Maximizing Operational Efficiency: Introducing our New Smart Agent Management for Cisco AppDynamics

Application performance monitoring (APM) remains a key pillar of any observability strategy. Overwhelmed IT Infra and Ops teams rely on for the powerful application and business insights they need to deliver flawless digital experiences to their end users. The challenge they face from the scale of an application’s APM deployments can be complex and difficult to maintain — costing teams time that could be better served focusing on business KPIs.

Turn maintenance time to innovation time

Cisco continuously looks at every opportunity to use automation and intelligence to give time back to our customers, with a full commitment to helping our customers reduce the stress and inefficiency caused by the ever-growing complexity of technologists’ IT environments. I’m pleased to share a major innovation in the Cisco Full-Stack Observability portfolio: Smart Agent for Cisco AppDynamics, which enables simplified full-stack application instrumentation and centralized agent lifecycle management.

Simplified agent management – focus on what matters most

An average sized organization may have upward of 40,000 agents in deployment, but I’ve even spoken with some larger organizations with more than one million agents to support massively scalable applications! Keeping all those agents updated to the latest version can be complicated and time consuming and takes away critical manpower from actually managing application performance.

But the business impacts can be even greater. Security risks can occur at any time, and to keep your IT environments safe, it is critical to maintain good agent management and version compliance. Failure to do so can expose teams to unnecessary risks that may have otherwise been resolved in the latest agent releases.

Good agent management also allows you to take advantage of the latest innovations released each month.  New features can provide powerful new insights, but taking advantage of these requires environments to be updated with the latest agents. This isn’t possible unless you have a structured and automated approach to agent management!

Centralized agent visibility on Cisco AppDynamics

How we made it simple

Cisco is making it easier than ever for customers to manage their agent fleets with the introduction of Smart Agent for Cisco AppDynamics with centralized agent lifecycle management, which allows you to onboard new applications faster, quickly identify out-of-date agents, and easily conduct upgrades. What may have once taken many hours of manual instrumentation now just requires a few minutes and clicks.

Smart Agent is deployed on each host, allowing teams to remotely install and upgrade Cisco AppDynamics agents from a centralized agent management console with just a few clicks. The console flags agents that are old and outdated, and easily allows IT teams to select them and push upgrades without coding or scripts. Users can also install new agents directly from the agent management console when instrumenting new applications. There’s no need for manual intervention —teams can now focus on what matters for the business and react quickly to security events or take advantage of new agent-based functionality.

Upgrade Cisco AppDynamics agents with just a few clicks.

Our dedication to simplification

Agent lifecycle automation is just the first step in our journey toward simplification for our customers. Soon, Smart Agent will be able to automatically instrument new applications with a single-agent installation utilizing intelligent auto-detect and auto-deploy capabilities, guided by Smart Agent policies, to determine which agents are needed, and then automatically download, install, and configure only those agents needed. Smart Agent will reduce instrumentation time from hours/days to minutes.

Source: cisco.com

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Cisco report reveals observability as the new strategic priority for IT leaders

Research from Cisco AppDynamics, The Age of Application Observability, tells us that teams have reached a tipping point as they look to tackle complexity and deal with fractured IT domains, tool sprawl, and ever-growing demands from customers and end users for flawless, performant, and secure digital experiences.

There is also an emerging consensus that observability is a mandatory component of the solution. The report reveals that 85% of IT leaders now see observability as a strategic priority. Observability allows teams to ask questions about the state of IT systems and to get insights into the applications and supporting systems that keep a business running, derived from the telemetry data they collectively produce.

As we look to a new era of insight, one in which teams are evolving from reactive to proactive by correlating that telemetry with business outcomes, Cisco Full-Stack Observability offers a transformative model. It helps teams identify the root cause of digital-experience disrupting scenarios even before they happen – with or without human intervention – and prioritize prescriptive actions in response.

The age of observability

Observability is the path to a more federated view among teams and processes. But do teams see it as worth the necessary investment in time and resources? The Cisco AppDynamics report tells us that they believe it is.

While almost half (44%) of report participants say new innovation initiatives are being delivered with cloud native technologies – and they expect this figure to climb to 58% over the next five years – the vast majority (83%) acknowledge that this is leading to increased complexity.

There is agreement among respondents that observability can help resolve this complexity. And there is almost universal consensus that the journey to observability is rooted in common challenges.

• According to the report, 92% agree that hybrid environments are here to stay.
• Nearly three-quarters (78%) say the volume of data makes manual
• Cloud cost is creeping with 81% indicating heightened scrutiny on cloud investments

The recognition of these and other matters outlined in the report has brought with it an important shift in perspective. Business leaders strongly support observability plans and recognize that the journey to observability is well underway.

This is confirmed by the report, with 89% saying their organization’s expectations around observability are increasing. Even for organizations that are early in the observability journey, steps are being taken toward accelerating full stack observability as a foundation for future success.

Invest in the right tools (not more tools)

Monitoring is not observability, yet 64% of those surveyed admit they find it difficult to differentiate between observability and monitoring solutions. They say it is common to adopt more monitoring tools as more hybrid infrastructure is brought online and in support of expanded services and reach.

Many IT departments are deploying separate tools, for example, to monitor on-premises and cloud native applications, which means they don’t have a clear view of the entire application path.

The solution is not another tool, adding additional latency, complexity, and cost. The way forward is to invest in an observability solution that has the power to help consolidate, simplify, transform, and automate.

Essentially, by bridging the gap between business and technology worlds, this changes the conversation.

According to the report, 88% of respondents say observability with business context will enable them to become more strategic and spend more time on innovation. They understand that it’s a revenue-generating, organization-optimizing investment.

Adjust processes accordingly

While success requires the right tools, it also requires a change to the processes that underpin them. How departments are structured, staffed, and resourced. How teams communicate, and when. The fact is that processes and behaviors have always lagged the pace of technology.

According to the report, 36% of respondents believe this is contributing to the loss of IT talent. Nearly half say this trend will continue if leaders don’t find new ways to break down silos between IT and business domains.

Eight out of ten surveyed point to an increase in silos due to managing multi-cloud and hybrid environments, and less than one-third (31%) report ongoing collaboration between their IT operations and security teams. The majority agree that the biggest barrier to collaboration between IT teams is the use of technology and tools which reinforce these silos.

Cisco Full-Stack Observability provides a foundation for digital transformation – which respondents agree will continue to accelerate as the driving force behind every enterprise – in part by streamlining IT operations so teams can collaborate to optimize digital experiences.

The new strategic priority

Observability is now understood as a new way to foster cross-domain collaboration, supporting new ways of working together, and incentivizing better business outcomes. This means, for example, that teams can align digital experiences with profit, compliance, growth, and delivery time.

The Cisco report brings into focus the fast pace of hybrid adoption in the enterprise, and the technical challenges that follow. This is where Cisco Observability Platform really shines. It brings together the rich telemetry data generated by normal business operations, offering solutions that make it understandable and correlating it with business objectives in a usable way.

Teams are acutely aware that the road to digital transformation is paved with new challenges, but they also recognize that managing and mitigating these issues means getting on that path sooner. Cisco Full-Stack Observability is the answer.

Source: cisco.com

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Unlocking Success in the Digital Landscape: Deloitte and Cisco

For more than twenty years, Deloitte and Cisco have been dedicated to creating meaningful results for our mutual clients in the ever-evolving digital landscape. By combining Cisco’s market presence with Deloitte’s expertise, we deliver scalable, adaptable solutions tailored to support unique digital transformation objectives. Our work together merges Cisco’s leadership in IT infrastructure, security, and related sectors with Deloitte’s expertise in digital transformation, analytics, and cloud services.

Our clients access Deloitte’s customized solutions across its consulting, advisory, and tax divisions, leveraging profound industry insights to achieve their business goals. We identify the optimal blend of products and services that integrate seamlessly with their environments, driving digital transformation in areas such as full-stack observability (FSO), connected factories, the future of work, sustainability, and security.

Improving application performance with Full-Stack Observability (FSO)

Deloitte and Cisco collaborate to offer FSO to SAP and AWS clients. By integrating Cisco AppDynamics (AppD) with other monitoring tools, we enhance application performance and drive better business outcomes. AppD addresses SAP visibility and performance concerns at the advanced business application programming (ABAP) code level to provide essential visibility data.

Our efforts offer several benefits to our clients, including:

• Real-time discovery and visualization of all SAP components and their dependencies, helping to ensure a comprehensive view during SAP cloud migrations
• Reduction of inter-team conflicts by providing a unified source of truth for application performance that bridges the gap between development, operations, and SAP Basis teams
• Code-level visibility into SAP ABAP and connected non-SAP applications, expediting root cause analysis and performance issue identification
• Establishing baseline health and performance metrics for applications before cloud migration, simplifying issue detection at every migration stage and validating success by comparing pre- and post-migration metrics

Enabling Industrial Smart Operations

In the age of Industry 4.0, leading organizations are transitioning from traditional to digital supply network operations. Traditional linear supply chains lack agility and efficiency, inhibiting broader revenue streams and profit growth. The Digital Supply Network is a dynamic system that incorporates ecosystem partners and leverages digital technologies such as predictive algorithms and real-time IoT sensor data.

Cisco supports secure data collection with sensors, multiaccess wireless, and a cybersecurity platform. Deloitte provides industry expertise and helps transform supply chains through strategy, implementation, cloud operations, and AI solutions.

The outcome? Industrial Smart Operations, delivered by Deloitte and Cisco.

Driving a sustainable future of work

Deloitte and Cisco collaborate to create the contemporary employee experience while reducing the global carbon footprint of offices and factories.

This transformation is influenced by four important trends:

• Expansion of a remote hybrid workforce
• Reevaluation of real estate requirements and evolving workplace dynamics
• Increasing integration of artificial intelligence and telemetry in workplaces
• Organizational imperative to embrace a broad range of energy efficiency measures in support of net-zero carbon emissions objectives

Fueled by rapid connectivity, innovative talent models, and cognitive technologies, Deloitte and Cisco are actively shaping the modern employee experience while simultaneously driving environmental sustainability in offices and factories worldwide.

Enhancing security postures

Together, we help our mutual clients confidently transform their cyber and strategic risk mitigation programs and reduce overall risk exposure. Deloitte also works with Cisco to integrate the Cisco Security Portfolio into the Deloitte Zero Trust PRISM Financial Risk asset. This zero-trust cybersecurity posture makes it possible to create more robust and resilient security, simplify security management, improve the end-user experience, and allow customers to incorporate cyber risk elements into their overall risk exposure.

Making an impact that matters

Cisco’s cutting-edge cybersecurity technology, industrial IoT, network transformation, collaboration and observability solutions, and SD-WAN, combined with Deloitte’s distinguished professional services, provide significant value to customers around the world.

Source: cisco.com

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