End-user experience – The only network metric that matters?

It’s all too common for network engineers to spend more time hunting for the source of network performance issues than fixing them. The lack of performance metrics is not the issue. It’s often a case of too many metrics obscuring the real root of the issue. In multi-cloud hybrid networking environments, problem validation, isolation, and resolution are getting harder. Yet, it’s more important than ever for businesses to find a way of filtering the signal from the noise. As businesses and consumers alike embrace hyper-connectedness, the health of their digital services is increasingly a barometer of business performance. 

Complex KPIs are giving way to end-user experience 

Businesses have their set of go-to tools and metrics they use when a problem occurs. Faced with a multitude of performance indicators, this traditional inside-out approach to network performance is becoming inefficient for network teams and frustrating for end-users. For example, close to 60% of workers have technical issues that the service desk can’t resolve. 

The tide is turning, with businesses increasingly recognizing the value of focusing performance metrics on the actual experience of users. Advanced tools can now dig deeper across the KPI clutter to zoom in on how users are experiencing digital interactions and provide a more comprehensive view of the state of the network. So-called end-user experience (EUE) scoring is a major shift away from complex infrastructure-centric indicators like latency or bandwidth, to name just two. By consolidating these and other metrics, businesses can get a holistic view of the health of their digital services through an easily understandable dashboard. 

End-user experience (EUE) scoring – a radical rethink

EUE scoring isn’t just another metric. It turns the old troubleshooting model on its head. Instead of starting with the infrastructure and working outwards to resolve end-user issues, the EUE approach starts with the experience of its users, arguably the only metric that really matters. Rather than chasing red performance indicators, with a simple numeric EUE score, network teams can quickly understand if there’s a problem impacting the business and how severe it is. 

When issues are detected, instead of wondering which users are impacted and why, multi-dimensional advanced analytics do the heavy lifting to eliminate the many operational variables and hone in on the root cause. This automated domain isolation is a game-changer for already-stretched network teams. Instead of lengthy consultations and war-room wrangling, isolating the root cause means that the appropriate experts tackle the issue earlier, improving resource utilization within the team and speeding up issue resolution. 

From prescriptive to predictive problem resolution

Faster troubleshooting might sound like a win-win for network teams and end users alike, but it’s just the start. User-centric approaches to network management that leverage advanced analytics in real-time could anticipate and resolve problems before they occur. While self-optimizing networks may seem like a distant dream for stressed-out network engineers currently, user-centric metrics are already helping to alleviate capacity problems before they become critical in today’s business environments. Similarly, having a holistic view of user experience can provide an invaluable first warning sign that an enterprise is under attack from a hack or a breach. 

By prioritizing the user’s perspective in network management, an EUE approach to network performances accelerates issue resolution, improves resource utilization, and even enables predictive problem resolution.

Observer Apex from VIAVI offers a comprehensive approach to end-user experience monitoring. By generating an end-user experience score for every data transaction, it provides a granular view of network performance. Harnessing machine-learning powered automated EUE scoring and offering customizable dashboards for global operational intelligence, Observer Apex not only monitors but helps IT teams elevate the digital experience for users. 

For more information, see our solutions.