Monitoring the technological infrastructure of companies is no longer an option, but an imperative to guarantee business continuity, among other benefits. It is a set of software tools that continuously analyze the «health» of the different components that make up the IT outlook of an organization.

From server to cloud

What can be monitored? From networks and servers to virtual machines and from structures in the cloud and applications to databases, web services and security, passing through a great etcetera. The more comprehensive the monitoring strategy, the better the results, since the increasingly complex IT infrastructure behaves like a system of gears in which a failure in one segment can cause a failure in others related to it.

Monitoring strategies can point in different directions. In general, they seek to guarantee maximum performance or ensure the availability of equipment, although they are also applied to lower maintenance costs, manage highly distributed environments or to analyze integration problems between different technologies.

Barriers to monitoring

Obstacles that must be crossed at the beginning of the project? Sometimes, the lack of specific knowledge about the concept or the tools implemented can cause the solution to be underutilized and the results estimated at the beginning are not achieved. Similarly, as it is a mature concept, there are numerous practices that can be applied to maximize the benefits of its implementation. For all this, both the training of the personnel involved in the subject, as well as the accompaniment of a specialized technological partner, are key.

One of the great benefits of monitoring solutions is their predictive ability: it is not just about attacking problems when they already occur – and they generate the highest costs – but also to anticipate them. Systems often include early warning mechanisms for this purpose.

 Step by step 

The first step to advance a monitoring strategy is to carry out an infrastructure survey: an activity that allows identifying legacy problems, optimizing flows and automating processes that range from managing workloads to updating software tools in the user devices. In many cases, it will be necessary to propose a reengineering of processes to correct pre-existing deficiencies that could obstruct the correct development of the monitoring.

Then, it will be necessary to determine what aspects of the infrastructure will enter the strategy. It can be done in a staggered manner, starting with a project that ensures a quick return on investment. For example, monitoring solutions are more than proven in the area of ​​reducing downtime to almost zero. Of course, at all times it must be clear that it is a dynamic situation, which will have to be reviewed and updated every time there are changes in the IT infrastructure.

In this sense, an investment aimed at this objective would allow the quick understanding of the value of the solution and aim to incorporate more and more aspects towards the maximum objective: 100% automated monitoring.

Availability, efficiency, end-to-end visibility, failure prevention, increased security, reduced downtime, better customer and employee experience… These are just a few benefits that companies can realize when they put their IT infrastructure down for an attentive, automatic and intelligent look.