The Age of Networks

Nurture your immature system to the next level—and reap rewards in the process.

BY LEE GIMPEL | ILLUSTRATION BY TRAY BUTLER

Businesses depend on their computer networks. But as much as they have become vital lifelines to nearly all companies, they have also lost their pizzazz. Today, we rarely think about being able to send an email, do online research or use browser-only applications—until we can’t. And then chaos—or at least great frustration—ensues.

Obviously a reliable network is in a company’s best interest. In Network Maturity Model, authors William J. Baumann, James T. Fritsch and Kevin J. Dooley seek to define five stages in the quest for a solid system.

Th e first stage stars a patchwork network that has grown as needed; the IT team can’t plan ahead because they are too busy extinguishing regular problems—usually in the middle of the night. At the second level—where Dooley says most organizations find themselves today—standardization becomes part of the process. There may be rudimentary guidelines that delineate what can and cannot be done on the network, such as using a mobile computing device.

The third stage sees more widespread standardization, while also leaving room for exceptions. For example, while the second level may forbid mobile device usage, organizations in the third stage understand how to allow those who need PDAs to use them within the network.

Level four incorporates goal setting and data analysis to improve and refine the network from stage three. Organizations in this fourth stage strive to hit IT metrics like server uptime or the number of help desk calls fielded in a week (and how quickly they are resolved). The last stage is a network that is near perfection, which Dooley estimates only 5% of organizations have achieved.

Of course other tasks—even other IT projects—can seem more glamorous, so it can be hard to get excited about bolstering the network, especially when advancing just one level may require 18 to 24 months. But to the persistent come the spoils: Low-maturity networks may have 40% waste in the system (such as extra IT techs devoting time to fixing problems that pop up weekly), as opposed to 5% waste in a top-performing network—translating to a cost savings of about 25%. Dooley notes that 2% to 16% of lost annual revenues are the direct result of network problems, so aspiring to a more mature network could very well pay significant dividends.