Network professionals lose nearly half their week to manual tasks that could be automated

New research launched today by Skybox Security, a leading provider of Exposure Management solutions, reveals that network professionals spend as much as half of their workweek on manual tasks such as firewall management and network provisioning (40%) and remediating misconfigurations (10%). This problem is even more pronounced in larger global organizations, where professionals spend 51% of their time on manual tasks and 12% on remediations.

The challenges of manually maintaining increasingly complex network infrastructures and remediating the unplanned consequences of misconfigurations are increasing the risk of non-compliance.

90% of network and security professionals worry about failing an external or internal audit due to misconfigurations. The fear is well-founded, as only 4% of network and security teams reported no failings in their audits over the past five years. Instead, 69% of network professionals identified two or more compliance issues during external audits, highlighting the ongoing risk of penalties and reputational damage for many organizations.

These are the findings from Skybox Security’s latest report, The Network Butterfly Effect: The Hidden Cost of Network Security Policy Management. The report surveyed 500 global network and security professionals (250 UK) across Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) industries, including financial services, energy, communications, healthcare, and government. It exposes the hidden costs and risks associated with managing and remediating the interdependencies of highly complex networks.

A manual burden on network teams

Manual firewall and network management and remediation of misconfigurations burden network teams with substantial operational costs.

This challenge is exacerbated by large organizations requiring, on average, eight separate manual stages to process a firewall change – from initial request, approvals, provisioning, and verification – increasing the risk of mistakes and delays due to miscommunication.

Other notable concerns for network professionals include:

• Half (50%) of network and security teams fear that network misconfigurations could introduce vulnerabilities that cybercriminals could exploit.
• Network downtime is also a significant issue, with 44% of network professionals considering it a risk that can result in significant financial losses.
• The repercussions of misconfigurations extend beyond technical disruptions. Over half of network professionals acknowledge that these issues can damage customer relationships and harm business reputation.

Automation tops transformation tech for network managers

Network professionals believe leveraging automation is the most transformative technology for network management, allowing teams to reclaim as much as half of their workweek. Automation can revolutionize network operations by delivering enhanced visibility and control, a benefit cited by 63% of network and security professionals. It streamlines the deployment of specialist networking talent, cutting down on manual tasks.

In fact, 56% of networking professionals are confident that automation will significantly reduce the need to work outside of contracted hours, alleviating pressure on teams. And over half (54%) believe automation will improve cross-team collaboration, breaking down information silos and allowing teams to work on higher-level projects.

About the research

This report is based on research conducted by Censuswide of 500 Network Operations Managers, Network Security Architects, Head of Infrastructure, and comparable roles, of which 250 respondents were in the UK. Respondents worked in organizations with over 1,000 employees in the CNI industries and manufacturing based in the U.S. and UK.