Key metrics every MSP should monitor for multi-tenant networks

Looking after clients' infrastructures is an MSP's pivotal responsibility. But what happens when the MSP's network isn't performing optimally? Just like any business, an MSP can suffer significant consequences from network downtime. Even a brief period of downtime can hinder an MSP's ability to deliver essential services to its clients.

Even though an MSP manages only part of the network, it is the first to face the brunt of customer complaints if an issue arises anywhere in the MSP or client network. The issues springing back and forth lead to an exhausting cycle of blame games between customers, the MSP, and the ISP as they attempt to pinpoint the problem's source and determine responsibility.

Challenges in network management

MSPs often face challenges such as managing complex network environments, ensuring robust security, and meeting stringent SLAs. These challenges can significantly impact client satisfaction and business continuity. Network issues can lead to operational disruptions, financial losses, and damage to client trust, underscoring the need for effective network monitoring and management.

Given below are some of the network monitoring challenges that MSPs commonly face:

• Taming diverse client environments: MSPs juggle a variety of client network setups, making management complex.
• Forecasting service disruptions Predicting potential network issues before they occur can be difficult.
• Drowning in alerts: The sheer volume of network alerts can overwhelm IT teams, hindering problem identification.
• Analyzing disconnected events: Uncorrelated network events make it difficult to identify the root causes of issues.
• Scaling up sprawling infrastructures Efficiently managing large, growing IT infrastructures can be a challenge for MSPs.
• Lacking software visibility: A lack of insights into complex software systems can hinder troubleshooting.
• Maintaining SLAs Ensuring consistent performance and meeting client expectations as outlined in SLAs can be demanding.

Network monitoring for proactive MSP management

However, with the effective monitoring of MSP network performance indicators, you can evade the troubles that arise along with service disruptions at the grass roots. As technology advances, the importance of maintaining secure, efficient client networks increases. Today's networks, which support data transfers and voice and video communications, require MSPs to have comprehensive insights into their complex infrastructures.

Here are some of the advantages of monitoring your client networks:

• Reduced network disruptions
• Improved network security
• Increased uptime and productivity
• A better view of network performance
• Vulnerability mitigation and enhanced security
• Seamless customer experiences
• Effective SLA management
• Compliance with regulations

MSP-specific success metrics for ensuring optimal performance

Tracking key MSP metrics such as client satisfaction scores, resolution times, and uptime lets you identify areas needing improvement, demonstrate your value, and optimize resource allocation. Benchmarking these metrics against industry standards helps give you a competitive edge.

Here are some MSP-specific success metrics:

• Customer satisfaction (CSAT) CSAT measures your clients' satisfaction with your services. Track feedback to assess if your MSP business meets expectations. High scores indicate client happiness, fostering loyalty.
• SLAs SLAs measure adherence to service levels promised to clients by tracking metrics such as response times, resolution times, and uptime guarantees. SLAs help you determine if you are meeting or exceeding expectations and ensure contractual obligations are met for client satisfaction and retention.
• Net promoter score (NPS) The NPS is a key metric for understanding how likely clients are to recommend your MSP services to others. A high NPS reflects strong client trust and satisfaction, which can lead to new business through referrals and enhanced market credibility.
• Mean time to resolve (MTTR) The MTTR measures the average time it takes for your team to diagnose and fix problems reported by clients. A lower MTTR indicates that setbacks are resolved quickly, reducing downtime and improving client satisfaction with your team's responsiveness.
• First call resolution (FCR) FCR is a metric that measures the percentage of client issues that are resolved during first contact with your support team. High FCR rates demonstrate your team's ability to efficiently troubleshoot and resolve issues without requiring multiple interactions.
• Churn rate This refers to the percentage of clients who discontinue the use of your services. Monitoring the churn rate helps you identify issues that may be driving clients away. A low churn rate indicates that you are successfully retaining clients and maintaining your service quality.
• Network availability Network availability reflects the percentage of time that your clients' networks are up and running. High network uptime ensures reliable service delivery and demonstrates your ability to maintain consistent, dependable network performance.
• Incident response time The incident response time is the average time it takes to respond to a reported issue. Quick response times reflect your commitment to addressing client concerns promptly and contribute to overall client satisfaction.
• Resource utilization metrics Resource utilization reveals how effectively you're deploying your resources to deliver services. While resource usage levels are not direct performance metrics, understanding them is vital to handling projects and deployments effectively.
• Ticket volume and backlog The ticket volume and backlog represent the number of support tickets received and the number of those awaiting resolution, respectively. Managing your ticket volume and backlog ensures timely issue resolution and high service quality.
• Security incident rate The security incident rate is the frequency of security incidents occurring within the managed networks. Lower rates of security incidents indicate a strong security posture and effective threat management.
• Cost optimization Cost optimization or efficiency measures the balance between the costs you incur and the value delivered to clients. You can use this metric to optimize your operations, provide the best value to clients, and deliver high-quality services.

Network-specific KPIs to monitor in your clients' IT

Achieving network excellence demands thorough evaluations and deep insights into critical metrics that reveal the security, reliability, and performance layers. This is particularly challenging in hybrid environments encompassing on-premises, virtual, and software-defined WAN infrastructures. Monitor performance metrics like the data flows, device health, and application performance across all segments to identify and resolve issues promptly and maintain optimal network functionality.

Understanding and applying these metrics can guide MSPs towards network success. Here are the key metrics:

• Latency Measure the time it takes data to travel between points in a network. High latency causes delays in applications and user interactions, impacting user satisfaction and responsiveness.
• Packet loss Track the percentage of data packets that don't reach their intended destinations, resulting in retransmissions, network delays, and low overall performance.
• Jitter Measure the inconsistency in the time it takes for data packets to travel across the network in real-time applications like VoIP or video call programs. A low jitter count signifies seamless, uninterrupted experiences for these applications.
• Bandwidth utilization Monitor the network data usage against the available capacity to pinpoint congestion areas and anticipate future bandwidth requirements for devices, network connections, and applications.
• Network traffic Analyze data volumes and patterns to identify peak usage periods, potential bottlenecks, and performance trends.
• Device health: Monitor the availability and health of network devices, such as Wi-Fi hardware, printers, and routers, to ensure optimal performance and functionality.
• Application performance: Evaluate network applications to troubleshoot performance issues and ensure positive user experiences.
• Uptime and downtime: Track uptime and downtime to see how consistently your infrastructure remains operational. These metrics help you gauge reliability and identify areas needing improvement.
• Response time: Measure the time a system or application takes to respond, which affects user satisfaction and productivity.
• Throughput: Determine the amount of data transmitted over the network within a specific time frame, which is useful for evaluating capacity and performance.
• DNS resolution time: Track the time it takes to resolve IP addresses from domain names, ensuring quick web and application access.
• CPU and memory utilization: Identify potential performance bottlenecks by evaluating CPU and memory usage on network devices.
• Error rates: Monitor error rates, such as input/output or CRC errors, to detect hardware issues affecting performance.
• Quality of service: Ensure that vital applications are allocated the required network resources, then prioritize traffic accordingly.
• Visualization: Monitor changes in networks using topology or Layer 2 maps to identify unauthorized alterations and maintain accurate documentation.

Pivotal infrastructure metrics you must monitor to see the bigger IT picture

In addition to monitoring the overall network KPIs separately, MSPs must track network metrics in conjunction with infrastructure metrics. This approach helps MSPs discover the root causes of issues by correlating events across the entire infrastructure. For example, this allows them to determine if network slowdowns are due to bandwidth or server problems.

• Server network metrics: Server network metrics focus on the health and performance of a server's network connectivity, providing insights into the efficiency of server communications and data exchanges with other devices in the network. Key metrics include throughput, connections, errors, and latency, measuring the availability of server-to-network connections.
• Virtual network metrics: Virtual network metrics provide insights into the health of your virtualized networks by measuring the resource usage, bandwidth consumption, data packet delays, and loss rates. They help you identify bottlenecks, optimize resource allocation, and ensure smooth communications within the virtual environment.
• Cloud network metrics: Cloud network metrics measure client network performance in the cloud by tracking the data travel time, lost data packets, and bandwidth usage. These metrics help you identify bottlenecks, ensure smooth data flows, and prevent disruptions for real-time applications like video call programs.

Conclusion

Correlating events and network metrics can help MSPs proactively troubleshoot issues (such as server overloads causing high network latency) and predict potential problems requiring resource adjustments, ensuring the value of MSP services. MSP network monitoring requires constant adaptation to diverse client needs.

As a one-stop solution, Site24x7 can monitor both your on-premises and software-defined networks, like Cisco Meraki and Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure, eliminating tool sprawl. Site24x7 offers real-time data, predictive analytics, and customizable reports to help you exceed client expectations. It is a standout MSP monitoring solution in a complex landscape. Try it now.