Top 10 Benefits of Application Performance Monitoring

Posted on October 11, 2021 Backups & DR

In our digital world, if your apps go down, you’re out of business. Being able to find and fix application issues quickly keeps things running smoothly. But how do you respond fast enough? The answer is application performance monitoring.

APM detects and diagnoses complex application performance problems. That simplifies the process of keeping your apps up and running. And that enables you to maintain the level of service your company and customers expect. Here’s how APM can work for you. 

What Is Application Performance Monitoring?

Application performance monitoring is the process of gathering end-user metrics that affect performance within the overall application topology. APM then compares the data to expectations. 

The metrics monitored almost always include uptime, error rate, performance, data correctness, and security. In today’s cloud computing environment, APM must include more. It must also keep tabs on server-level CPU usage, instance numbers, request rate, and more. The end goal is to ensure customer satisfaction.

If anything is off, APM software reveals the exact failure point, and it does it in real-time. Immediately knowing there’s a problem and where the issue arose allows you to respond more rapidly. You can fix performance and stability issues and restore services without delay.

Benefits of Robust APM

The performance of your applications affects your ability to meet business goals. And delays can cost you time and money. Application performance monitoring can help save both.

Reduces Downtime

Application performance monitoring is one of the critical tools used today to ensure business applications stay up and running. Whether your apps are desktop-based or web-based, APM ensures they’re available when users need them. 

The trend toward cloud computing has made businesses more agile. But it’s also introduced a new layer of vulnerability. That’s partly because cloud computing requires effective communication between apps. So we develop Application programming interfaces (API) to get the job done.

Synchronizing web applications relies on open systems like RESTful API (representational state transfer). That creates both fluid functionality and risk because, in open systems, anyone can send a request to the server. 

Application performance monitoring can help ensure your authentication applications are doing their job. That helps keep hackers out while ensuring APIs work. And that ensures users have on-demand access to the applications they need. 

Better User Experience (UX)

Downtime has always been the enemy of productivity and user experience. But application slowdown is just as important to UX. When remote users access your applications, either online or over a network, a DNS server problem can slow performance. If it’s too slow, the app becomes useless.

That frustrates users. And frustrated users will turn their attention elsewhere. If employees use the app to conduct business, productivity grinds to a halt. If customers use it, slow access can send them to your competitor’s doorstep. 

APMs like DNS performance monitors can ensure traffic continues to flow. Proper DNS APM can identify latency issues and map anomalies and other end-user performance indicators.

Data collected by an APM can inform development decision-making. It allows you to determine backlog priorities based on user needs. When your team focuses on the right things, you can maximize the value you deliver to users. Keeping users happy keeps them using your apps. 

Higher Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is a metric used to gauge the successfulness of online (and other) marketing efforts. For a website to be an effective marketing tool, it must operate with minimal downtime. But being up isn’t enough.

Performance metrics like page speed can have a direct impact on conversion rates. If your site loads too slowly or bogs down between pages, users disengage. They don’t convert if they click away before your page even loads. And worse yet, once users leave, they may never come back.

Website application performance monitoring can make sure your website loads quickly. It can also ensure page-to-page navigation functions as it should. That keeps your prospects on your site longer. It allows your users to do everything they came to your site to do, including converting.

Faster Patching and MTTR

Adequate application performance monitoring reduces mean time to resolution (MTTR). With the right APM solutions, you don’t need to spend time and resources investigating an incident. You don’t need to track down the fault domain. APM does that for you, speeding your patch management process.

Armed with the APM data, your patch development team can begin work immediately. Whether it’s repairing a performance bug or closing a security vulnerability, you’ll get it done in less time with fewer resources. 

Improves Productivity

Automation technology like robotic process automation (RPA) has enhanced business productivity. RPA uses software agents (bots) to complete repetitive tasks. For instance, bots can strip invoice data from emails and enter it into a ledger. That frees staff to focus on more complex tasks.

Keeping that automation up and running is mission-critical for most businesses. Application performance monitoring lets you automatically sort and track hosts, processes, containers, and services. I can keep watch to ensure the bots complete assigned tasks as expected. 

Improves SEO

It’s a simple fact of doing business in the modern world. If customers can’t find you, they can’t buy what you’re selling. Optimizing your website increases your chances of being found.

Remember when search engine optimization (SEO) was simply a matter of loading your page, meta tags, and header with the right keywords. Not anymore.

Although keywords still matter, Google has shifted the focus of SEO to user experience. And the way your website performs is a big part of that. Website speed is so essential to UX that Google made it a search ranking factor.

But speed isn’t everything. Google uses other key metrics to evaluate UX and rank pages. Visual stability, mobile responsiveness, and security are other key metrics. Google values high-quality UX. So monitoring all the aspects of your website’s performance is critical to ensuring you meet the standard. 

Application performance monitoring can help you optimize your website protecting UX.

Ensures Government and SLA Compliance

No one wants to lose a contract that they worked hard to land or pay SLA non-compliance penalties. Application performance monitoring can help keep you secure and on schedule. 

Compliance monitoring can help you ensure you’re meeting your obligations. APM tools allow you to track the performance of applications. That helps you ensure regulatory guidelines and that you’re meeting your performance obligations.

Improves Cybersecurity Management

Application performance monitoring is an integral component of application security. APM lets you see process performance data inside complex and distributed environments.

The data gathered can be used to enhance security software. When coupled with a vulnerability scan, APM provides redundancy. And it gives you a comprehensive look at application performance.

Any performance abnormalities and security vulnerabilities are quickly analyzed. Then APM alerts your development team and Security Operations Center (SOC) in real-time. The sooner you know there’s a problem, the sooner you can act.

Reduces Operating Expenses

When used appropriately, application performance monitoring can save you money. The precise detail gathered by APM software lets you home in on the affected domain immediately. Knowing who owns the problem tells you which resources to allocate. That lets you fix issues faster, reducing MTTR.

Faster MTTR improves uptime for critical services, saving you money. Downtime can result in SLA violations (and penalties) and reduced productivity. It can also negatively affect your brand. Disruptions can have costly consequences like lost revenue from events like shopping cart abandonment.

A performance issue in one component can appear as a capacity issue in the end-user experience. If you can’t see the performance details of the components, you may spend to add capacity you don’t need. Effective APM helps you avoid “band-aid” solutions that cost you money but don’t actually fix the problem.

Operational efficiency improves with the right APM approach. Application performance monitoring reduces problem resolution time. That frees your development team to focus on strategic projects. That has a cascading effect. Faster, more agile delivery of products and upgrades increases revenue gains.

Keeps You Focused on Business Development

The capital savings APM gives you can be better spent elsewhere. Application performance monitoring eliminates the development slowdowns that come with manual troubleshooting.

You don’t have to spend your time and resources tracking and troubleshooting every API performance glitch. APM does it for you.

You and your team spend less time putting out fires. That gives you more time to focus on API development. And that enhances business growth.

Finding the Right APM Solutions

When it comes to application performance monitoring, one size doesn’t fit all. APMs generally monitor application availability, response time, usage, demand, and overall health.

But you also need detailed performance metrics that fit the type and domain of your applications—whether in the cloud or on-premise. That’s where NetDepot can help.

Our experienced team specializes in innovative application performance monitoring and cybersecurity monitoring tailored to your company.  Contact us today to learn how our APM solutions can work for you.

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