IT Transformation Requires Total Network Visibility
by Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Management, Enterprise Management Associates
Enterprises have maintained business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic by accelerating IT transformation. Cloud migration expanded because demand for new digital applications coincided with disruptions to on-premises data center operations. For instance, a surge of online retail forced companies to use the cloud to scale up new customer-facing applications.
SD-WAN adoption accelerated because enterprises needed to simplify, automate, and secure evolving WAN connectivity requirements. For instance, SD-WAN has enabled rapid change, providing critical network connectivity to government agencies and healthcare organizations to connect temporary sites for virus testing, hospital overflow, and vaccination centers.
Finally, the global expansion of working from home required network transformation at the user edge. Enterprises have had to scale up secure remote access infrastructure and add new solutions like secure access service edge (SASE) to ensure that home workers can work securely and productively.
By its very nature, any transformation is disruptive. Change introduces risk, and the best way to reduce risk is total visibility. IT operations teams need to monitor change as it happens to ensure that transformation projects proceed as expected. My research practice has been focused on this visibility requirement for years, but the pandemic has only intensified the demand for operational excellence during IT transformation.
IT operations teams must think about this visibility requirement as a three-stage process. First, they must use their network monitoring tools to baseline the legacy network prior to transformation. They need to set application performance and user experience expectations before any IT transformation kicks off. Next, they must monitor the network as the transformation occurs. As changes are implemented, tools can reveal how they deviate from baseline expectations and help the implementation team optimize changes. Finally, IT operations must closely monitor the network post-transformation to ensure that the transformed infrastructure performs as expected.
On March 24th leading network performance management company AppNeta will join me for a webinar on how enterprises can ensure they that they have the right visibility in place to support IT transformation. Join us to learn:
- How to ensure you have the right tools to support the visibility requirements of IT transformation.
- How you can use these tools to support IT transformation project like cloud migration, SD-WAN implementation, and work-from-anywhere initiatives.
- What kinds of challenges you should prepare for as you enable transformation.
