5 Reasons Why Technologists are Optimistic About Full-Stack Observability

The world has become more app-centric, increasing the demand for always-on, seamless, and secure digital experiences. As a result, organizations in all sectors ramped up their efforts to achieve full-stack observability to bring together disconnected tools and generate unified visibility across their IT environment.

A recent report from Cisco AppDynamics, "The Journey to Observability," reveals the transition to full-stack observability is now a priority for 90% of organizations around the world.

Technologists and developers need new solutions and techniques to overcome the increased complexity of IT infrastructure and meet soaring customer expectations. The rapid deployment of microservices and container solutions seen over the past couple of years has also exacerbated the need to monitor cloud-native environments alongside legacy on-premise architecture.

Full-stack observability provides unified, real-time visibility into availability and performance across the IT stack for compute, storage, network, and public internet, from customer-facing applications through to back-end infrastructure. It enables IT teams to quickly and easily identify anomalies, understand dependencies and fix issues before they affect digital experiences for customers and employees. When this performance data is connected to business outcomes, technologists can analyze issues and prioritize their actions based on the potential impact on the business. It also offers developers added context on the state of current applications that can be used to inform the creation of new, improved applications in the future.

Technologists feel good about full-stack observability and here are 5 reasons why:

1. Huge Progress Was Made in 2021

Plans were finalized and action was taken in 2021. More than half of organizations (54%) started out on the journey to full-stack observability, and a further 36% are planning to do so in the next 12 months. That means that a remarkable 90% of organizations will be somewhere along the journey to full-stack observability in 2022.

This represents a huge milestone in the overall transition to full-stack observability. Rather than being a vision for the future, full-stack observability is now seen as a reality that can be genuinely achieved over the next few years.

2. The Benefits of Greater Visibility Into IT Performance Are Being Noticed

Many organizations are already seeing tangible results from their efforts, with 86% of technologists reporting greater visibility across their IT stack over the last 12 months.

Critically, where organizations have improved visibility, they are enjoying a broad range of benefits. These include improved productivity and closer alignment in the IT department, with technologists spending less time identifying anomalies and understanding dependencies in order to perform fixes, reducing operational costs as issues are addressed more quickly and efficiently. Organizations are also seeing better collaboration between teams because they now have a single source of truth for data, rather than working in silos with their own disconnected monitoring tools.

The constant pressure that technologists and developers have felt over the past couple of years is being alleviated by identifying and resolving issues that could do real damage to end-user experience. This means they’re beginning to find time to lift their heads and look at the bigger picture. They’re able to focus on more rewarding, strategic work such as innovation projects or enhancing customer experience.

3. They Have the Support and Resources They Need From Business Leaders

The need for full-stack observability has become more apparent and business leaders are noticing the benefits it is already delivering.

Perhaps the most telling finding of the research is that 93% of technologists report their wider business has been supportive of their efforts to implement full-stack observability during 2021 and made the necessary budget and resources available.

4. There’s a Clear Plan to Hit Objectives in 2022

Technologists and developers know there is still a lot of work to be done in order to achieve their vision for full-stack observability within their organization. They know that it will take time and sustained effort but are clear on what they need to do in order to hit their targets for 2022.

This includes a strong focus on getting the right skills on their team to support and accelerate the transition to full-stack observability, with technologists recognizing the need for specialist skill sets to monitor availability and performance in the cloud.

Other priorities include introducing the cultural and procedural changes required to move to full-stack observability, instilling the right processes and frameworks to ensure the smooth and seamless roll-out of new solutions.

5. They See the Potential for Full-Stack Observability to Deliver Game-Changing Impact

Technologists and developers are now genuinely excited about the benefits that full-stack observability can deliver to their organization, and 85% believe that the shift to full-stack observability will be transformational for their business. They've had a small taste of what full-stack observability can bring, and now they’re eager for more.

Universally, technologists and developers are determined to continue the momentum they’ve built up over the last year and to take advantage of the fantastic position they now find themselves in. 85% of technologists state that 2022 will be a pivotal year on their journey towards full-stack observability, as they look to bring together existing monitoring capabilities and implement new solutions to get visibility into new cloud-native environments.