Assurance is what holds network performance accountable to the application experience
When we talk about generational innovation like AI, or industry-shifting advancements like SaaS and cloud, we tend to focus on the brilliance of the outcomes of these technologies - as we should - but it's easy to overlook that the magic is and always has been powered by the network.
The network serves as the foundational infrastructure organisations depend on for connectivity and with the continued rise of Internet technologies, modern applications, and online services, the network has evolved into something much more comprehensive. Today, the network is the backbone of every business - from next-generation AI applications and remotely controlled surgeries, to online banking and video conferencing.
Every application, every connection, and every interaction in the digital world is delivered via the network. Whether wireless or wired, on-premises or in the cloud, network infrastructure brings digital experiences to life, every step of the way.
Assuring digital experiences keeps every new network advancement in lockstep with what users want
At the beginning, when digital connectivity was nascent, satisfying user needs simply came down to the ability to connect the user to the experience. The Internet was instrumental in setting up that connectivity between the user and the server hosting the experience.
In the years since with rapid digital transformation, as applications and digital services became core to business operations, the ability to ensure performance, functionality, and experience became critical to assure business continuity itself. Today, a single outage event has the ability to bring down an organisation's entire IT operations—tarnishing the brand's reputation, sending customers to alternate solutions, and ultimately hurting the bottom line. In response to these needs, modern innovations have made the network more performant and more resilient.
Network resilience means being able to assure that digital experiences are functional every time, for every user, everywhere. While the stability of Internet infrastructure grows with every redundancy measure, the ability to assure performance is critical in today's hyper-connected and hyper-distributed environments. Business continuity demands require that users are able to seamlessly connect to an experience and transact within seconds. Innovations in the network to satisfy these needs include the expansion of high-capacity terrestrial and subsea fiber links to meet bandwidth demands, combined with load balancing and content delivery networks, allowing for reduced latency.
Today's insatiable appetite for performance continues to drive digital experiences towards the pinnacle of both user wants and business requirements.
Every new generation of network technology, or advance in capability, helps to keep digital experiences in lockstep with what users want. Wi-Fi 7 is one of the latest networking advances to invite a corresponding uplift in digital experience sophistication. It offers higher data speeds, reduced latency, greater reliability, and improved spectral efficiency. These advancements enable applications and digital experiences to serve more users simultaneously and in real time. It's an exciting leap forward that is made possible by the strength of the network.
Ensuring that digital experience delivers on the promises that every step-change in network capability brings
Every new digital experience innovation depends on having a strong, adaptable network that keeps up with evolving user expectations and bandwidth demands.
But for organisations providing digital experiences, it's not just about having access to that regular cadence of network-based innovations that can continue to drive digital experiences forward, nor is it just about being able to take advantage of each innovation as it comes through that pipeline.
It's also about what happens after that - to ensure the newly-enhanced digital experience is consistent and flawless. This means being able to manage the underlying network-based enablers and elements to ensure the experience delivers on the promises that each step-change in network capability and capacity brings.
For organisations providing digital experiences, the end-to-end network path between them and their users is complex, consisting of both owned (internal) and unowned (external, third-party) infrastructure that is orchestrated to form a seamless end-to-end connection that facilitates experience delivery.
To manage this effectively requires consistent visibility across the entire service delivery chain, including all possible paths available to connect users to these experiences. The best-placed organizations are those that recognise and act on the dynamic relationship between the network—encompassing both owned and unowned environments—and the applications or experiences they provide.
While wireless innovations like Wi-Fi 7 create new opportunities for digital experiences, these advances still need to be reflected in the application or digital experience, and carefully managed to ensure that users benefit fully from the experience upgrade.
Assurance responds to the challenge of managing the complexities of modern digital environments by delivering contextual intelligence about how an experience actually lands with users, together with a comprehensive, intelligent, and automated framework for managing any problems that might arise.
This isn't only relevant in the context of implementing Wi-Fi 7, but for AI and all new implementation, innovation, and technology that comes next. To truly understand the ongoing interaction between applications and networks, as well as the influence this has on digital experience planning and delivery, organisations must proactively engage in digital experience assurance.
