Approximately 60% of enterprises stop supporting devices running on their networks, which puts these organizations at higher risk for security breaches, lost productivity due to longer network outages, and higher replacement costs down the road.
This is according to Softchoice's Cisco TechCheck contract, an assessment service that examines the condition and health of an organization's network infrastructure.
“Most organizations struggle to understand the basics of their network health because few regularly check the various devices they work on,” said David Brisbois, senior director of assessment and technology development services consultant at Softchoice.
Softchoice’s TechCheck analysis also found that 95% of businesses have end-of-sale devices operating on their networks. End-of-sale devices are products that are no longer available on the market, but are still supported (for now) by the manufacturer.
Softchoice discovered that 51% of all devices evaluated are end-of-sale, 4% are end-of-support, and 30% lack SMARTnet - a standardized technical support service that provides immediate, 24/7 access to Cisco experts in the event of an outage or disruption, as well as the option to expedite hardware replacement.
For any organization struggling to understand the health of its network, Brisbois suggested a three-step strategy for proactively analyzing and modernizing network infrastructure: Assess existing infrastructure, evaluate disaster recovery strategy, and plan and budget for replacement.
“When a device reaches end-of-sale, it has a maximum of two to five years before it is completely supported by the manufacturer,” he explained. “Organizations should plan ahead and budget for the replacement of these devices before they reach end-of-support. End-of-support devices on a network increase the risk of lost productivity due to major downtime, potential security breaches leading to higher costs, and the need for immediate replacements.”
