應用改變IT

???“應用”這個詞已經成了流行文化的一個元素，顯然我們已經進入了一個“以應用為中心”的世界。企業科技領域也出現了類似的重大趨勢：注意的重點從基礎架構轉向應用軟件。據調研機構蓋特納公司（Gartner）估計，全球2000強企業中有20%正在將IT部門的工作重心轉移到應用的監控和管理上來，而不再僅注重基礎架構。

????這一現象的原因很簡單：運行迅速而正常的應用軟件直接關系到企業的營收。無論是交易、復雜搜索、數據庫錄入還是內部商業流程，對企業來說真正重要的是應用，而不是網絡、服務器或其他硬件。此外，云計算正在迅速發展，它側重于提供終端網絡服務，而用以實現該目的的硬件與軟件則是透明的，這一點也加速了上述趨勢的發展。

????由業務部門推動的IT界趨勢

????推動這一趨勢的乃是公司里的業務部門，而不是IT部門，認識到這一點，這種劇變就顯得更有意思了。蓋特納分析師威爾?嘉佩里注意到：“業務部門以及頂級高管們現在通常已經意識到，IT不僅僅是支持著后臺工作的基礎設施，還能夠直接產生收入，是促成企業戰略目標實現的工具，這些作用更加重要?！?008-2009年經濟衰退迫使企業“少花錢多辦事”，這種對效率的追求當然也推動了這種態度上的轉變。

????這種趨勢告訴我們什么呢？簡而言之，我們正在實現這樣一個轉型：IT資產的主要存在目的從保障應用的可用性（“什么地方出毛病了？我能修好它么？”）變為改善應用的性能（“客戶需要等多久？它對營收有多大影響？”）。

????如果你還屬于落后的前一種類別，你可能會在競爭中輸給更具前瞻性的后一種企業，這些競爭對手已經意識到，反饋時間慢兩秒鐘，可能就意味著收入減少4%，比如電子商務行業。

????這種巨大的變化不僅僅沖擊著面向消費者的企業。我們最近手獨立分析公司Quocirca委托進行的一份調查顯示，各行各業公司首席信息官中，有82%認為終端用戶期待其網絡應用能有更出色的性能。這種期望值只會越來越高，認識到這一點的公司已經開始監控應用性能，藉此獲得競爭優勢。位于德克薩斯州、擁有60處設施的醫療保健公司CHRISTUS健康就是一個成功的典型。

????With the term 'apps' now part of popular culture, it's clear we live in an 'application-centric' world. In enterprise technology there's an analogous trend just as big: the shift in focus from infrastructure to applications. Gartner estimates that 20 percent of the Global 2000 are shifting the emphasis of their IT operational processes to monitor and manage applications, rather than infrastructure, in a central place.

????There's a simple reason for this: speedy and properly functioning applications directly relate to revenue. Whether it's a transaction, a complex search, database entry or an internal business process, it's the application that really matters to the organization, not the network, servers or any other hardware. The growth of Cloud computing and its emphasis on end-result web services, where the hardware and software powering them are meant to be transparent, is only accelerating this trend.

????An IT Trend Driven by the Business

????This seachange is even more interesting when you realize that the business side of the company is driving this trend, not IT. Gartner analyst Will Cappelli notes that: "Line of business and C-level executives now generally recognize that IT is not just infrastructure that supports background workflows, but is also, and more fundamentally, a direct generator of revenue, and a key enabler of strategy."i The do-more-with-less efficiencies forced by the 2008-2009 economic downturn certainly helped to cement this attitude shift.

????What is this trend telling us? In short, that we've moved from a world where IT assets focused mainly on application availability ("what's broken and can I fix it?") to application performance ("how long will a customer wait and what's the impact on revenue?").

????If you're in the reactive former group, you're likely losing ground to your competition in the more proactive latter group which already knows -- using an e-commerce example -- that only a two second slowdown in response time can equal 4 percent of revenue loss.

????This seachange applies to more than consumer-facing companies. A recent survey we commissioned from independent analyst firm Quocirca revealed that 82 percent of CIOs in multiple industries believe end-users expect better performance from their online applications. Those expectations will only rise. The companies that understand this are already using application performance monitoring for competitive advantage. One example is CHRISTUS Health, a 60-facility healthcare company in Texas.