This document summarizes key findings from a survey of 354 IT professionals about challenges of supporting remote and hybrid work. It finds that while most organizations support hybrid work, about a third are not completely successful in meeting networking needs. Top challenges included lack of control over home networks, collaboration issues, and compliance/security risks. The document also outlines how organizations are modernizing tools and processes like secure remote access, network operations, and on-premises networks to better support remote and hybrid work.

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Modernizing Network
Engineering and
Operations in the Era of
Remote and Hybrid Work
Shamus McGillicuddy
Vice President of Research
Network Infrastructure and Operations
Enterprise Management Associates (EMA)
Sponsored by . . .

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Watch the On-Demand Webinar
• Modernizing Network Engineering and Operations in the Era of Hybrid
and Remote Work On-Demand Webinar:
https://info.enterprisemanagement.com/network-engineering-and-
ops-in-the-era-of-hybrid-and-remote-work-webinar-ss
• Check out upcoming webinars from EMA here:
https://www.enterprisemanagement.com/freeResearch
© 2023 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc.

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Featured Speaker
Shamus McGillicuddy is a Vice President of Research
at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), where
he leads the network infrastructure and operations
practice. He has nearly two decades of experience
in the IT industry. His research focuses on all aspects
of managing enterprise networks, including network
automation, AIOps-driven network operations, multi-
cloud networking, and WAN transformation.
© 2023 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 3
Shamus McGillicuddy
Vice President of Research
Network Infrastructure and Operations

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Sponsors
© 2023 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 4

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Research Goals and
Methodology

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96% of IT organizations support hybrid workers
These users split time between home and the office
39% of remote workers are hybrid in the average company
Research Goals
© 2023 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 6
How are enterprises modernizing
secure remote access?
How is NetOps evolving tools and
processes to support remote work?
How are hybrid workers driving
changes to on-premises networks?
94% of IT organizations observed permanent increases of remote
work after pandemic
17% of employees worked from home pre-pandemic
43% work from home today
49% will work from home by 2025
Only 32% of IT organizations are completely successful with
supporting networking requirements of remote and hybrid workers
Hybrid Work: The New Normal
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Questions to Explore
?

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Methodology: Survey of 354 IT Professionals Directly Engaged with Connecting,
Securing, and Supporting Remote Workers
© 2023 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 7
Job Titles
16% Network/IT administrator
7% Network/IT engineer
5% Network/IT architect
11% Project manager
14% IT manager/supervisor
15% IT director
14% IT vice president
15% CIO/CTO/CISO
IT Groups
18% IT architecture
16% Network engineering
15% Project/Program management
15% CIO’s suite
10% IT asset/financial management
9% IT security/cybersecurity
9% Network operations center
7% IT service desk/service support/help desk
Industries
16% Manufacturing
16% Professional/Technical services - not related to IT
14% Retail
14% Banking/Finance/Insurance
8% Healthcare/Hospitals
7% Construction/Civil engineering
6% Logistics/Wholesale/Distribution
5% Energy/Utilities
4% Media/Entertainment/Content provider
4% Government
Region
69% North America
31% Europe
Revenue
35% $100 million to <$500 million
26% $500 million <$1 billion
24% $1 billion to <$5 billion
11% $5 billion+
5% Unknown/Not applicable
Company Size (Employees)
23% Small enterprise - 250 to 999
56% Midsized enterprise - 1,000 to 4,999
21% Large enterprise - 5,000 or more

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Challenges to WFH
Networking

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Issues That Undermine IT Support of WFH Networking Requirements
© 2023 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 9
Failing organizations:
Compliance/security is a
major problem
Technical personnel:
Lack of control is a major problem
Network engineering team:
Collaboration is a major issue
Compliance/security risk 31%
Poor IT leadership 27%
Lack of control over home networks 24%
Lack of skilled personnel 24%
Collaboration issues across IT 22%
Budget 22%
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Sources of WFH Network Experience Trouble
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42% Problem with home Wi-Fi
42% Distance from apps adds network latency – more prominent in
large enterprises
41% ISP quality
35% Bandwidth use by family/roommates/etc.
33% Inefficient internet routing
32% ISP congestion at peak periods
32% Contention with shared Wi-Fi in multi-family housing
89% of IT organizations have observed increased use of real-time
voice/video/collaboration apps since the pandemic
The surge in real-time communications apps

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Modernizing Secure
Remote Access and
Network Architecture

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Secure Remote Access
© 2022 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 12
Solutions currently in use
Only 47% say VPN is their
preferred solution
VPN
61%
SASE
42%
ZTNA
34%
Software-defined perimeter
30%
SD-WAN
20%
Secure direct access to cloud
42%
ZTNA is a preferred solution for:
Network engineering
Network operations
Cybersecurity

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Critical Features for Secure Remote Access
© 2022 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 13
Integrated network security 48%
Automated secure connections to cloud/data center 30%
Centralized management 28%
WAN/LAN remediation 21%
WAN acceleration 17%
Path selection 14%
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Network Hardware in the Home
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72% installing network hardware in
employees’ homes
Typical extent: 25% to 50% of homes
Aggressive goal for WFH network
experience = more expansive
deployments
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING NETWORKING HARDWARE SOLUTIONS IS YOUR IT
ORGANIZATION DEPLOYING OR PLANNING TO DEPLOY IN EMPLOYEES' HOMES?

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Updating NetOps
Tools and Processes

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Break Out of Silos
© 2023 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 16
NetOps teams have increased collaboration with:
67% IT security/cybersecurity
55% IT service management – favored by best-in-class
47% End-user support/help desk – favored for organizations with
aggressive targets for WFH network experience
40% CloudOps
33% Application management
How they facilitate
collaboration:
53% Cross-silo tool integrations
48% Documentation of processes
48% Updated ticketing/ITSM systems
46% Training
42% Leadership consolidation

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87% of organizations have
allocated budget
Updating NetOps Toolsets
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Overall Strategy
56% update existing tools
49% acquire tools from
new vendors
48% acquire new tools
from incumbent vendors
Organizations with
budget allocation more
likely to use:
Synthetic monitoring
Endpoint monitoring
TOOLS NETOPS USE

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Hybrid Workers Drive
Network Change

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76% report increased bandwidth
demand on-premises
90% need to update Wi-Fi to support
new mobility requirements
83% are exploring location-based
technology
76% want to unify access policy management across on-premises
networks and remote users
Only 27% have completely effective approaches to unified policies
Network teams that support
hybrid work
Network access policy complexity
Campus Network Impacts of Hybrid Workers
© 2023 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 19
VPN use = less effective
policy management
Effective unified policy leads to:
• More productive remote workers
• Reduced security/compliance risk
• Improved ability to balance
network experience and security

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Recommendations to Network Teams
© 2023 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 20
Build alliances with
security and IT service
management
Look at
alternatives
to VPN
Secure remote access solutions should
offer integrated network security,
automation, centralized management,
and network optimization
Selective user of network
hardware in home offices
can help
Argue for
budget for
NetOps tool
updates
Consider endpoint monitoring,
synthetic monitoring
Hybrid workers will test your on-premises
bandwidth and mobility
Policy management must be unified

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The Modernizing Network Engineering Report is Now Available!
Learn more and download:
https://bit.ly/3rXk3Wx
© 2023 Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. 21