In today’s digital era, data is the force that drives business success, speed, and performance. Companies rely on seamless data transfer and processing to make real-time decisions, improve customer experience, and stay ahead of the competition. But there’s one thing that needs more attention – network latency.

In a digital business, the network is the thing that will greatly affect the smoothness of the transaction process. If latency occurs, the business will be disrupted. What exactly is network latency and what are its impacts on digital business performance? Find out here, complete with solutions.

What is Network Latency?

Network latency refers to the delay that occurs when data packets move from one point to another through a network. Generally, network latency is measured in milliseconds (ms), which represents the time it takes for a data packet to travel from source to destination and back again. 

A delay of a few milliseconds may seem very short and many think it won’t have a big impact. But a delay of a few milliseconds can have a significant impact on data performance, especially in critical applications and real-time scenarios such as online gaming, financial transactions, and video streaming. 

The Impact of Network Latency on Digital Business

Network latency can lead to various challenges and limitations that disrupt data performance. The following are some of the main impacts due to network latency:

1. Slower Data Transfer

High latency will result in slow data transfer speeds, resulting in delays in accessing important information and transferring data sets, especially large ones. Of course, this condition will have a negative impact on work productivity and hinder the real-time decision-making process. 

If it happens in a company, of course this will be very annoying. Especially for job positions that have to transfer data frequently. Whether the data size is small or large, the time needed is longer so that the work that should be done quickly becomes much longer. 

2. Application Response Rate

High latency will have a direct impact on application response. Increased latency can cause delays in various tasks. For example, when loading a web page that should take a few seconds, this time it takes longer. 

Application interactions also become slower, making the user experience when using the application far from satisfactory. It’s not uncommon for app users to get frustrated when it takes too long to load a page and decide to close it and move on to another similar app. 

3. Risk of Data Loss

In environments with high levels of latency, data packets may experience errors. Even worse, data can be lost during the transmission process. Of course, this can result in inconsistent data.

If latency is very high and occurs for a long time, it will greatly affect the integrity of important business information. Companies that experience this may lose their integrity and reputation. Especially if it happens too often, the company’s reputation will be severely compromised. 

4. Inhibits the Performance of Cloud-Based Applications

Network latency can also have an impact on applications that use the cloud. High latency will hinder the performance of cloud applications, resulting in a decrease in application productivity. Slow performance will certainly greatly affect the loss of revenue. 

5. Inhibits Real-time Communication

Especially for applications that rely heavily on real-time communication such as video conferencing, high latency will greatly hinder the process. What is disrupted can be both audio and video. Both will be intermittent and communication will not be smooth. Of course, productivity will be severely compromised. 

6. Disrupts Competitive Level

Digital business is a highly competitive market. Rivals in similar industries will replace our company quickly when our company’s network experiences high latency. Especially if the competitor’s company has low latency. They are able to provide the best customer experience that is difficult for our company to provide. 

In a digital business, it is very important to have a system that responds faster than competitors. It will be more recognized in a competitive industry, and customer loyalty will be higher than other companies with high latency. 

Solutions to Network Latency 

Network latency is one of the crucial factors in a company’s performance, especially those that rely heavily on digital business. Companies that plan to optimize data performance and ensure operations run smoothly can consider the following solutions:

1. Network Optimization

Networks can be optimized in the following ways:

  • Implement Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms to prioritize data traffic and reduce data traffic and reduce latency for some critical applications. 
  • Utilize Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to cache and deliver data from nearby servers, minimizing the distance that data packets need to travel. 
  • Use traffic shaping techniques to control bandwidth usage and minimize congestion, resulting in reduced latency and a smoother network. 

2. Infrastructure Upgrade

The second solution is to improve the infrastructure, the method is as follows:

  • Upgrade network equipment and infrastructure to take advantage of faster technologies, such as fiber optic cables and higher bandwidth connections. 
  • Ensure proper network design and configuration, optimize routing paths to minimize latency and increase data transfer speeds. 
  • Implement redundancy and failover mechanisms to mitigate the impact of network failures and reduce the risk of downtime.

3. Monitoring and Analysis

The third method is network monitoring and analysis which can be done in the following ways:

  • Implement network monitoring tools to continuously measure and analyze latency levels, find bottlenecks, and areas for improvement. 
  • Monitor the network and adjust the network configuration to optimize data flow and reduce latency levels. 
  • Assess network performance regularly using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure that latency is not too high. So even if it does, latency remains within acceptable limits. 

So that digital business performance is always safe and does not result in losses, make sure to always monitor the network. Netmonk presents Netmonk Prime, a network monitoring solution, which can help maintain the network proactively.

Netmonk is easy to use and quick to set up, registration is only enough to do once using an IP address. All device data will be displayed immediately. The IT team’s work will also be made easier by working with Netmonk. 

Reference:

https://utilitiesone.com/understanding-the-impact-of-network-latency-on -data-performance