In the past, many organizations grew and managed their own data centers. Some still do. And many are still developing their own automated incident management  tools. But as IT grows and becomes evermore complex and fast-moving, the reality of what it means to do so kicks in, and organizations are re-evaluating their strategies. The infrastructure that’s needed, expert human resources, support, training and ongoing development roadmaps for home-grown tools are a big challenge, and IT organizations are realizing that developing and supporting such a tool is a business in itself. Often, trying to “home grow” such a platform merely distracts them from focusing on their core business. So while “home-grown” may be good for vegetables, it may not be that great for IT Ops.

 

Cloud? You bet!

I remember the early days of cloud adoption. Many of my colleagues (and truthfully me as well) were thinking that we would never put our infrastructure in an unknown location without physical access.

And here we are a few years later, and cloud infrastructure is almost universally recognized as the most efficient way to go: spin up a server in seconds and let your vendor take care of the rest.

They are the experts, and should be the ones dealing with what they are best at. But what about IT operations tools? Here, cloud adoption is slower. It’s still common for enterprises to be content with the tools they’ve built in-house for event correlation and operations automation. But while in-house tools give you a sense of control and confidence, Event Correlation and Automation SaaS tools often offer many technological advantages and may be more cost-effective. Experience also shows that in the long run, they are the chosen route for businesses that wish to scale and evolve.

 

Reduce ongoing costs

A cloud-based solution means that IT teams have no responsibility for building, maintaining, or supporting the software. No coding, no testing, no documentation, no ongoing support, no training. With developer resources being scarce and ever-more-expensive, these are a lot of costs that can be saved.

And more importantly – the current technological advancements in SaaS Event Correlation and Automation solutions (mainly the implementation of AI and ML) help to significantly reduce IT noise and to automate manual operational processes, further freeing human resources from incident management and resolution.

 

The best, forward-looking solution

Perhaps the most resounding case for acquiring an external Event Correlation and Automation tool is the expertise needed to develop and maintain such a solution.

AI and ML are gradually taking a leading role in IT tools, and the need to constantly innovate and evolve makes the development of automated and autonomous IT tools a task for experts.

Acquiring a proven, commercial solution means that organizations are leveraging the latest advancements in the field and are not only dealing with the current challenges in the best possible manner, but are also making sure they are ready for those that are just around the corner.

 

Support and knowledge from the very best

Homegrown means that IT Ops teams need to be the subject matter experts, they need to train staff in best practices, and they need to constantly learn from the market and support the product.

When organizations opt for an external vendor, they not only get the required support and training from that vendor’s product experts, but also obtain access to their knowledge, insights and perspectives gained from supporting dozens of other customers.

Bottom line? As Herman Hesse once said: “Some may think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go”. When you want to focus on your own business objectives, it may be better to let others do what they are best at. Just as there is no need to build your own datacenter these days, it may be wise to let others build your Event Correlation and Automation tools. Letting go may be worrying at first, but there are enough proven products out there purpose-built exactly for your needs, which are already helping large enterprises’ IT Ops teams become more efficient and cost-effective.

And you don’t really have to ask me which I think is best…