The Olympic Torch is Burning, But Survey Finds IT Pros Are Still in Training

Featured article by Mike Sargent, SVP and GM at Riverbed

The 2012 Summer Olympics in London was the most watched television event in U.S. history. NBCUniversal aired 3,500 hours of programming across its multiple TV channels and websites. Sounds like a huge number – until you compare it to this year’s Summer Games in Brazil. By the time the Olympic flame is extinguished, there will have been 6,755 hours of programming. Roughly two-thirds of those will stream online via websites and mobile apps. IT organizations can expect a lot of that online viewing will occur over their enterprise networks. And yet, many are not ready.

That’s one of the key findings of “The Riverbed Global Network Strain 2016 Snapshot Survey.”

In July, Riverbed commissioned an online survey by Wakefield Research of more than 400 IT professionals in the US, UK, Australia and Brazil. The survey focused on whether IT organizations are ready for the strain employees will place on the network, and how IT plans to ensure network and application performance and availability does not suffer.

The good news: the majority of survey respondents are well aware of the potential impact the Olympics pose to network and application performance. Eight-five percent reported that they were “likely” to more closely monitor the performance of their applications and networks, including Wi-Fi. Only two percent stated that they were “very unlikely” to monitor any differently during the Olympics.

IT pros predict that most users (48 percent) will use their desktop or laptop computers to view the Olympics, followed by smartphones (34 percent) and on tablets or other non- smartphone devices (18 percent). But chances are, employees won’t limit themselves to just one device.

The Rio 2016 organizing committee reports that 85 percent of television viewers with online access will use a smartphone or tablet device to feed their appetites for deeper insights, data analysis, shared opinions and access to behind-the-scenes action.

The committee expects about 80 percent of its audience to come from mobile devices. The use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets as a ‘second screen’ to tap into social media networks to watch videos and follow live bloggers while also watching events on computers or TVs will drive social media activity to new highs. Even before the Games began, more than 800,000 people had downloaded the Rio 2016 official app.

We asked respondents if they have experienced at least one issue with their networks, including Wi-Fi, due to employees accessing content during a popular event such as the Olympics. The majority of companies (69 percent) confirmed they have, with 30 percent of these same companies reporting the issues occurred more than once. Companies in the UK have experienced the greatest number of issues, with 79 percent of IT pros admitting they have, compared to 68 percent in Australia, 66 percent in the US and 65 percent in Brazil.

And yet, a majority of all respondents (57 percent) remain unsure of their abilities to protect their applications and bandwidth availability. Although it’s interesting to note that for all the criticism Brazil has received for its unpreparedness as the host country, it’s IT professionals are ready. Brazil is among the countries with higher overall levels of confidence, with 55 percent of its IT pros and 53 percent in the US feeling completely confident, compared to just 38 percent in the UK and 25 percent in Australia.

IT organizations must prepare for the significant increase in network traffic that will occur as a result of employees accessing and streaming online content and applications, and the related increase in volatility of that network demand.

The most common step organizations will take is to limit access via their networks. Seventy percent of companies are considering imposing restrictions on employees trying to access the Olympics through the company network. Twenty-four percent said they will definitely limit content, and 46 percent said they will “probably” do so.

But, this also means that nearly 30 percent will not. IT pros in Brazil (37 percent) and the US (34 percent) are least likely to limit content. Compare that to 27 percent in Australia and 20 percent in the UK. Brazil and the US are also the countries where IT pros are most confident in their abilities to safeguard during high network traffic.

We also discovered a division not related to geography. Larger companies (those with 500+ employees) are also less likely to limit content access this summer. Just 61 percent feel they will, compared to 78 percent of smaller companies.A larger company might mean more network bandwidth – but it also means more employees logging on, and a greater potential for issues.

Implementing strict access control is a good first step, but it’s also important to implement real-time end-to-end monitoring over the entire network and all applications. This will enable IT to more quickly identify the root cause of any issue and fix it.

Additional best practices include:

Prioritizing and optimizing company network traffic while reserving bandwidth for business-critical applications.

– Distinguishing between company assets and BYOD. Allowing BYOD doesn’t mean that employees can bring any device of their choice and be given unmitigated access to the corporate network.

– Bringing siloed IT teams together to plan for any high-priority network events during this time.

– Providing employees TVs for viewing in common areas to ease the load on the network.

Americans are just as likely to watch the Olympics at their desks as they are on their couches at home. This means their employers’ networks will feel the strain. Implement best practices and educate (or re-educate) all employees on how company policy dictates network usage. Help your employees help themselves stay productive by not causing performance issues when they pull themselves away from the Summer Games and get back to work.