As networks and systems grow ever more complex, observability is becoming increasingly essential. Cloud computing has moved network operations outside the traditional data center, and the addition of mobile networks, edge computing, and hybrid work has added to the breadth and complexity of today’s enterprises.
Observability has proved to be highly effective in measuring the state of systems, enabling IT teams to increase efficiency and performance. But the increased interest in observability goes beyond that because of its ability to help solve complex problems in an increasingly hyperconnected IT world.
Consider three high-priority areas for companies where observability can make a crucial difference: cybersecurity, sustainability, and employee retention.
User Data Provides Visibility Into Cybersecurity
When data centers were the heart of everything an organization did, enterprises were in a steady state. But with the advent of cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), and remote work, environments have become significantly bigger and more complex. Mobile computing and services at the edge also add to the complexity of fragmented networks.
The move to zero trust also had the ironically unintended consequence of organizations actually losing visibility into applications and data, undercutting the goal of cybersecurity. The tunneling involved in moving traffic via secure access server edge (SASE) and secure service edge (SSE) – which are common ways to incorporate zero trust network architectures (ZTNAs) – obscures that traffic from teams monitoring the network.
Teams that are unable to see the details of what’s happening with applications and data must observe the outputs of their applications to determine the state of performance and security, which is what observability does. Observability platforms use automation to determine the health of a system by examining its outputs. Visibility into the end user data provides a rich understanding of a network’s performance and the users’ success.
Observability also helps in confronting insider threats, which are an increasing risk for enterprises. The problem with insider threats is not so much people hacking from the inside as it is that users are abusing the privileges they have within their jobs, whether intentionally or accidentally. Over-privileged accounts are common, often granting users access to systems they shouldn’t have. And if an attacker compromises an over-privileged user’s credentials, the attacker is freer to move about the network.
User access controls and least privilege policies are part of a zero-trust approach, but attackers still gain access and insiders can still try to misuse data. An observability platform, particularly when enhanced with AI, can detect anomalous behaviors and flag them.
Some organizations have considered merging security and observability tools. That approach may be possible down the road, but for now, a better approach is to allow security and observability teams to share information by allowing each team to access the other’s tools. Observability tools can provide security teams with granular data, down to the level of the access logs and IP addresses, that they need for threat detection and response.
In a complex, hyperconnected environment where user identities have become the preferred attack vector for cybercriminals and malicious insiders, observability is a crucial component of effective security.
Observability Supports Sustainability and Helps Reduce Carbon Footprints
Sustainability is an increasingly important business goal for companies. This is not just because of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards and initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also because a growing number of consumers demand it. Even other companies consider environmental factors in deciding which companies to do business with.
Now, new reporting rules in California and a zero-emission plan put forth by the European Union will nudge companies to further shrink their carbon footprints.
Companies that have observability platforms in place can use their tools to help reduce emissions by providing visibility into power consumption both at the device level and across the enterprise. Observability tools can draw on user data to identify resources that are using more power than they need, and then automate adjustments to power settings to reduce consumption.
Observability dashboards, which can often perform right out of the box, can display correlated granular telemetry on usage (such as uptime) and power consumption while also offering insights in real time for all of an organization’s devices and applications. Not only can an observability platform initiate power-use adjustments automatically, it can even send users proactive messages advising them on what they can do to reduce energy use.
User Data Helps the Digital Experience for Employees
The ongoing global IT skills shortage adds to challenges faced by companies in practically every sector, which makes retaining quality employees an important factor in remaining competitive. A key to increasing employee satisfaction is providing a seamless digital employee experience (DEX), which is becoming vitally important as younger workers take up a larger share of the workforce.
Generation Z and millennial employees, who make up half of the workforce but who are expected to comprise 70% of it by 2030, are insistent about the quality of DEX, as Riverbed found in a global DEX survey. Business leaders responding to the survey said 68% of their millennial and Gen Z employees would likely leave the company if the quality of their on-the-job digital experiences didn’t meet their expectations.
Improving the quality of DEX is on leaders’ radar but has proved to be a challenge for many companies. Ninety-five percent of business leaders identified at least one major obstacle to improving DEX, including budget constraints, a skills shortage among the very people who deliver the digital experience, and a lack of observability tools.
That is changing, however, with more than nine in 10 business leaders saying that investing in improved DEX will be a top priority over the next five years. Observability is a big part of those plans, with 94% saying unified observability is important to competitiveness and DEX.
Observability Delivers
Many organizations still rely mostly on reactive measures, such as monitoring, to assess system performance and security. But in an expanding cloud-based environment, that single approach isn’t enough. By measuring outputs, an integrated observability platform with autonomous and AI capabilities provides visibility into why and where activity on a network is happening, and then proactively prescribes corrections.
It not only helps IT teams improve network performance but can also provide answers to critical questions in key fields such as cybersecurity, sustainability and employees’ digital experiences. Because of all that, investing in observability is a key way that modern companies can help to keep their operations competitive, compliant, and secure.