What is Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)?
Remote monitoring and management (RMM) is a central aspect of an MSP’s offering. It’s a set of tools that allows your dedicated vCIO to remotely check up on your network and ensure that your IT operations are running smoothly.
Without a strong RMM program, an MSP cannot guarantee efficient monitoring of your business’ tech operations. The primary functions of an RMM toolset are:
- Server, network, and desktop management
- Windows, OSX, and third-party software patch management
- Asset management
- Scripting and automation tools
- Remote control for all devices
- Real-time issue remediation without end user interference
- Detailed and customizable network and systems reporting
- Mobile device management tools
RMM software can be used in a combination of ways, whether it’s part of a broader MSP offering from your provider, an in-house system you manage yourself, or a hybrid solution, with you and your partner sharing monitoring responsibilities.
Today we’re going to be taking a dive into the capabilities of an RMM solution and the benefits it can bring to your organization.
Why Is Monitoring and Management Important?
As many executives and decision makers in IT will know, small and midsize businesses have traditionally operated under a break/fix model for their network.
In these scenarios, something goes wrong, a technician is called out, who then fixes the issue, billing the organization once the work is completed.
In today’s world, this model is risky for most, and unfeasible for some.
Businesses are far more susceptible to cybersecurity threats than ever before.
You may be aware of attacks that have affected some of the largest organizations in the country, such as the breach Equifax suffered back in 2017.
What is more concerning today is the rapid, upward trend of threats against SMBs. Nearly half of all cyberattacks target small and midsize businesses.
These are companies that cannot afford to be on the receiving end of a breach, or anything that results in downtime for that matter.
SMBs are more susceptible than ever, and the majority are simply unprepared for dealing with network downtime, an extremely costly situation for an SMB.
This is why so many are turning to MSPs to get network management services and the expertise to use them properly. It ensures 24/7 monitoring and upkeep for organizations that can’t afford to take chances.
A “Single Pane of Glass” Interface
One of the major advantages of utilizing an RMM tool is its ease of use. Companies might be more familiar with complex systems, or multiple, disparate solutions which serve the same ultimate goal of monitoring.
An RMM is designed to make the whole process easier by unifying everything into a singular solution.
Our toolkit, Impact Network Control (INC), was created from the ground up with this exact purpose in mind.
Through a single console, users are able to use monitoring, maintenance, and automation tools that give them a complete view of the organization’s entire IT infrastructure.
This effectively simplifies the process of looking after the network. The MSP is able to gather actionable data in real-time and make decisions to maintain the health of the IT network.
The information can be used in conjunction with automation tools to automate crucial management tasks in your network—all because of the oversight offered by a solution which wraps the necessary components into one.
Benefits of RMM
Affordable pricing and scalability
Flexible service models are a common benefit of partnering with a quality MSP. A good provider understands that businesses have different needs and expectations for their IT department.
Many cloud services offered are scalable and customizable to the desired capacity of the organization, giving executives the ability to plan their IT budgets far more effectively than the unpredictable break/fix model.
With INC, you can customize the extent of your solution based on whether you want Impact to operate it, or whether you want to purchase it and use the tools yourself.
Should your business operations shrink or expand, your RMM can be scaled accordingly with ease to suit your circumstances.
Centralization and organization of IT
As new technologies have become commonplace in modern businesses, we’ve become accustomed to seeing a plethora of varying devices in our workplaces.
The best example of this would be Internet of Things (IoT) tech, which is a fundamental aspect of many SMBs today.
While many opportunities have been opened up by new tech, it has also led to a decentralizing effect of small and midsize organizations—the end product of which often results in siloed departments.
An RMM solution helps centralize and unify your tech infrastructure, making it far easier to keep devices under your network in compliance with your policies.
The most obvious advantage of this is the ability to manage all your connected devices in your network. You can monitor, update, upgrade, and patch anything in your IT infrastructure.
Security
A remote monitoring and management is a useful tool for operations and ensuring the efficiency of your network. It also has added benefits with regards to security.
Managed antivirus keeps up to date with the latest threats, protecting against new viruses.
With regular checks and behavioral scanning, an RMM solution utilizes constant, round-the-clock monitoring to protect against sophisticated malware, in addition to detecting devices that are operating abnormally—a common indication of an exploit.
The security component of an RMM solution should be as lightweight as possible, so as not to be a burden on any devices in the network.
A good offering will allow a high standard of control, meaning consistent security policies across devices (with regards to quarantine rules, for example), controlling the timing of scans, and real-time, proactive notifications for immediate action.
Outsource diagnostic responsibilities
One of the primary motivations of SMBs to use an MSP service is a desire to outsource monitoring and diagnostic duties and allow the IT department to focus of business tasks instead.
Digital Transformation brought a huge quantity of new solutions and devices to manage. With security and maintenance top priorities, IT departments often revert to “putting out fires”, spending work time dealing with tech-related issues, rather than putting their energies towards benefitting more business-related projects.
By outsourcing help desk and RMM responsibilities, an IT team can be given a lot more breathing room to make more efficient use of their time.
Better visibility into your network
Analytics can radically change the way an organization’s processes are viewed. A major benefit of a remote monitoring and management solution is the added ability to gain real insight into the network.
You can view performance metrics like traffic, speeds, uptime and downtime, user habits—all visualized through a simple interface.
With digital environments growing in complexity, it’s never been more important for decision makers to have access to data that allows them to make informed decisions.
Customizable reports and analytics puts the decision maker back in charge and avoids the tail wagging the dog.
Once you have access to this information, operations can be streamlined, money saved, scalability can be determined—in short, a more efficient organization can be built.
Real-time support and remediation
This is one of the most significant benefits of using an RMM toolkit. With complete visibility, monitoring in real-time means staying on top of the network is easier and more effective.
Issues can be spotted early in any device and remediated before they develop into something more serious.
With an outsourced partner, this is even easier. A quality managed services partner will have added benefits over an in-house IT team, available 24/7 to fix issues, whatever the time.
Though an in-house team often remains an important part of business operations, it is difficult for them to offer the same round-the-clock response times as an MSP.
This is one of the main reasons that SMBs are more frequently turning to managed services for their network performance needs, letting their IT teams instead focus on business tasks.
Impact’s Impact Network Control is a best-in-class, customized remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution. It utilizes the SolarWinds n-able platform to give businesses unparalleled insight into their network performance and processes in real time.
We offer the solution as part of our Managed IT services, as well as an a la carte option or hybrid arrangement with your own IT team. If you’re interested in learning about what an RMM tool can do for you, speak to one of our managed IT experts today.