Table of Contents
- Summary
- Cloud Observability Primer
- Report Methodology
- Decision Criteria Analysis
- Evaluation Metrics
- Key Criteria: Impact Analysis
- Analyst’s Take
- Methodology
- About Ron Williams
- About GigaOm
- Copyright
1. Summary
Enterprises, regardless of size, are moving applications and infrastructure to the cloud. Startups and smaller companies may use a single public cloud, while larger organizations use multiple clouds and on-site infrastructure that may include a private cloud. The expansion of cloud usage, particularly multicloud configurations, presents a major challenge as organizations struggle to monitor and manage their dynamic cloud environments.
Cloud environments can be extremely volatile; unlike on-premises infrastructures, they can change quickly based on application requirements, finances, and performance fluctuations. As a result, it’s common for cloud implementations to be over-provisioned and underutilized.
Thus, organizations need utilization monitoring, orphaned resource discovery, and provision reporting. These functions have direct cost implications and, when ignored or neglected, can lead to spending on cloud implementations beyond what’s anticipated.
Cloud observability addresses these challenges by providing monitoring, performance measurement, reporting, and predictive analytics of diverse cloud infrastructures. As Figure 1 shows, these capabilities enable AIOps, IT awareness, and business awareness, and provide an on-ramp to broad operational awareness of the organization, its infrastructure, and its operations.
Figure 1. Aspects of Operational Awareness
This is the third year that GigaOm has reported on cloud observability, and the need for infrastructure, application, and network awareness has only continued to grow. This year’s report builds on our previous analyses, reflecting the expanding role and advancing technologies of cloud observability solutions and the impact those changes have on IT decision-making.
This GigaOm Key Criteria report details the capabilities (table stakes, key criteria, and emerging technologies) and non-functional requirements (evaluation metrics) for selecting an effective cloud observability solution. The companion GigaOm Radar report identifies vendors and products that excel in those capabilities and metrics. Together, these reports provide an overview of the category and its underlying technology, identify leading cloud observability offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions so they can make a more informed investment decision.
How to Read this Report
This GigaOm report is one of a series of documents that helps IT organizations assess competing solutions in the context of well-defined features and criteria. For a fuller understanding, consider reviewing the following reports:
Key Criteria report: A detailed market sector analysis that assesses the impact that key product features and criteria have on top-line solution characteristics—such as scalability, performance, and TCO—that drive purchase decisions.
GigaOm Radar report: A forward-looking analysis that plots the relative value and progression of vendor solutions along multiple axes based on strategy and execution. The Radar report includes a breakdown of each vendor’s offering in the sector.