Intelligent Tech Channels Issue 42 | Page 16

EDITOR ’ S COMMENT

IT TEAMS ARE AT RISK OF BEING OVERWHELMED BY COMPLEXITY

DAVID NOËL , REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT , EMEA , APPDYNAMICS
Last year saw three times innovation as enterprises pivoted to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic . But the innovation gains of 2020 are set to stall and falter if technologists don ’ t get access to the skills and tools they need to sustain innovation further in 2021 and beyond . David Noël , Regional Vice President , Southern Europe , Middle East and Africa ( EMEA ), AppDynamics , explores the conditions that have led to this situation , the complexity which now exists across the IT estate and the solutions and response which will help technologists lead their organisations out of this potential disaster .

After more than a year of urgent and rapid Digital Transformation in response to the global pandemic , technologists across the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) now find themselves struggling to manage spiralling levels of complexity within the IT department .

In our latest Agents of Transformation report , Agents of Transformation 2021 : The Rise of Full-Stack Observability , 79 % of UAE technologists claimed that their response to COVID-19 has created more IT complexity than they have ever experienced . the pandemic has seen organisations develop and launch new digital services at breakneck speed , while accelerating their cloud computing initiatives to add greater agility and resilience to their IT operations . AppDynamics research found that the average speed of Digital Transformation has been three times faster since the beginning of the pandemic .
But while these Digital Transformation projects have undoubtedly delivered on their objectives – many businesses simply wouldn ’ t exist today if they hadn ’ t – they have also left technologists dealing with a sprawling IT estate , across a patchwork of legacy and cloud technologies .
With heightened pressure to deliver faultless digital experiences to customers and employees at all times , technologists have recognised the need to monitor the full IT estate , from customerfacing applications through to third party services and core infrastructure such as network and security . But this enhanced monitoring has meant that technologists are now facing soaring volumes of data from up and down their IT stack and this “ data noise ” is further adding to the complexity which is now engulfing many IT departments .
A lack of visibility is increasing complexity
Unfortunately , many technologists find themselves without the tools they need to cut through complexity and turn this mass of data into meaningful and actionable insights . They don ’ t have the visibility they need to monitor performance across their IT estate and to identify issues early so they can be fixed before they impact end-users .
Our research found that as many as 85 % of UAE technologists are still relying on multiple , disconnected monitoring solutions – 11 %
Complexity across a sprawling IT estate
The need to meet dramatically changed customer and employee demands during
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