Finding and implementing the appropriate end-user monitoring solution for your business requires significant effort, but it will be worthwhile in the end, if done properly.
The following are a couple tips that companies should consider:
1. Get Together
End-user monitoring will not be successful unless the IT and business teams work together toward a common goal: improving the company’s business services.
2. Get Your Priorities Straight
You must focus on the most mission-critical business services your company provides. Knowing your customer, what’s important to them, is essential in deciding which are the vital metrics to monitor.
3. Get Started with a Focused Pilot
The cost of end-user monitoring is hard to justify for some companies. You could monitor anything and everything but there is a cost associated with that. A better approach is to start with the top mission-critical applications for the business.
“Companies that focus on the fewest applications to start with are the most successful,” advises Lloyd Bloom of Compuware. “The pilot program should start with two or three applications. When the company has a good handle on managing those applications, they can expand it.”
4. Get the Right Info to the Right People
You must make alerts meaningful, and get the right information to the right people so the data is actionable. Consider accountability within your organization, and how the alerting, reporting and dashboards of the monitoring product will support those responsible for making decisions and solving problems.
“With any monitoring product, if you don’t use the information, the tool will turn into shelfware,” warns Bloom.
5. Get Help
Many companies fail to understand the effort needed to design and implement end-user monitoring. Companies are better off engaging help to implement the initial program and getting the training necessary to maintain the project once it is in production.