Effective IT infrastructure monitoring is one of the most basic and necessary requirements for any IT department today. No matter how big or small your business, IT is a mission-critical asset, no exceptions, and as such, we suggest that having an effective IT infrastructure monitoring solution is not an option, it is essential.

The challenge
Up until now, IT infrastructure monitoring has followed two models. The first is to buy a complex monitoring system from the ‘big four’ IT companies, typically requiring a big investment upfront, then it is installed and the rest is (essentially) up to you. This approach usually results in massive challenges for IT teams, because making even the smallest change is a headache – like trying to find and add a new device or service to monitor.

The systems are just so big and complex, with the experts often inaccessible, that the result is usually frustration and wasted time.

The other option is to download Open Source framework tools, and then have your in-house IT team enhance, code or develop the tool. The major fallback with this approach is changes often do not apply to the core system, and as such, tend to be cosmetic – essentially, open source is not easily configurable. We can’t forget, of course, that this approach also relies heavily on individuals, so if an employee leaves a company, it can be a disaster for the infrastructure monitoring team.

There are other off-the-shelf monitoring tools, which we believe are limited in terms of being very technology specific, and usually designed on a framework that can’t scale-up enterprise-wide. Some tools, based on SNMP, are focused on network technology, without consideration and support for other technologies such as storage, servers, databases and applications. And then other tools might just focus on Microsoft technology and not work across a multi-vendor platform. As most vendors have multi-vendor IT infrastructure, this is a very ad-hoc approach, which is unmanageable in the long term.

And then we have another issue – a trend where companies moved to an outsourced model, but the problem is, many have been burnt by this experience because they lost control.

We believe IT teams must be in a position to add value to their “customer” and focus on delivering business solutions that support an organisations’ goal. If it’s an insurance company, the IT team needs to be in a position to support its success in selling insurance services. A hospital IT department needs to make sure the IT infrastructure enables doctors, nurses and specialists to deliver world-class care to patients. We could go on, but suffice to say, current monitoring models are not allowing IT teams to focus on delivering business value.

Infrastructure monitoring is such a vital and core requirement, but it does not need to be done in-house, nor do enterprises need to buy the big complex systems that are just making IT delivery harder.

So What is Infrastructure Monitoring Nirvana?
We believe it should deliver the flexibility of in-house development, with the ease of working with an outsourced provider that delivers a very mature and complete monitoring framework, all at a very low cost, and best of all, delivered as a ‘Service.’

The reality is, it takes a lot of effort to monitor IT infrastructure, as technology is changing all the time. A monitoring system is an on-going concern that must constantly evolve as an organisation evolves. You can’t just buy it and expect it to be an appropriate solution for the next five, 10 or 20 years. Technology is changing all the time, and as such, the flexibility to monitor your IT infrastructure must move at the same pace. That is why Infrastructure Monitoring as a Service (IMaaS) makes so much sense.

We talk to CIOs and IT managers every day, and the one reality they all face is very few resources to cover a HUGE number of responsibilities and tasks – which includes monitoring 100s or 1000s of services and devices every day. IT departments are frustrated as they are continually expected to do more with less, and because frustration is high, professional satisfaction amongst IT teams is very low. IMaaS can alleviate this.

This is the approach today. It is different to how it has been done in the past, is much needed, is definitely long overdue, and we see this as the way smart businesses will monitor IT infrastructure.

What are the benefits of IMaaS?

• Frees-up IT professionals to deliver services that ensures their business flourishes
• Gets IT professionals out of fire-fighting mode and proactively contributing to business growth
• Reduces operational costs, internal frustrations and reduces IT complexity
• Means IT teams can react to problems BEFORE they occur
• Allows a company to manage the performance of all IT-controlled assets, including real-time insights into IT performance, which reduces down-time
• You can perform optimally on-site, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment
• And you will reduce your overall IT costs, which means you can invest in more strategic IT assets and it can all be seamlessly integrated into the monitoring service

What are the technology benefits?

• All the benefits of a fully outsourced managed services model, which means removing all the disadvantages of doing it yourself
• Plug it in and go – it really should be that easy
• No intensive training required
• Monitor and measure every aspect of your IT – networks, infrastructure, applications, devices and people – onsite, in the cloud or in a heterogeneous environment
• Add new devices, applications, networks or infrastructure and it will be seamlessly integrated into the IMaaS service – you grow, the service supports that
• Real-time, end-to-end integrated management in a multi-vendor and heterogeneous environment
• Auto-discovery of network devices, applications and services, along with an intuitive display of network and service topologies in a real-time Web-based view
• Agent-less and agent-based monitoring of your infrastructure, applications, real and synthetic end-user transactions, SNMP networks, configuration changes, business metrics and custom information

A company who delivers IMaaS knows the technology inside out. They are the experts. BUT it is the cost efficiency that comes with it being delivered as a service that makes sense. In addition, when subscribing to a service, the service provider is responsible for delivering the latest and greatest version, they are committed to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that must be achieved and they know the technology and can make appropriate changes as change or upgrades become necessary. It makes so much sense.

The best bit? Happier end-users, as they’ll have access to services when and how they want them, and they’ll be taken out of the “monitoring feedback chain” – in fact, they won’t even know there are any problems. This is an important part of the IMaaS story, because the customer complaints alone are causing a lot of dissatisfaction and unhappiness amongst IT professionals.

Simple benefits of IMaaS

• Reduced ICT costs and complexity
• Decreased TCO
• No more messy upgrades – evolves with your business needs
• Outsourced but in-sourced gives you complete control
• Meet your internal KPIs
• Reduce risk and compliance
• Less reliance on individuals
• Makes IT more efficient
• Delivers IT professional satisfaction
• Keeps you running 24×7
• Takes away a headache you don’t need to have

Summing Up
The current financial model most enterprises adopt with infrastructure monitoring is CAPEX – where you suffer big upfront costs while making an investment for the long-term. IMaaS is OPEX, where you decide what you need today and pay a monthly fee based on the services and support required. Enterprises are moving towards an OPEX approach with all ICT investments, and IMaaS is definitely part of this momentum.

IMaaS isn’t sexy. It’s not even something you are aware of. It’s running in the background, making sure your system is running 24×7. If you think of other great technology evolutions – email, the Internet, Google, Smart Phones, and so on – can you remember how you managed before? That is how IMaaS will soon be regarded – CIOs and IT teams will wonder how they ever managed without it. End-users of technology will just expect this level of service from the IT team

It’s here, it’s now, and it really will make the world of difference to IT productivity and satisfaction. We definitely recommend IT teams get on with it, as it will only make your lives easier. It will change the way you work and what you focus on, and as too many customers have told us – IMaaS enables IT teams to sleep peacefully – do read our Panasonic case study for proof of this statement. With the monitoring service always operating in the background, our customers’ know their system is working, and if there is a problem, they’ll be alerted, and the alert will be escalated until action is taken. It’s that simple.

Cheers
The NetGain Team