FeatureNobody cares if an application is up 99.99%, if the performance is so poor it is practically unusable, explains Charbel Khneisser at Riverbed.
The adoption of everything-as-a-service XaaS is on an unstoppable upward trend. Both LinkedIn and Adobe have already embraced a software-as-a-service SaaS approach so they can deliver innovation faster and more cost-effectively for their customers who crave flexibility.
For the same reasons, Amazon Web Services has adopted the infrastructure-as-a-service IaaS model and Windows Azure a platform-as-a-service PaaS approach. Needless to say, XaaS uptake has already been significant.
However, a crucial element has been missing from the proposition — performance-as-a-service. This will be the next frontier in XaaS and the key to the market reaching its anticipated $343 Billion valuation by 2024.
System performance, for instance the time it takes to access and download resources, directly impacts staff productivity, and consequently a companies’ ability to operate efficiently and maintain a competitive edge. In fact, just under 50% of C-Suite executives acknowledge that slow running and outdated technology is currently impacting the growth of their business, according to Riverbed’s recent Rethink Possible report.
Just think about the broad range of businesses, across multiple sectors, that depend on computer-aided design CAD to do their work. CAD files are notoriously large. As a consequence, they will take a long time to load if the user is on a network that is performing slowly.
This not only causes employee frustration but damages staff productivity and impedes the businesses’ overall ability to service clients efficiently. The result? Dissatisfied customers who will be primed to move to a competitor that can deliver the same services quicker and more effectively.
The links between slow-running technology, employee inefficiency and business challenges are clear. However, identifying that the technology is not performing as it should is not as simple as one might think.
Businesses need to introduce capabilities such as performance-as-a-service, so they can achieve visibility into network and application performance, to identify where issues lie and how to resolve them for optimum performance.
Every organisation that wants to guarantee their systems are operating efficiently need end-to-end visibility. Without it, they are hamstrung in their ability to identify and resolve performance issues. With this in mind, it is concerning that a third of IT decision makers do not have full visibility into their businesses’ applications, networks and end-users, according to Riverbed’s Rethink Possible report.
These companies need to embrace performance-as-a-service, delivered in the form of application performance and optimisation platforms, to bridge the visibility gap. Adopting these tools will empower IT operations teams to visualise any challenges employees may be facing, so they can be resolved before they negatively impact staff productivity.
The visibility into network and application performance, delivered as part of the performance-as-service model, not only ensures staff productivity but offers the key to implementing meaningful service-level agreements.
At present, a common SLA is uptime, but 100% uptime is irrelevant if usability is missing. Ultimately, nobody cares if an application is up 99.99% of the time if the performance of that application is so poor it is practically unusable.
Harnessing performance-as-a-service, IT teams can lay down tangible performance quality requirements when signing new agreements with service providers. They can then track how their providers are performing against these SLAs through their enhanced visibility into network and application performance. This will ensure they are getting a strong return on their investment.
