Using WMI To Enhance Network Visibility And Streamline Operational Management

Many IT departments are expected to maintain business operations effectively, but often with limited resources, leaving little time to implement proactive processes and procedures to minimize their exposure to threats. Small and Medium Businesses (SMB's) are even further restricted by strict budget requirements and IT tasks are often fulfilled by someone in a dual role with little in-depth knowledge.

With so many business and IT requirements to be met, overstretched IT staff find it hard to implement and maintain both security solutions and manage the network. The solution to this problem is to assist IT staff in simplifying and automating repetitive manual tasks, helping to improve the overall security of the network and aid in compliance reporting.

As a company grows, the addition of new employees, systems, and office applications also increases the complexity of an organization's network. The addition of each new desktop, laptop or server must be managed by existing IT staff, reducing the ability to maintain control and complicates efforts to visualize what is really happening in the network. To be proactive, and to work smarter, IT departments must ensure they have simple and effective tools that can help automate repetitive and manual IT tasks, in addition to providing better visibility of the devices and applications needed to maintain their business. Automated tools can quickly expose security holes – such as unauthorized use of rogue applications or unknown devices running services that further expose an organization to potential security risks including data leakage, malware infections and virus outbreaks.