Extra tags: data
Authored by: Dhiraj Goklani, VP of ITOA and Observability Sales at Splunk
For many CIOs, the start of the pandemic and the many months spent doing things differently in preparation for the ‘new normal’ provided an opportunity to overhaul their organisation’s IT at breakneck speed. Wealth management organisations, for example, took to virtual advisory; heavy engineering maintenance crews embraced augmented reality solutions, and courts around the world leveraged video conferencing solutions for trials.
The swift move to IT separates those with a strong business continuity plan in place and those without. In most instances, however, it can be argued that digitisation has come on the shoulders of significant investments in the Cloud. It has also triggered allied investments in Observability platforms and even forced swift adoption of new practices like DevSecOps. The edge computing and serverless motions set in 2020 and 2021 will also gain momentum in 2022 to reach critical mass and create a whole new dimension in the digital space.
Despite the lack of talent, organisations have managed to leverage these technologies to deliver better experiences to all stakeholders. Therefore, in 2022, the focus will be optimising the cloud, leveraging data for transparency, automation to gain an edge, and making a conscious effort to prioritise security and data governance.
Gaining clarity into the future
Let’s take a step back and visualise the past, to gain some clarity into the future.
Over the past two years, innumerable retailers, banks, fintechs, pharmaceutical companies, and even entertainment giants have launched web and mobile applications to engage with customers, keeping businesses running via their e-platforms. Behind the scenes, there has been a great investment in the cloud.
At the start of the pandemic, even the simplest of digital capabilities was greatly appreciated by customers. Over time, the experience became critical which meant guaranteeing uptime and availability. In the coming months, companies will want to gain greater control and visibility over their applications.
Given the sheer volume of data that these applications generate, from inventory to payment information and personal details, there is also an emphasis on security.
Observability is the next battleground for customer experience
Observability makes it possible for organisations to see into their network and architecture to dissect an application’s performance relative to its users, in real-time.
Modern applications exist in a stateless, serverless, cloud-based world, and a plethora of data is constantly generated. As a result, collecting logs, metrics, and the tracing of data aren’t easy. It’s not something that businesses can collect from the tools provided to them by their cloud vendors.
Organisations that want to gain access to all the right data need a great Observability platform - one that speaks across any environment. That’s non-negotiable in the new normal.
An Observability platform allows IT teams to treat customers as an observable component across their journey. It’s what will deliver the last mile advantage in the race to cloud maturity and delightful customer experiences. The impact that observability can deliver, especially as applications scale to serve a myriad of users is significant.
The retailers, banks and financial services, fintechs, and other sectors highlighted earlier – for example – will be able to see which users are struggling to access their applications. Companies can dissect the data to understand the issues their customers are facing and remediate them in real-time. The early analysis allows companies to avoid losing the customer to a competitor and to ensure sales aren’t negatively impacted. Having a good Observability platform also means IT teams can focus on resolution instead of hunting for the root cause. For any CIO, that’s a beautiful result in and of itself.
In Southeast Asia, digital banks and fintech companies exemplify these trends and are already reaping the rewards gained from observability.
Organisations will adopt DevSecOps or face a heightened risk of being breached
In the new normal, we’ve established that observability will be the norm – and so will security. The move to the cloud is indicative of another shift; organisations are overhauling their IT infrastructure to become more agile, flexible, and resilient. The vision is to support a smarter future where cutting-edge technologies in corporate, commercial, and other physical spaces thrive.
Think IoT-enabled robots for the retailer’s warehouse, smart security cameras for the pharmaceutical company’s labs, and 5G-enabled services for the entertainment giants.
With attack surfaces increasing, the adoption of DevSecOps is clearly set to be a priority in the next year.
So far, organisations have attempted to weave it in at the final stages of application development. In the coming months, there will be an urgency for security thinking to be adopted right from the start. Embracing DevSecOps will reinforce, among developers, a sense of duty when creating new software, making choices that positively impact the security of the code and the application.
To ensure a smooth start, organisations can adopt the key principle of moving security from the last step of software development to the first and provide tools and training — bringing the responsibility to developers.
Prepare for a true paradigm shift in digital
The phrase ‘paradigm shift’ is thrown around quite often, often without much meaning. When speaking about changes in the digital space, those words aptly emphasise the scale and scope of changes ahead of us.
It’s an era of reinvention, and companies need the right tools and mindset to prepare themselves.
Facebook is now Meta, and Square is now Block. These organisations are re-branding and reinventing themselves, preparing for the next generation of digital, and are placing a great emphasis on DevSecOps and observability to harness the full potential of their true digital selves.
Edge computing and serverless, therefore, make a lot more sense in the new era of technology, as does the renewed focus on the cloud, infrastructure automation, data governance, and security. Together, they enable today’s digital platforms to be more intuitive and immersive than ever before. All of these are paramount to preparing organisations to survive in the new digital era.
