At its core, network maintenance constitutes all the tasks and systems in place to monitor, update and run your organization’s computer network before problems strike. That “network” itself involves your entire portfolio of physical IT assets, like the hardware and servers, and non-physical IT assets, like the software and cloud access. This is also known as your IT ecosystem. Similar to other business functions, a healthy IT ecosystem relies on proactive, daily activities and strategic foresight rather than reactive adjustments or ad-hoc, spur-of-the-moment patches.

The basic tenets of maintaining your network and the basis of a successful regular network maintenance plan typically include the following: