Mobile connectivity and application performance are dependent on many variables. Understanding why a session or application performs poorly requires insights into the network, data throughputs, traffic loads, and more. Here are five mobile data points you need to know to ensure smooth operations.
Network failures
IT should be able to track how many of their client devices experienced network failures and why. This can guide them towards the source of problems, whether they lie with the carrier or Wi-Fi provider, the device, the location, or another source. Tracking this data over time also gives IT valuable insight into which of their networks and user devices tend to perform poorly. With this information, they can work productively with their network providers to make educated decisions about how to improve the connected experience for mobile workers.
Real-world throughput
Measuring the actual throughput provided to mobile devices by their network providers at varying locations and times allows IT to determine if their mobile solution stack can support certain high-demand applications like video conferencing or VoIP calls. This enables IT to find root causes and tune the entire mobile solution stack (devices, network providers, app providers, and mobile workers) to support their business’s needs. Being able to see the bandwidth provided down to individual cell towers or Wi-Fi access points is extremely valuable for troubleshooting where specific problems lie and which vendors, partners, or internal teams are responsible for the fix.
Network traffic origin and destination
IT needs to see where network traffic originates and what countries, cities, IP address and domains their mobile devices are communicating with in order to spot risky behavior, discover malware on mobile devices, detect C2C server connections, and expose data exfiltration.
Data usage by application and domain
Tracking network data usage and traffic by application and domain will let IT know which users, devices, applications, and domains are consuming resources. This insight can be used to set policies to better control data consumption and control costs. It also allows IT to identify the most heavily-used network infrastructure so that they can be better managed and kept up to date.
How to monitor this data
How does IT track and measure all of this data? These systems are usually categorized as “operational intelligence” and involve installing software on mobile devices that gathers real-time data on location, Wi-Fi and cellular networks, applications, data flows and devices. Each employee’s mobile device becomes a real-time sensor whose data provides a comprehensive view of the entire mobile deployment. With an operational intelligence solution, IT teams can maximize performance, mitigate security threats, and control costs.
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