As a multi-layered technology platform that is, by and large, enjoying an increasing amount of attention in business and technology, artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) continues to be met by mixed reactions by decision makers in the IT industry.

While for some it holds the promise to alleviate several current and pressing business operational challenges as the impact of digitisation continues to fundamentally change the way businesses operate, for others it is still regarded with trepidation largely around the actual economic implications versus the actual business value that stands to be derived post-investment and implementation.

With many IT decision makers still at odds as to where AIOps should feature on the overall organisational IT operations investment priority list, this article takes a closer look at how AIOps can work towards unlocking better value and a return on investment that makes sense for your business.

The economic case for AIOps

As a starting point, it is worth taking a closer look at some of the future AIOps investment projections as a means of highlighting its increasing importance on the global investment agenda. It is estimated that around 78% of managed service providers are either evaluating, implementing or have implemented AI in their delivery operations over the past three years or so already. This data point alone provides a strong case for any business that is either starting to think around or actively considering investing in AIOps to include in their IT estate.

The business environment context

With this in mind, the atmosphere surrounding the adoption of AIOps platforms (like most other developments) is also characterised by a significant degree of reluctance given the far-reaching impacts of the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic. On one hand, given the disaster management protocols put into effect in the form of restrictions and hard lockdowns, there has been greater investment in digital transformation initiatives, with many organisations ploughing investment into this area arguably more so this past year than ever before.

However, given the uncertainty of the global financial markets, other organisations have remained understandably cautious and therefore less willing to make major investment outlays in place of ensuring financial solvency as an overriding organisational priority.

Investing in AIOps 101

While adopting a cautionary approach to IT investment in tough economic times is certainly justified, opting to wait it out and sitting idly by watching other organisations make the first move also means that your business runs the risk of getting left behind and losing the competitive edge that potentially yields substantial investment returns meeting both short- and long-term business objectives.

The question then becomes: How can you get the most value out of an AIOps investment for your organisation? The following pointers highlight some of the key criteria to consider when taking on or maintaining AIOps as an IT investment to ensure that ongoing value is derived for your business.

1. Understanding your requirements
A Forbes contributor notes that “as with any new approach AIOps does require much preparation, commitment and monitoring”. Having a clear view and documenting your business’ priorities is the first and most important route when looking to enable your business through AIOps. This is because the algorithms can take time to learn the IT environment, and organisations should go for AIOps platforms, for instance, that include auto-discovery and automated dependency mapping as these capabilities provide out-of-the-box benefits in terms of root-cause diagnosis, infrastructure visualisation, and ensuring configuration management databases (CMDBs) are accurate and up-to-date.

These capabilities are good in that they can provide immediate value and real-time visibility into what is going on in the background of your IT estate, while machine learning and AI provide better and actionable insights over time.

2. Data requirements and management
The whole point of including AIOps platforms in your IT operations arsenal is that it enables an intelligent organisation and for this to be possible, data is the key for the solution to work well. Adopting a “more is more” approach to data retrieval and management is essential to maximising value where the more quality and varied the data, the better. Commonly utilised data sets include (but not be restricted to) event, time-series data, log files, topology, configuration, business impact and asset and cost-related data.

3. Deployment map
Part of understanding your requirements is an accurate assessment of what has already been deployed. This allows you to accurately gauge what within your IT estate is currently working and where the gaps or potential gaps are. Many AIOps solutions are designed to integrate third-party toolsets and bring all that data together over and above having data collection capabilities of their own that they bring to the mix.

4. Deployment selection
How you go about the deployment of your AIOps platform for your business can greatly affect pricing, time to deploy along with administrative overhead. It is therefore important that flexibility is a primary consideration when making your selection.

5. Price
The big one (and the biting point for most companies given the times). When several executives were interviewed for an AIOps Investment Guide, what emerged was that while software costs are very important, they tend to not be the ultimate factor in selecting an AIOps platform.

Vice president of research, IT megatrends, analytics and CMDB systems, Enterprise Management Associates Dennis Drogseth advises in this respect that in the case where costs do eventually come into play, it is important to look at the larger context of administrative costs, deployment costs, and expected time-to-value along with the complexity related to software licensing.

Reaffirming the importance of taking a long-term view and ensuring you opt for a solution and provider that both understands and can partner with you towards finding the best-fit solution to meet your business objectives.

At BCX lies the spirit of innovation, even in difficult times. Through our extensive monitoring tool knowledge and experience across application, network and infrastructure domains, we partner with you to set out a roadmap suited to your business – from assessment to implementation and support.

For more information, visit us at www.bcx.co.za.