Three tips for technologists to cut through data noise

After more than a year of rapid digital transformation in response to the pandemic, many technologists now find themselves struggling to manage soaring volumes of data.

The need to monitor and optimise performance across a spiralling IT estate has left technologists bombarded by overwhelming levels of data coming from every angle. And the situation has been made even more challenging by the huge acceleration in cloud technology implementation over the last 18 months.

In AppDynamics' latest Agents of Transformation study, Agents of Transformation: The Rise of Full-Stack Observability, it was found that 75% of global technologists are now struggling to cope with 'data noise'. Many can't easily identify where IT performance issues are happening and few are able to understand the impact of IT issues on end users.

This lack of insight is leaving them feeling frustrated, working long hours and under intense pressure, constantly having to firefight IT issues.

The worry is that unless technologists can find a way to address this problem, they simply won't be able to deliver the faultless digital experiences and rapid innovation that their organisations need.

So, with that in mind, here are three top tips for technologists to cut through data noise and take a more strategic approach to IT performance and innovation:

1. Get visibility across the entire IT estate

Firstly, organisations need to ensure they have full visibility of health and performance data across the full IT estate, from traditional, legacy IT systems through to new, hybrid cloud environments.

In today's digital-first world, it's absolutely vital to monitor the entire IT stack, from customer-facing applications down to core network and infrastructure. Without this level of full-stack observability, it will be impossible to identify and fix performance issues before they adversely affect customers and the business.

So make sure to have a unified view of the entire IT estate – this provides a solid foundation to take a more strategic approach to performance and innovation.

2. Connect IT performance data with business metrics to identify what really matters

With accurate and comprehensive performance data at every organisation's fingertips, they now need to find a way to navigate through the data deluge and quickly pinpoint the most critical data points.

And to do this, they need the tools to connect IT performance insights with real-time business outcomes, such as customer experience, sales transactions and revenue.

This allows organisations to identify and fix critical issues early before they impact end users, and to prioritise actions and investment based on what really matters to the business.

By contextualising technology performance data with business outcomes, organisations can escape the never-ending cycle of firefighting in the IT department and take a more proactive approach to IT performance digital transformation.

So ensure that a full-stack observability solution allows an organisation to view IT performance data through a business lens so organisations can always make informed decisions based on business impact.

3. Consider how automation could be deployed to monitor data and optimise performance at all times

The sheer volume of additional data that businesses will generate in the coming years is likely to push most IT departments to their limits, even those that have full-stack observability in place. Most current solutions just aren't designed to handle the speed of innovation and level of IT complexity we're now seeing across all sectors.

As with all technologists, organisations are currently reliant on manual interventions to assess IT data and address performance issues.

However, to avoid data overload in the future, and to tackle ongoing complexity, organisations should start to think about the role that automation and AI could play in cutting through data noise to identify and resolve even the smallest technology problems before they impact end users.

Organisations should start to explore how AI can provide organisations with the real-time insights they need to deliver world-class technology performance at all times and to drive game-changing business impact.

So be open to new ideas when it comes to monitoring IT estate and managing performance data to take advantage of new, innovative approaches.