Intelligent Tech Channels Issue 01 | Page 47

INTELLIGENT CLOUD Businesses are not only storing information in the cloud as well as on local systems, creating what are known as hybrid environments, but they are also enabling local and remote employees to access that data from an increasing number of connected devices, including smartphones, laptops and tablets. As a result, monitoring the performance of all the applications and systems that run across hybrid networks has become more and more difficult, costly and timeconsuming for IT. Users expect anytime, anywhere access to applications, and expect performance levels to remain high. When this is not so, users feel frustrated and confused. Worse still, most IT managers frequently feel in the dark about why their enterprise applications are running slowly. Executives can then add to the problem by trying to work around it. It is increasingly common for employees to use unsupported applications when corporate applications run slowly or stop working altogether, thus adding to infrastructure complexity with more shadow IT. Better visibility by IT staff into application performance can help close the application performance gap, resulting in improved productivity, customer service, product quality, employee engagement and revenue. For this, IT needs end-to-end, real-time visibility across the entire network and all the applications running on it. Organisations should follow these four steps before migrating their applications to the cloud: #1 Understand performance constraints Network and application performance monitoring solutions enable IT to quickly identify and address any potential performance limitations. #2 Optimise network constraints Determine how to overcome potential bottlenecks such as distance, latency, loss and disconnections. These often are the largest performance constraint in today’s cloud-centric global economy. #3 Identify inefficiencies Not all applications are of equal importance, and therefore, not all require IT to allocate equal amounts of bandwidth. IT should determine whether it’s over-provisioning and wasting bandwidth to non-critical applications. applications are performing, whether they are on-premise or in the cloud can ensure that IT stays on top of network blockages. #4 Implement performance dashboard Implementing a real-time performance dashboard with advanced analytics enables IT to quickly detect and remedy issues. As organisations migrate their on-premise applications to the cloud, and as user’s expectations for optimal performance continue to grow, closing the application performance gap is taking centre stage. However, if IT cannot stay in control and move quickly to resolve application performance issues, the gap will remain open. Providing a clear view of how all Taj ElKhayat is Regional Vice President, Middle East and Africa at Riverbed Technology 47