Protecting Data Networks: Extending Vital Protection across the Retail Landscape
By Jamie Lerner, CEO of CITTIO You're the IT manager of a national children's store. It is 5:00 PST and you've just discovered that two of your busiest mid-western outlets were out of commission for three hours today
The Truth about Retail
Behind those onesies and cute sweaters adorning the aisles there's high-speed Internet access, a server, and four or five POS terminals. Not just in one store but in every store around the world. And at headquarters, there's an e-commerce server or two plus all the software and hardware to support SCM, CRM, payroll processing, product design, forecasting, inventory and logistics. What all this technology has in common is its utter dependence on the health of the corporate network. As the number of technology solutions increases, the complexity of the network monitoring task grows exponentiallyand IT management's biggest challenge becomes how to achieve the consistent visibility into operations that is only available through robust network monitoring. Expanding the Data Center beyond Traditional Borders
Far from existing in isolation, retailer networks link to distributors', designers', manufacturers', and logistics providers' networks. Moreover, POS systems are not the dumb terminals of old, but rather Java-based, network-connected and touch screen-operated. Not only do they feed sophisticated systems such as vendor managed inventory (VMI), they also allow management to precisely gauge the sales productivity hit that occurs when a lane or terminal goes down or the boost in revenue after a big holiday promotion. In addition, a number of retail software solutions are available hosted or as services. They may not exist on your network, but you need to ensure that they are working properly. The Costs of Visibility and Uptime
For retailers of all sizes, most network monitoring solutions are economically unfeasible, difficult to implement, and a maintenance time sink. Total cost of ownership, which includes licensing, installation and support, can easily run into the millions. On top of that, the more complex implementations typically require consulting services, which when delivered on a site-by-site basis, increase costs immeasurably. But for many retailers, it's a cost of doing business. Some organizations are trying to reduce the cost of network monitoring by investigating open source solutions. Based on code that is available free of charge, these products may work as point or entry level solutions, but the time and expertise needed to integrate several into an end-to-end system and provide ongoing support may well offset their initial attractiveness. In addition, because open source products tend to lack enterprise class functionality and scalability, they may not meet future needs. From a bottom line perspective, our hypothetical children's clothing retailer will have to earmark sales from (thousands of) little pairs of socks, shoes, and PJs to pay for this system and everything required to make it work. Learn from Experience: Apply Best Practices
Just as there are best practices around inventory management and seasonal promotions, best practices must be applied to choosing the right network and systems monitoring solution. These include: 1. Web basis -- Monitoring software must support monitoring anything from any location. Where IT staff is limited or geographically dispersed, it is critical to be able to monitor network operations from any browser. 2. Standards basis -- The typical retail network environment is heterogeneous and requires a monitoring solution based on industry standards such as SNMP. Proprietary agent-based approaches greatly increase the integration effort, forcing IT to adapt, rather than vice versa. 3. Automation-driven -- With each outlet a mini data center, the ability to automate deployment across stores saves money. Software should automatically discover each store, including all the equipment and software within it. It should also be able to turn on multiple stores simultaneouslywithout requiring store manager involvement. Configuration changes made within each store should be automatically detected. 4. Business process based -- As noted in the IT Maturity Model, data center operations are business processes. A network monitoring solution should be able to translate performance data into solid business informationsuch as how long it takes to process a credit card transaction or how often a system was down in a given month. Reports with little but IT-oriented information communicate nothing useful to business users. However, if a report shows that one hour of down time for a check-out lane costs $3,200, management can determine the payback of specific IT expenditures and acceptable service levels. 5. Rational licensing -- Complex, multi-layered license pricing schemes make it difficult to calculate the business value of a network monitoring solution. It's important to knowup fronta software solution's total cost of ownership. An easy-to-understand licensing model can help. In addition, a vendor's willingness to structure pricing around your business model is a bonus. To control the cost of a monitoring implementation, IT needs visibility into 5 to 10 years of ongoing maintenance expenses. A corollary to this rule is that software with multiple modules and "optional" add-ons only increase cost and complexity. Moving Toward the Right Solution
The right retail network monitoring solution should be cost-effective, flexible and customizable, and free of complex licensing processes or the need for expensive consulting services. It should be able to address the multiplicity of operating platforms most retail operation have embraced. And it should protect the integrity of the network all day, every day. No exceptions. | 
