AppDynamics, a part of Cisco, today released ‘Agents of Transformation 2021:The Rise of Full-Stack Observability’, the latest edition of its global research study, exploring the impact of the rapid acceleration of Digital Transformation created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the repercussions for global technologists.
The findings revealed a dramatic increase in IT complexity caused by the need for urgent innovation — and the resulting technology sprawl. The research also validated a pressing need for full-stack observability with added business context to help technologists manage the IT estate, cut through the data ‘noise’ and observe what matters most to their business.
The shift to digital-first business models to weather the storm and minimise the commercial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, has placed technologists at the forefront of their organisations’ response. According to the research, this forced a three times acceleration of Digital Transformation projects. Unsurprisingly, technologists found themselves under considerable strain, with 89% reportedly feeling under immense pressure at work and 84% admitting to having difficulty switching off. Furthermore, many technologists expressed feeling frustrated about work (81%) and experiencing increased levels of conflict with colleagues (63%).
The new research goes on to highlight that rapid Digital Transformation has added staggering technical complexity throughout IT departments, with technologists listing the following factors as key contributors:
- A new set of priorities and challenges (80%)
- Technology sprawl and a patchwork of legacy and cloud technologies (78%)
- Acceleration to cloud computing (77%)
- Multiple, disconnected monitoring solutions (74%)
“Full-stack observability is the only way technologists can deal with the sprawling IT estate and increased complexity created by such rapid rates of innovation. But on its own, it’s just not enough,” said Linda Tong, Vice President and General Manager, Cisco AppDynamics. “Technologists have recognised that without business context, they will quickly find themselves drowning in complexity and data noise. As a part of Cisco, AppDynamics is uniquely positioned to leverage the breadth of Cisco’s domain expertise in network, application, infrastructure and security – while also providing the business context they are known for. The AppDynamics Business Observability platform will enable technologists to better prioritise and deliver the biggest impact for their business.”
This rise in IT complexity has significantly increased the amount of data created across the technology stack, from the application, through the infrastructure to the network and security. With this added complexity, 85% of technologists state that quickly cutting through noise caused by the ever-increasing volumes of data to identify root causes of performance issues will represent a significant challenge in the year ahead. With 75% of those polled stating they are already struggling to manage overwhelming ‘data noise’, technologists are desperate for a unified solution to enable real-time visibility across the entire IT estate.
