As the cloud continues to revolutionize how businesses store and manage data, companies must ensure that their cloud infrastructure is secure, cost-effective, and fully optimized. This is where cloud monitoring comes in. Cloud monitoring refers to the practice of continuously tracking and analyzing the performance and health of cloud infrastructure and applications to identify and mitigate any issues before they become major problems.
Despite the growing importance of cloud monitoring, many organizations still struggle to implement effective cloud monitoring strategies. According to recent research by Nasuni, 79% of organizations report widening visibility gaps in their cloud infrastructure and a lack of visibility across cloud operations. This lack of visibility creates serious blind spots for network and IT teams, leading to inferior performance, security risks, and overspending on infrastructure.
To understand why cloud monitoring is so crucial, consider the following statistics:
- 94% of enterprises use the cloud in some capacity.
- 48% store their most sensitive data on the cloud.
- 50% of business workloads run in the cloud.
- 92% of businesses use more than one cloud system.
- Market leaders capture the majority of market share: AWS (Amazon.com) – 34%, Azure – 22%, Google Cloud – 9.5%, and Other – 34.5%.
Given these numbers, it is clear that the cloud is here to stay, and businesses must adapt to this new reality. However, clouds provide limited visibility for enterprises, which is why it is so important to have effective cloud monitoring tools in place.
One of the biggest challenges with cloud monitoring is the lack of visibility of what is happening on cloud-based platforms. Most monitoring tools focus on one specific surface, which forces data teams to gather, prep, and analyze data across silos. Moreover, basic tools are not able to manage the evolving complexities of modern cloud architectures, making it difficult to get a holistic picture across an entire network – on-premises to cloud. In addition to these challenges, cloud monitoring tools are often focused on security rather than the big picture, which means that organizations may need to purchase more than one tool to see everything, adding tool sprawl and operating expenses.
All of these issues can lead to a lack of functionality, which manifests itself in numerous ways. For example, companies may experience delays in troubleshooting applications and network performance, application slowdowns and outages, and an inability to assess performance before deployment. Furthermore, 80% of organizations report that they are looking to increase their investment in cloud monitoring and visibility due to these issues.
So how can organizations implement effective cloud monitoring? The key is to use advanced monitoring solutions that provide end-to-end visibility across your entire connected network, including on-premises, hybrid, and multifunctional systems.
The benefits of using advanced monitoring solutions are numerous. For one, these tools can reduce security risks, which is critical given the increasing prevalence of cyber-attacks. In fact, companies that use advanced monitoring tools experience 50% fewer end-user device security incidents by eliminating visibility gaps.
Advanced monitoring tools can also lower mean time to resolution (MTTR), which is essential for minimizing the impact of any issues that do arise. For example, 40% of IT professionals report that low visibility delays their network troubleshooting, but the right monitoring solution can reduce MTTR by identifying issues before they cause significant harm.
Furthermore, advanced monitoring tools can increase business value by providing decision-makers with actionable insights into cloud performance, costs, and usage. In fact, 99% of decision-makers see a direct link between cloud visibility and business value.
Finally, implementing advanced monitoring tools can help organizations stop overspending on cloud infrastructure by providing real-time visibility into consumption and costs. This is important given that 86% of cloud decision-makers cannot accurately estimate their monthly cloud spend. By utilizing monitoring tools, companies can better track their resource usage and understand where costs are being incurred. They can set budgets and alerts to notify them when they are approaching their limits. These tools can also help identify areas for optimization, such as turning off unused resources or resizing instances to better match workload demands.
In conclusion, managing cloud costs requires a multifaceted approach that involves not only optimizing resource usage but also implementing governance policies, utilizing cost-effective pricing models, and leveraging advanced monitoring tools. By adopting these strategies, organizations can avoid overspending on cloud monitoring and better allocate their resources to drive business growth and innovation.
Mostafa Razzak is CEO of award-winning B2B public relations and influencer communications agency, JMRConnect: Shaping Influence® PR.
