Unified Goals of Network Engineers and CISOs: User Group Takeaways

When you get senior network engineers from world-class enterprises like Coca-Cola, Cox Automotive and The Home Depot, in a room together – and toss in a round of golf – you get some great insights into their daily challenges, concerns, and long-term goals.

The BlueCat Atlanta User Group did just that. We gathered network engineers from a number of sectors to learn more about their day-to-day responsibilities and how they support their CISOs.

The goals of CISOs and those of the network engineer aren’t particularly different. While the CISO is concerned with the more overarching, holistic goals of the company’s IT infrastructure, it’s the network professionals who implement solutions to support those goals.

From quickly executing network changes, to expanding the view of the network, to the ever-increasing concerns of malicious cyber attacks, all of our participants’ IT concerns were undeniably similar. No matter what their professional background, automation, efficiency, and security were key topics of conversation with their management.

When the CISO asks for automation…

Today, automation is not only preferred, it’s expected. And as one of our participants said, “if someone asks twice, it’s time to automate.” There was a lot of conversation regarding API scripts to help automate processes, and many of our network professionals mentioned the importance of virtualizing machines for better network management.

Adaptive DNS ultimately allows teams to better manage daily operations and reduce admin time. And since global enterprises regularly manage networks across different geographies, our Adaptive DNS API helps ease the pain of combining networks in mergers and acquisitions.

When the CISO asks for efficiency…

When it comes to efficiency, all our participants stressed the need for (and importance of) network virtualization. For network professionals and CISOs alike, high availability, as well as the ability to quickly transition services, are crucial. Networks are more fluid than ever. Businesses must turn on a dime and require tools that will help them with overlapping IP addresses, the growing pains of mergers and acquisitions, and facilitate the consolidation of IP addresses into a single, coherent and responsive network.

When the CISO asks about security…

With the number of large-scale breaches that have made the nightly news recently, security is a growing concern for both CISOs and network professionals. Malicious attacks are particularly common in east-west traffic. In fact, internal, lateral activity poses the biggest risk. Robust network security – especially internal to the organization – is at the top of everyone’s must-have list.

The diversity of our User Group provided great insight into the day-to-day lives of both CISOs and network professionals. Thanks to our incredible group of participants, we learned that network engineers and CISO’s are perfectly aligned when it comes to focusing on increasing efficiency, security, and automation.