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Statistics don’t lie
Gartner reports that 95% of network outages are caused by human error, with the average cost of network downtime reaching $5,600 per minute for enterprise organizations. IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023 found that organizations with fully deployed security automation experienced breach costs that were $1.76 million lower than those without such capabilities.
Configuration inconsistencies pose another significant threat. Cisco’s research indicates that 88% of network changes are still performed manually, leading to configuration drift in 73% of enterprise networks. This inconsistency creates security gaps, performance degradation, and compliance violations that can result in regulatory fines averaging $14.8 million according to IBM’s regulatory compliance cost analysis.
Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report reveals that 82% of breaches involve a human element, many of which could be mitigated through automated security responses. With new CVEs being identified approximately every 17 minutes, manual security processes simply cannot keep pace with the threat landscape.
Evolution beyond simple automation
The networking industry has already embraced automation for fundamental operational tasks. Simple automation scripts have become ubiquitous across organizations for routine functions such as device configuration management using tools like Ansible and Puppet, automated backups, service provisioning, and basic monitoring workflows.
However, these single-component automation solutions, while valuable, represent only the beginning. Modern network operations require sophisticated orchestration across multiple interconnected systems and domains. The real challenge—and opportunity—lies in creating intelligent automation that can seamlessly coordinate actions across diverse network observability platforms, security tools, and operational systems.
Our article series focuse specifically on multi-component automation in network observability—the complex orchestration required when multiple systems must work in concert to provide comprehensive network visibility, threat detection, and automated response capabilities. We’ll explore automation scenarios where NetFlow analysis systems, Configuration Management Databases (CMDBs), Suricata intrusion detection systems, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms, and threat intelligence feeds must collaborate intelligently to deliver outcomes that no single system could achieve independently. Leading NetFlow platforms like Sycope demonstrate this evolution by providing rich behavioral analytics that serve as the foundation for intelligent automation decisions, while automation platforms like Packetfronts BECS orchestrate complex responses across multiple network domains.
Want to know more about this topic? Read our next article “Network automation: From single scripts to multi-component orchestration“!
FAQ
Gartner reports that 95% of network outages are caused by human error.
The average cost of network downtime is $5,600 per minute for enterprise organizations.
Configuration inconsistencies can create security gaps, performance degradation, and compliance violations, which can result in regulatory fines averaging $14.8 million.
Verizon's Data Breach Investigations Report reveals that 82% of breaches involve a human element.
The article series focuses specifically on multi-component automation in network observability, exploring scenarios where systems must work together to provide comprehensive network visibility, threat detection, and automated response capabilities.
