30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 6

APMdigest asked the top minds in the industry what they feel is the most important way Application Performance Management (APM) tools must evolve. The recommendations on this list provide a rare look into the long-term future of APM technology. Part 6, the final installment of the list, covers development and DevOps.

Start with 30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 1

Start with 30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 2

Start with 30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 3

Start with 30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 4

Start with 30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 5

25. MICROSERVICES

Docker is going to disaggregate applications into hundreds and thousands of micro-services each of which will communicate with each other over virtual networks. APM tools need to evolve to technically step up to be able to monitor 100X or 1000X as many things and the transaction flows across those things as is the case today.
Bernd Harzog
CEO, OpsDataStore

We need to not only be able to understand the status of individual microservices, but also the state of the holistic microservice architecture itself as the complexity shifts from the internals of the application or service to the accelerating number of interdependencies. Understanding this latter perspective has been a challenge for even the most experienced of Web-scale firms.
Cameron Haight
Research VP, IT Operations, Gartner

26. API MANAGEMENT

APM providers are evolving to be one stop shops for all things application performance. Customers too are looking for solutions that fit well in their NOC or IT ecosystem. Over the years, we have learned, that any ecosystem play is impossible without a sound API strategy. As more tools enter the ecosystem, more APIs will be offered. Monitoring and managing the performance of those APIs will be critical to ensure the ecosystem harmony. As for the APM ecosystem, it's about time we start rethinking the conceptual APM framework and include API management and deep monitoring as an essential piece of APM.
Priyanka Tiwari
Product Marketing Manager, AlertSite, SmartBear

27. THE ENTIRE STACK

The introduction of RUM in the web performance world was a disruptive force. It was clear that occasional synthetic checks from a few locations around the world were wholly insufficient in understanding the behavior of web applications. I see the "RUM-trend" driving its way down stack. Synthetic checks against APIs, databases, micro services and even disks will slowly be displaced by the observation, recording and analysis of every single transaction. You will be able to profile every IOP on every spindle in your whole data center second by second – and people will wonder how we lived without before. We're close.
Theo Schlossnagle
Founder and CEO, Circonus

28. SSL DECRYPTION

With a high percentage of business applications now encrypted in SSL, decrypting SSL is imperative for effective APM. Given the high processing power required for SSL decryption that eats into the processing capacity left over for APM, organizations are best served by having a purpose-built network visibility solution offload SSL decryption from the APM tool.
Ananda Rajagopal
VP - Product Line Management, Gigamon

29. INTEGRATION WITH TESTING

One of the challenges with APM is to gap the chasm to performance testing and continuous integration. Load testing and APM need to work well together to enable the full vison of DevOps, but very few vendors have found a way to automate findings in APM to relevant tests and vice versa.
Sven Hammar
Founder and CEO, Apica

30. SUPPORT FOR CLIENT-SIDE TECHNOLOGY EVOLUTION

Going forward, the most successful APM Vendors will be those who create and sustain competitive advantage based on effective support for client-side technology evolution, for example RUM refinements to support Single Page Applications or synthetic test visual endpoints. As always, most benefit will be delivered by accessibility/usability rather than "tick the box" support.
Larry Haig
Senior Consultant, Intechnica

If you have additional ideas about the evolution of Application Performance Management, send a blog to APMdigest.

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30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 6

APMdigest asked the top minds in the industry what they feel is the most important way Application Performance Management (APM) tools must evolve. The recommendations on this list provide a rare look into the long-term future of APM technology. Part 6, the final installment of the list, covers development and DevOps.

Start with 30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 1

Start with 30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 2

Start with 30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 3

Start with 30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 4

Start with 30 Ways APM Should Evolve - Part 5

25. MICROSERVICES

Docker is going to disaggregate applications into hundreds and thousands of micro-services each of which will communicate with each other over virtual networks. APM tools need to evolve to technically step up to be able to monitor 100X or 1000X as many things and the transaction flows across those things as is the case today.
Bernd Harzog
CEO, OpsDataStore

We need to not only be able to understand the status of individual microservices, but also the state of the holistic microservice architecture itself as the complexity shifts from the internals of the application or service to the accelerating number of interdependencies. Understanding this latter perspective has been a challenge for even the most experienced of Web-scale firms.
Cameron Haight
Research VP, IT Operations, Gartner

26. API MANAGEMENT

APM providers are evolving to be one stop shops for all things application performance. Customers too are looking for solutions that fit well in their NOC or IT ecosystem. Over the years, we have learned, that any ecosystem play is impossible without a sound API strategy. As more tools enter the ecosystem, more APIs will be offered. Monitoring and managing the performance of those APIs will be critical to ensure the ecosystem harmony. As for the APM ecosystem, it's about time we start rethinking the conceptual APM framework and include API management and deep monitoring as an essential piece of APM.
Priyanka Tiwari
Product Marketing Manager, AlertSite, SmartBear

27. THE ENTIRE STACK

The introduction of RUM in the web performance world was a disruptive force. It was clear that occasional synthetic checks from a few locations around the world were wholly insufficient in understanding the behavior of web applications. I see the "RUM-trend" driving its way down stack. Synthetic checks against APIs, databases, micro services and even disks will slowly be displaced by the observation, recording and analysis of every single transaction. You will be able to profile every IOP on every spindle in your whole data center second by second – and people will wonder how we lived without before. We're close.
Theo Schlossnagle
Founder and CEO, Circonus

28. SSL DECRYPTION

With a high percentage of business applications now encrypted in SSL, decrypting SSL is imperative for effective APM. Given the high processing power required for SSL decryption that eats into the processing capacity left over for APM, organizations are best served by having a purpose-built network visibility solution offload SSL decryption from the APM tool.
Ananda Rajagopal
VP - Product Line Management, Gigamon

29. INTEGRATION WITH TESTING

One of the challenges with APM is to gap the chasm to performance testing and continuous integration. Load testing and APM need to work well together to enable the full vison of DevOps, but very few vendors have found a way to automate findings in APM to relevant tests and vice versa.
Sven Hammar
Founder and CEO, Apica

30. SUPPORT FOR CLIENT-SIDE TECHNOLOGY EVOLUTION

Going forward, the most successful APM Vendors will be those who create and sustain competitive advantage based on effective support for client-side technology evolution, for example RUM refinements to support Single Page Applications or synthetic test visual endpoints. As always, most benefit will be delivered by accessibility/usability rather than "tick the box" support.
Larry Haig
Senior Consultant, Intechnica

If you have additional ideas about the evolution of Application Performance Management, send a blog to APMdigest.

Related Links

Hot Topics

The Latest

The Results Are In: IT Professionals Want More AI and Automation Support

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Immutable by Design: Reinventing Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

Embracing Cost-Effective Observability Through an OpenTelemetry Approach

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Why Employees Hate Security (And What Businesses Can Do About It)

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Podcast - Episode 13: Hybrid Multi-Cloud Networking Strategy

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

Transforming Network Remediation with a Closed-Loop Approach

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

IT Leaders Are Leveraging AI Agents to Unlock Autonomous Transformation in 2025

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

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In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

5 Steps to Enhancing Network Observability for Your NOC

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Broadcom

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