowering them to shift from reactively addressing network issues to a more proactive approach. Connecting that visibility with AI takes the guesswork out of troubleshooting a problem and even makes it easier to mitigate and solve any issues quickly and efficiently – resulting in fewer Wi-Fi trouble tickets for IT admins. And finally, integrating all of this with highly accurate and industry-leading indoor location services enables organizations to achieve greater ROI, better user engagements and higher efficiencies throughout the business. It's easy to see the impact of Mist AI on any enterprise network.