Network Pros Rely on AI to Manage Complex Networks Amidst Staff Shortages

Network professionals are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence (AI) to manage their complex networks. According to a recent report from Cisco and Omdia, 80% of network pros are comfortable granting AI a high or fully autonomous role in network operations.

The survey found that three-quarters of the 1,000 IT and network operations leaders surveyed use AI in some fashion for network operations. However, many respondents expressed concerns about relying too heavily on AI without proper guardrails in place.

Cisco is proposing its new Cloud Control platform as a solution to address these concerns. The platform provides a unified view and management plane for networking, security, compute, observability, and collaboration solutions, and applies agentic AI to diagnose and resolve issues, including those that cross domains.