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Simply Tech
Curing slow connections
Get to know the likely culprits
By Kate Stencel
Having your head in the clouds used to be a bad thing, but the march of technology convinces us that The Cloud is now the place to be. And like most popular destinations, The Cloud is more enjoyable when you can avoid anything that interferes with your reason for being there.
Nearly all computer users spend time in The Cloud—which, in plain terms, simply means we use the Internet. Ever-increasing numbers of insurance professionals appreciate that using Internet-based technology, like an agency management system, allows them to focus energy and resources on the actual business of insurance instead of wrangling IT issues like updating software and maintaining high-quality data backup.
Users occasionally say online applications are "slow" or they experience "latency issues." In the normal course of business for entities that rely on technology, incidents sometimes occur. With tongue firmly in cheek, professionals in this line of work like to say, "IT happens." And it takes IT professionals to efficiently manage any such occurrences. Sometimes, slowness can be traced to an occurrence where the application is hosted. A good technology vendor/host employs monitoring and all the other IT safeguards that your business deserves. So if performance issues are related to specific apps, the respective technology vendor has the trained and best-qualified resources to manage issues as they occur and keep you informed along the way.
But it's important to also understand that slowness in an Internet-based system could have causes rooted in—well, the Internet. Armed with a basic understanding of the usual culprits, you can help identify the offending issue and take steps to resolve it, so agency employees can remain focused on insurance. Even more important, you can plan appropriately to avoid some situations that could result in temporarily slowing down your technology and your business. So here are a few basic considerations that should help you avoid slow performance in your system. They also serve as checkpoints when and if you encounter slowness.
Sufficient Internet bandwidth. Without enough bandwidth for your needs, data must wait to be transmitted. Think about a crowd of fans making their way through the gates at a baseball stadium: The number of open turnstiles determines how quickly the crowd gets in. With only so many gates, fans must wait their turn to pass through.
You should know precisely how much bandwidth you need for your online system. But what about any other Internet bandwidth you might already be using? It's a good idea to schedule regular reviews of usage statistics and latency issues with your Internet service provider.
Among the uses that consume high percentages of bandwidth:
• Watching and listening to any multimedia over the Internet. Browsing the Internet? Listening to Internet-based radio? Streaming audio and/or video is a great Internet capability, but be sure you have the bandwidth.
• VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Some Internet connections have both voice and data traffic going across the same lines. If so, voice traffic usually has priority, which means data might have to wait.
• E-mail traffic takes up bandwidth if your office has an in-house e-mail server and accesses e-mail remotely, or if you have your e-mail hosted elsewhere but you access it locally.
An additional note on bandwidth: Offices generally have enough bandwidth for data download but often not enough for data upload. If you're just browsing the Internet, you want speedy download. But upload speed is just as important in your online business environment, because your connection sends a lot of data both ways. Signs of insufficient upload speed: pauses after mouse clicks or delays between when you strike a key and when you see the corresponding character on your screen.
If you run business-critical applications like VoIP or your agency management system over the Internet, you should strongly consider a business-class Internet circuit. Business-class circuits offer many features, including service level agreements, 24/7 support and higher speed circuits, all contributing to a superior online application experience.
Unsecured network. You may think you know how your network bandwidth is being consumed. For instance, you might know that your 15 users don't watch video. But if your wireless network is unsecured, there could be more activity on it than you realize. An unsecured wireless network allows outside parties to tap into the network and use your Internet bandwidth.
Third-party connections. The connection between your office and any cloud or hosted application is passed between multiple devices in varying locations. Connectivity tools often refer to these devices as "hops." There can be any number of hops, from two to 30, between your local area network and your hosting vendor. Each hop has the potential to affect your experience with the Internet application.
On the upside, these hops and the connections between them are very redundant and highly available. On the rare occasions an Internet backbone device experiences an error, traffic usually is automatically re-routed, and users experience only a brief service disruption. When a problem occurs on a hop on your path to your provider, there isn't much you can or need to do. Sometimes after a problem, however, your traffic might be permanently re-directed over a less desirable path, and you could experience performance issues. Your Internet service provider can help troubleshoot this type of issue.
Local service problems or line maintenance. You could experience severe slowness or no connection at all if your Internet service provider is having problems at a routing station, or if one of the provider's lines is damaged. Expect the same issues if similar problems arise among the Internet backbone lines operated nationwide by multiple service providers. Have ready access to your Internet service provider's network status page, and check it often.
In-house hardware issues.
•Antivirus/firewall. If you're scanning information in real time, these necessary goodies could be slowing down information coming from the URLs your agency is connecting to. In many cases, it's best to run antivirus scans after hours so the network and station can run at peak performance levels. A properly configured hardware firewall at the point your office network connects to the Internet can protect an entire office. It can eliminate the need to run a software firewall that consumes resources on each workstation.
•Improper router. Switches/routers have capacity limits. If you increase the number of users, or if users increase their use of Internet applications, you might be exceeding the capabilities of the device. Often, the consequence is slowness or dropped connections.
Beyond the considerations addressed here, keep in mind the reality of operating computers: Hundreds of processes and services are running on your computers, even if no programs are open. Some processes are necessary to the functioning of your operating system. Others are required for various applications. All of them could play a role in slowing down your work. But none of them should be insurmountable obstacles to enjoying the advantages of operating online systems. With proper planning and a little knowledge of what to look for, you can be confident that slow performance will be a rare and short-lived occurrence as you do business in your online environment.
The author
Kate Stencel is a supervisor in Online Solutions Management at Applied Systems, Inc.
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