IT Monitoring Predictions And Outlook For 2024

With 2024 fast approaching, key business functions and cutting-edge technologies are predicted to drive changes in IT monitoring. One thing is for certain, the one constant element is change. As experts in monitoring IT infrastructures and networks, below are some forecasts that will shape the IT monitoring landscape in 2024.

1/ Back to basics: The importance of physical IT infrastructure as cloud adoption soars

Improved visibility and greater levels of control across IT infrastructures will become progressively more important as customers look to monitor an increasing number of systems. Customisation is also set to become essential in the months to come as the rate at which things change accelerates.

It’s impossible to keep up with every new product launch in today’s age of technological innovation. That’s why we need to give people the ability to extend the capabilities of existing products. It’s important to avoid getting swept up in the ‘new trend’ tide, forgetting the fundamentals. True, cloud first strategies make sense and have clear appeal. But the importance of physical IT infrastructure cannot be overstated. We connect to the cloud via a wire and a box, so cloud migration makes physical infrastructure even more important than it used to be. Without it you can do nothing. It’s not enough to look at IT systems and their components in isolation. You need to keep an eye on the physical aspects of your IT environment too.

Never forget your infrastructure layer – everything stems from that.

2/ Cyber threats: it’s not a zero-trust strategy unless it extends to your products

IT is one of the central nervous systems of every business today. With everything being connected to a network businesses really have no choice but to secure their systems.

We’re likely to see cyber-attacks grow in scale and sophistication. What does that mean for IT networks? If you’re going to have a zero-trust strategy in place, you need to ensure the products you decide to deploy are working and are performing. That’s even more important given that companies will continue to expand their capabilities next year as they look to retain talent and continue evolving hybrid work models. As IT becomes increasingly fundamental, more data will be generated and processed. Therefore, the more complex – and vulnerable to threats - IT landscapes will become.

That’s why it’s important to extend the attitude of zero trust to the products you use – do they really do what they say on the tin? It’s no longer enough for IT managers to simply deploy software and put their faith into it. Landscapes are ever-more complex, and leaders will need ways to gain an ‘umbrella overview’ across their legacy infrastructure, cloud systems and OT environment. With this in place, decision-makers can sleep at night knowing they are one step ahead of cyber-criminals. Knowing is better than believing and greater visibility will be the key to peace of mind in an increasingly unpredictable environment. That’s why I’m a firm believer that tools need to be tried, tested, and proven.

3/ Observability and how it will improve the customer experience

We will enter unchartered territory next year as businesses look to expand enterprise capabilities with ‘observability’. The reality is that most IT managers will already have existing predictive monitoring software in place. But observability can add to those existing predictive monitoring capabilities by allowing managers to understand the connections between their systems in more depth. Monitoring enables us to look at potential areas where common issues could occur – but observability looks at the unknowns.

IT managers who are able to look at extending existing system capabilities even as they ‘fire-fight’ everyday issues will stay one step ahead of the competition. An IT focused business is an innovative business and one that can adapt to changing customer needs.

Transparency is going to be a key competitive differentiator moving forwards because it offers a complete overview of communications with customers like never before. A transparent IT team is happy to share insights with non-technical people as they understand it – they in turn can then use it for self-service.

4/ AI and IT employees

It’s important to remember that technology exists to empower IT administrators, not to take over their job. The human administrator is the most intelligent part of any system. Whilst monitoring software can make suggestions it’s the experience of the manager that will empower the technology – not the other way around.

5/ ESG

Paessler’s Keeping Watch: Monitoring Your Path To Sustainable IT report found that despite embracing sustainability and ESG adoption, businesses in ANZ are significantly behind their ASEAN peers regarding their sustainable IT strategies, with only 48 per cent already having one, whereas in ASEAN it is 72 per cent. However, the remaining ANZ businesses (52 per cent) plan to have one within the next 12 months. The report also found that Australian businesses are the furthest along when it comes to having a clear sustainability strategy and acting on it (63 per cent versus 44 per cent for ASEAN).

Businesses are increasingly subject to ESG audits and reports, so must be able to answer the question: what is the environmental cost of every business process? Leaders will want to know how to look more forensically at their systems to strike a balance between performance and functional power. Monitoring can be a huge help in answering these questions. It can help organisations to understand exactly what resources are being consumed, what benefits are being provided as well as areas for possible reduction.

Through system snapshots and reform points, IT managers can understand the carbon footprint behind every process, and whether appropriate categories for data backup are in place. With monitoring, you can truly understand those categories and then ensure you are using the correct metrics for measurement in every instance.

By Mathews Varughis, Head of Sales for Australia & New Zealand at Paessler AG

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