Top 5 performance factors you should take into consideration

Since we are gearing up to start the new school year, seems like a better time than ever to do a performance check-up. It is always a good habit to consistently reevaluate the tools you are using to optimize your network and Internet presence. You can think of these evaluations like regular check-ups of your company’s online footprint. While these checkups may be common practice, we have found that the majority of admins aren’t asking the right questions. Most admins get stuck on evaluating the costliness of the tools and services they use. While pricing is a major factor, it isn’t the only one. Instead, you should consider the practicality of each tool you use and determine what performance gains each service is offering. The engineers at Constellix have compiled a list of the top 5 performance factors you should be looking for in your services. These factors have been proven to establish and maintain lasting Internet performance gains. Keep in mind that these 5 factors need to be applied to all of your performance management campaigns, such as:

• Front-end and back-end optimization
• Network performance
• Application performance
• Traffic management (DNS)

#1 Efficiency

Are you decreasing the number of resources you need to use to complete a task? Keep in mind that resources can range anywhere from money spent to time and labor. Are you spending more time trying to learn how to use a new product than actually using it?

#2 Intelligence

Are your tools helping you identify what parts of your network need improvement? This could be real-time monitoring or analytics. Or even better, does the tool tell you how to fix the problem?

#3 Automation

Let's dig even deeper into Intelligence... are your tools able to identify performance impacting issues and then automatically fix them for you? Or, can your tools identify specific trends and patterns and use them to anticipate problems? The future of performance management lies with integrated automation. This technology could potentially stop end-users from ever experiencing the negative effects of certain network issues.

#4 Reliability

Your number one priority should always be ensuring availability of your company's website and online assets. But do you have the tools to accurately monitor uptime? But more importantly, can you use these tools to identify vulnerabilities that could jeopardize your availability?

#5 ROI

Last but not least, are you seeing performance gains that outweigh the costs of services? When determining the cost for services, you must also consider time and labor spent installing/learning/configuring said service.

After you have considered all of the above factors, you should begin to have a pretty good picture of what your business' online performance looks like. If you are "slacking" in some areas, maybe you should reconsider the services you are using, in favor of an ITOS solution. To learn more about how to implement an ITOS approach to traffic management, check out our free eBook.