The power of full-stack observability

The reimagining of Australian organisations in the digital age has seen many invest in digital transformation initiatives. This includes the development of complex infrastructures and updating of legacy applications to incorporate multi cloud, virtual and cloud native capabilities. Ultimately, IT pros must manage diverse, complex and distributed networks, including cloud, system, application and database infrastructures.

To rein in the resulting complexity, organisations tend to amass monitoring and managing tools. The goal is to simplify systems oversight — but instead, silos tend to develop because teams use a wide variety of tools to manage their networks or infrastructures.

This piecemeal approach worsens operational blind spots and delays problem resolution. It also increases security exposures. Soon, overwhelmed IT pros can’t keep pace with app modernisation or infrastructure dynamics because they’re awash in complexity.

Though this scenario is common, it’s not inevitable. IT teams can ease their digital transformation journey by implementing an integrated and cost-effective full-stack, end-to-end monitoring service capable of overcoming complexity and silos.

Now is the time for Australian organisations to adopt full-stack observability.

The difference between observability and traditional monitoring

Observability transcends the limitations of traditional monitoring. IT pros utilise traditional monitoring to grasp the actual state of their organisation’s applications and infrastructure. It collects and processes volumes of infrastructure and application telemetry data and notifications and displays which components are up, down or have changed.

Usually, traditional monitoring focuses on a specific network, cloud or infrastructure. It tracks application and infrastructure elements so IT pros can identify anomalies and investigate problems as they arise.

Monitoring relies on metrics-oriented dashboards built to assess telemetry data against manual or basic statistically relevant thresholds. Monitoring tools are invaluable, but they don’t offer cross-domain correlation, service delivery insight, operational dependencies or predictability. Modern systems have complex multi-cloud environments and a deluge of telemetry data: this counts as a shortfall.

Observability does more. It measures the internal states of systems by examining the outputs and looks at applications and systems in their entirety — from the end-user experience to server-side metrics and logs.

But observability also includes monitoring as a critical element. To gain observability, you must first collect information through monitoring. Observability uses the insights and metrics generated through monitoring to understand what’s causing the issue at hand.

Monitoring aggregates and displays the data to determine whether the systems are operating as expected. The analysis of this information is compared with expected outcomes and objectives. This allows IT pros to understand the state of their infrastructure and applications.

Hence, silos are avoided as complex environments are seen in their entirety.

How observability works

Once established, observability enables IT organisations to continuously improve performance, availability and digital experience across complex, diverse and distributed hybrid and cloud environments.

Observability allows organisations to quickly find and resolve anomalies. However, full-stack observability goes beyond monitoring and expedited problem resolution: it supplies insights, automated analytics and actionable intelligence through cross-domain data correlation, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps). It works across massive real-time and historical metrics, logs and trace data.

Observability goes beyond the silos and the piecemeal approach associated with traditional monitoring. And when observability isn’t limited — when it includes ML and AIOps — it utilises the large volume of gathered data and supplies insights, automated analytics and actionable intelligence to help IT staff expedite problem resolution. It also enables ITOps, DevOps and security organisations to achieve consistent, optimised and predictable business service delivery with continuously improved digital experience and IT productivity.

The result is customers and employees benefit from better-run systems. The technology provides organisations of all sizes and industries with comprehensive, integrated and cost-effective functionality through cloud-connected on-premises or software as a service (SaaS) deployment flexibility.

When embarking on digital transformation journeys, observability is the key to reducing complexities. No organisation requires further complexity when updating their legacy applications and adding a plethora of modern services and capabilities to their stack. Rather, simplicity and seamlessness are what they desire.

Observability simplifies the transformation process. With it, ITOPs, DevOps and security teams will benefit from reduced operational noise, allowing IT pros to become more proactive in issue and anomaly detection to reach optimum IT performance, compliance and resilience. With full-stack observability, any organisation — no matter its size or industry — can reduce IT complexity and become fully equipped for a seamless digital transformation.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Natalia Merzlyakova