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Key DevOps Principles & Practices for Success

Posted in: DevOps, DevOps methodologies, DevOps mindset, DevOps model, DevOps processes, IT Strategy - Sep 15, 2021

The term DevOps is a combination of Development and Operations. It is the name for a set of practices that not only integrate, but also automate the processes of both Development and Operations. Software development teams plan, build, and test software, while those in IT deploy and maintain that software.

In the DevOps framework, these two groups work together in a continuous feedback loop to churn out quality products more quickly. Ultimately, this creates a stronger infrastructural backbone for the company.

What Are DevOps Best Practices?

Automation: It’s important, especially for large DevOps teams, to automate configuration, deployment, infrastructure, and testing, among other processes.
Collaboration: Unlike the traditional Development and IT silos, working together is key in successful DevOps.
Customer Focus: Like Agile, DevOps keeps the end user in mind. Teams continue to build, test, release, and monitor new software to keep internal and external users happy.
Improvement: Gaining insight from Agile methodology, DevOps keeps improving and optimizing its processes and workflows through continuous monitoring and testing.

What Is the Difference Between DevOps and Agile?

Agile methodology breaks down a project into smaller parts, ensuring that a software product is released iteratively. Agile is also self-reflexive, so the workflow continuously improves over time. DevOps principles are certainly woven into this process of project management and continuous improvement, but DevOps is different from Agile methodology.

The primary difference is that Agile addresses communication gaps between the clients/end users and the developers. DevOps, on the other hand, addresses internal communication gaps between developers and the IT team. The two therefore differ primarily in relation to which part of the product lifecycle they’re targeting.

Who Is on a DevOps team?

The DevOps team can be quite large. It is usually made up of teams of designers, developers, testers, engineers, production staff, and operations staff. They all work together to launch and maintain new software.

DevOps teams have to work cross-functionally, making the whole team greater than the sum of its members to ultimately deliver more value to the customer.

Read more: Top 10 Paying IT Jobs in 2021

Future of DevOps

DevOps is here to stay. Here are some of the key trends to watch out for.

The timeline from product development to rollout will become increasingly shorter to meet customer demands for availability, speed, and performance.
DevOps will continue to be a valued skill among employers hiring IT personnel.
DevOps engineers will play an increasingly important role within DevOps teams.
DevOps teams will become increasingly multidisciplinary. Members will have to train in skills outside of their wheelhouse, like automation, functional knowledge, soft skills, etc.
As more parts of a business move to the cloud, security will be of greater importance for DevOps. Expect DevOps to use more AI, ML, and threat modeling to proactively address security threats.
There will be less and less human intervention in DevOps, as Artificial Intelligence Operations (AIOps) is on the rise and will increasingly partner up with DevOps.
We’ll see DevOps play a bigger role in business-level decisions and strategy.

Why It’s Important to Implement DevOps

In the DevOps framework, developers and IT work together on development, testing, integration, deployment, and monitoring. DevOps are becoming one of the primary driving forces for delivering value — not just for a product, but to the customer.

DevOps gets software to market more quickly and efficiently, especially if you adopt the best DevOps practices and keep an eye on emerging DevOps trends.

The post Key DevOps Principles & Practices for Success appeared first on CIO Insight.

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Yet Another Security Headache, This Time From Messaging Apps

Posted in: Cloud Messaging, instant messaging, IT Strategy, messaging apps, messaging security, mobile device management, Mobile Device Security, Security, security vulnerability, shadow IT - Sep 14, 2021

It seems every week, a new security frontier must be navigated. On the device level, servers were the main threat at first, then PCs, laptops, tablets, and phones. But the bad actors have moved on; now it seems they are in love with messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram.

The pandemic has seen a rise in remote enterprise workers using these apps. Many companies have tried to tie employee interaction to approved channels, such as Microsoft Teams. But just as many failed to achieve that. As a result, a large number of users prefer consumer-level messaging apps for keeping the boss updated or interacting with peers.

Blurring the Lines

Remote work’s way of blurring the lines between personal and professional time doesn’t help. If people use WhatsApp to stay in touch with family and friends, for example, you can see why many introduce it into their work-from-home life. Corporate dictates may demand otherwise, but users want an easy-to-use communication channel.

Corporate monitoring moved up to a whole new level during the pandemic.

Further, corporate monitoring moved up to a whole new level during the pandemic. Companies began tracking user logins, keystrokes, time active on devices, websites visited, and other metrics. This created resentment and suspicion in users.

The Shadow IT of Messaging Apps

Alternate channels are sometimes used to avoid management scrutiny, or just to stick it to Big Brother. In creeps a shadow IT of additional messaging channels. Unfortunately, this expands the attack surface of the enterprise. And thus increases the risk of data loss, ransomware, and other security threats.

“Attempting to solve a market demand for communications has led to a range of quickly launched apps that are not business- or enterprise-ready, with many having poor uptime and availability, and suffering from lack of inbuilt security, stability, and basic feature sets,” said Nick Emanuel, Senior Director of Product for Carbonite and Webroot. “Secure messaging protocols are often used by cyber attackers to hide data exfiltration, making it much harder for the company to identify that they are being attacked.”

He added that consumer-level messaging apps may include privacy policies that can run afoul of corporate and regulatory provisions. Thus, end-to-end encryption is recommended for any communications utilizing messaging apps in order to prevent interception during transit.

End-to-End Encryption Isn’t Enough

With WhatsApp having some potentially dodgy privacy policies from an enterprise standpoint, Telegram and Signal emerged with end-to-end encrypted messaging included. “Signal and Telegram have pushed growth, proliferation, and privacy as key business drivers,” said Emanuel.

But even if a messaging app uses encryption, many organizations don’t like the idea of corporate data sitting on unmonitored smartphones. Emanuel recommends prohibition of consumer-grade apps for company business or instituting detailed corporate policies to control them.

Similarly, laptops can be set up to block unapproved communication apps and other services at the firewall or port. Mobile Device Management (MDM) technologies can similarly address Android/iOS devices. “Embrace the free flow of communication, but offer safer ways for it to happen while highlighting the risks,” said Emanuel.

The post Yet Another Security Headache, This Time From Messaging Apps appeared first on CIO Insight.

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Best IT Management Software Solutions 2021

Posted in: Enterprise Apps - Sep 14, 2021

The category of IT management software covers a wide range of offerings: remote management of computer systems, IT Service Management (ITSM), IT infrastructure management, Application Performance Management (APM), Security Information & Event Management (SIEM), and many other areas. Consequently, the tools covered in this guide span the gamut of management areas.

Each vendor has their own approach. Some entered the field via security, some via application performance, and others via Help Desk applications that needed to connect remotely into user systems. Regardless of their origins, they have all expanded into the wider world of IT management.

Best IT Management Software Solutions

CIO Insight evaluated multiple vendors operating in the IT management space. Here are our top picks, in no particular order:

TeamViewer

Value Proposition

TeamViewer Remote Management is a central IT management solution that keeps a company’s IT infrastructure healthy, stable, and secure. Features include active management, monitoring, and tracking of all remote devices and network devices. It also encompasses the central deployment of software and patches for managed devices to improve performance and increase overall IT security and efficiency.

Key Differentiators

Customizable to fit a company’s remote management policies and requirements
Regulate the intervals of automatic checks, real-time alerts, and automated responses
In-house IT teams can spend time on other areas of the infrastructure
Integrated functions that are scalable
Remote Access and Control can be accessed within the same management console
Remote Management offers endpoint protection
Leverages machine-learning to protect against malware and zero-day exploits
Automated backup
Offers the ability to monitor website uptime, page load speeds, and transactions

ReadyWorks

Value Proposition

ReadyWorks helps large enterprises with IT transformation, eliminating operational inefficiencies by automating and orchestrating complex IT programs. It is a digital platform conductor for all critical aspects of IT infrastructure management. It provides a unified view of underpinning technologies and their connection to applications, users, and services.

Key Differentiators

Collects, cleans, and analyzes data from all IT and business systems
Automates planning based on data and migration readiness
Orchestrates workflow execution for both people and systems
Provides reporting and real-time insights into the status of IT programs
Uses a library of connectors to collect, clean, and normalizes data
Connector ecosystem includes ServiceNow, Configuration Manager, InTune, Okta, and others
Bi-directional connectors allow orchestration of complex workflows across platforms
Automated communications and user scheduling
Enterprise-grade security and scalability
Adaptable platform allows for orchestration of nearly any infrastructure program

New Relic

Value Proposition

New Relic One is a data analysis platform for all software metrics, events, and logs. It also helps software teams detect anomalies, discover root causes, and optimize performance. Whether the architecture is microservices or monoliths, containers or VMs, cloud or data center, it can deploy, monitor, and scale services.

Key Differentiators

HIPAA-compliant observability platform for monitoring performance of systems containing PHI
Manages all telemetry data, including metrics, events, logs and distributed traces
Provides a single source of truth, offering full-stack analysis tools and applied intelligence capabilities in one place
Strong regulatory posture: SOC2, GDPR, FedRAMP, and HIPAA
Provides context from logs, infrastructure and applications, distributed tracing, and serverless functions
App performance at-a-glance summary gives the user insight into web transaction response time and transaction traces
Drill down to fix the problem at the root, optimizing app performance
Monitor all aspects of the business on one screen
No need to program pre-configured alerts
Automatically groups alerts and informs engineers based on time and frequency
Positioned by Gartner in the Leaders quadrant of the 2021 Magic Quadrant for APM

Splunk

Value Proposition

Whether on-prem, hybrid, or multicloud, Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring delivers real-time infrastructure monitoring and troubleshooting for all environments. It provides transparency into usage and the capacity to minimize operational and cloud costs. In addition, it can stop context switching and simplify operations with tools that work across systems, teams, and tools.

Key Differentiators

Monitors and provides observability of cloud environments
Provides a solution to visualize and analyze relevant performance metrics across infrastructure, services, and applications
Boasts a mean time to detect up to 80% faster than competitors
AI-driven alerts
Transparency and usage control provided by Splunk Service Bureau
Splunk IM applies analytics on metrics in flight
Search rapidly by any combination of dimensions
Enhanced offerings in areas such as real user monitoring and network monitoring
Splunk offerings also provide AIOps and automation functionality

ScienceLogic

Value Proposition

ScienceLogic discovers all components within the enterprise across physical, virtual, and cloud environments and stores the data in a data lake. It then helps IT to understand relationships between infrastructure, applications, and business services, using this context to gain actionable insights. The company claims 60% reduction in incidents, and a 25% improvement in time to recovery.

Key Differentiators

Consolidates big data from all IT tools and data sources into a real-time data lake
Exchange and optimize cross-ecosystem data for visibility
Auto-remediation of issues
Auto-mapping and tracking of relationships across infrastructure, clouds, applications, and business services
Multi-directional integrations to automate actions at cloud scale.

BMC Helix

Value Proposition

BMC Software has arranged its Helix IT Service and Operations Management suite in alignment with ITIL best practices. It includes modules for chatbot, digital workplace, discovery, ITSM, business workflows, and cloud-native microservices. It comes with built-in AI and machine learning capabilities.

Key Differentiators

Users can choose to deploy on-premise, SaaS, multi-cloud, and hybrid
ITSM module can run on choice of public clouds: AWS, Azure, IBM, or BMC
Resolve incidents faster with intelligent, context-aware, and proactive incident matching
ITIL 4-compliant best practices for service management processes
Guided processes on mobile and web, a drag-and-drop change calendar, and automated and contextual collision detection with impact analysis
Scalable service view configuration management for ITOM
Offers class structure, data and service models, federation, reconciliation and normalization, and agentless application and dependency mapping
Supports a variety of service request workloads at scale
Cognitive capabilities that automate classification, assignment, and routing of incidents, as well as cognitive email analysis and response.
Ability to track operating level agreements and contracts from external providers

Ivanti Service Manager

Value Proposition

Ivanti Service Manager evolved from the merger of HEAT and Landesk to offer IT management, chatbots, telephony support, third-party service integration, and contract management. It includes a workflow designer and engine that adapts to changes in the market and shifts in the business.

Key Differentiators

Run it as a single product or as one element of a suite
SaaS and on-premises options
Flexible incident management, including analytics to deal with inbound ticket requests from any channel
Problem management utilizes information from other elements within the enterprise for automated resolution processes
User configurable support of change workflow and business process
Service asset and configuration management enable the handling of IT changes quickly
Includes dashboards, reporting, knowledge management, mobility, and self service
Review events over selected time periods, track MTBF, and report service availability against SLAs
Ivanti was the original service desk solution in the 1980’s

EasyVista Service Manager

Value Proposition

EasyVista Enterprise Service Management Platform includes IT management, enterprise process automation, intelligent knowledge management, and micro apps technology for building apps, portals, and dashboards). It is available as SaaS and on-premise.

Key Differentiators

Automatic knowledge search locates any related known errors, knowledge articles, news or major incidents
Resolutions from knowledge can be copied to current incidents
Alerts can be received from third-party monitoring tools, analyzed, and then trigger events such as recording, notification, or creating an incident
Changes are categorized based on change catalog records that also define the related workflow
Impact analysis lets you understand the impact of a change based on the CMDB relationship
Assets/CIs are linked to define the dependency map; business services are tracked and linked to CIs
Request management starts with the service catalog; workflows are configured and associated to every service
Microsoft Cognitive Services are used to interpret user needs

Key Features of IT Management Applications

These days, IT management software solutions tend to adopt more and more predictive and preventive analytics capabilities. Another area common to most vendors now is extending their on-premises software with cloud-based versions and tools.

This had led to increasingly sophisticated management products that incorporate areas such as business workflows, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual agents, chatbots, machine learning, and ease of use.

Other areas that are often part of IT management include the following.

Incident Management

There are many types of incident that can occur in IT. Some are vitally important, many are not. Incident management should be able to help IT identify priorities with automation features that simplify the process.

Problem Management

Problem management exists to assist IT via processes and activities that manage the lifecycle of problems that could happen in an IT service. The purpose is to prevent problems from happening and resolve incidents rapidly.

Change Management

If changes are not tracked, a great many challenges are likely to result. For example, if a server virtualization project is initiated without detailing all the processes, services, storage connections, and dependencies involved, then chaos could erupt. The latest change management modules sometimes provide risk analysis to highlight potential issues in advance.

Service Asset/Configuration Management

Maintaining an accurate record of all information about the many configuration Items (CIs) is needed to deliver IT service.

Service Desk

The service desk provides a point of contact to ensure users receive help for requests. These can vary from the routine to full-blown emergencies.

The post Best IT Management Software Solutions 2021 appeared first on CIO Insight.

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What Does a CASB Do? Top CASB Solutions for 2021

Posted in: access controls, CASB, cloud access security broker, Security - Sep 13, 2021

Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) are a type of security tool that helps organizations manage and secure their cloud-based data. A CASB is essentially the middleman between you (the end-user) and the cloud providers. Here, we’ll discuss the functions of CASBs and list the top CASB solutions.

What Is a CASB?

Cloud Access Security Brokers are designed to manage the security of an organization’s applications, both internally and externally. It is a visibility and policy control point that sits between users and cloud providers. They provide visibility into unauthorized users on the network and block bad actors from gaining access to network resources.

With the right CASB, users can also control what data leaves and enters the cloud. A CASB can also provide proactive controls to mitigate cloud-based data breaches by detecting unapproved connections to repositories, identifying risky user actions, and generating alerts to notify the information security team of potential incidents.

The CASB offers a higher level of security by shielding sensitive data from any unauthorized access. Some key features of a CASB are:

Encrypting sensitive data in motion and at rest
Employing endpoint protection solutions to ensure that devices are secure
Providing visibility into all of your endpoints from a single console
Providing layers of protection against threats
Preventing inappropriate use of cloud services by enforcing rules

The primary role of cloud access security brokers is to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of a given virtual private server or cloud environment. They do this by providing the security necessary to protect data from unauthorized access.

Pros	Cons
IAAS, PAAS, and SAAS support are robust	The solution is not easy to use
Monitoring and Threat Protection tool	The console can be slow to load at times

Pros	Cons
It has a very clear and simple dashboard	Issues while implementing
The support is excellent	The Shadow IT process is very slow to load
Stable Solution

Pros	Cons
Policies against integrated SaaS applications	Integration issues
Visibility into cloud application usage and risk	Solution is expensive
Cloud Confidence Index

Pros	Cons
Extra layer of security for email on personal devices	Issues with integration for different MFA tools
It allows users to have DLP rules	Not suitable for large enterprise
Fast and easy setup procedures

Pros	Cons
Easily deployable, even by non-IT managers	Experts used to Linux clouds may find it restrictive
In-depth knowledge of the entire network	E5 subscription tiers might be extremely costly
The analysis is a simple concept
Effortlessly implementable data compliance tools

Why Is a CASB Important?

A CASB is an important part of cloud security strategy. As organizations begin to look towards the cloud for more mission-critical applications, CASBs will need to be explored as an option in order to keep data safe and secure.

CASBs are important because they ensure sensitive data remains safe from cyber threats.

There are many reasons why cloud security brokers might be beneficial to organizations. One is that they provide the reliability that is required in today’s world of cloud computing. For instance, if you are using the cloud to manage the inventory database for your company, the cloud provider will handle the secure storage and retrieval of that inventory data without you having to add any additional hardware, software, or training for IT staff.

A CASB allows an organization to use SaaS applications without the worry of compromising their IT security. The use of cloud security brokers offers the advantage of ensuring compliance with existing regulatory standards, as well as improved audit trails and decreased costs.

How Do You Choose What a CASB Does?

To determine what a cloud access security broker does for you, first identify the role it plays in your organization. If you want to use this method to gain access to data on another cloud, the cloud security broker will handle the access by adding firewall controls and other measures.

When deploying CASB, start with the most important cloud application in your enterprise. In order to use the cloud application’s API, you’ll need to identify a CASB that offers API support for that cloud application.

There are three ways CASB can be deployed: a proxy-like on-premise gateway, a host-based agent, and an API cloud-centric cloud service. In general, CASBs operate on four pillars, which are: visibility, compliance, threat protection, and data security.

Choosing the Right Cloud Access Security Broker

There are many CASBs available, but choosing the right one for your organization requires a lot of careful consideration. Look out for faster application delivery, better connectivity and scalability, tighter control, greater resiliency, and simplified management. Further, you’ll want easy integration with other applications and excellent technical support.

The post What Does a CASB Do? Top CASB Solutions for 2021 appeared first on CIO Insight.

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What Is Enterprise Change Management?

Posted in: change management, ECM, ECM software, IT Management - Sep 13, 2021

Change management appears simple, but change is often the most challenging thing to understand in business. In many cases, enterprise change management (ECM) is difficult to implement and maintain.

According to Webopedia, ECM is “the process, tools, and techniques required by an organization to manage the people side of change in the enterprise in order to achieve the expected outcome.” To properly implement change management, the key is simplifying the processes down to the core needs of the organization.

Types of Enterprise Change

There are several types of organizational change:

Traditional Change

Traditional Change usually occurs in smaller, more defined business units. For example, onboarding new CRM software involves Traditional Change. Traditional methods of change management work well in operational units, but lack the framework and scope to be applied to the business as a whole.

Evolutionary Change

The most common form of organizational change, Evolutionary Change usually begins internally, and takes time to fully manifest and understand.

Revolutionary Change

This change is rapid and usually starts outside the organization. When Revolutionary Change occurs, the power structure of the business radically shifts. It may end in complete reorganization or even closure of the company or business unit.

Directed Change

Directed Change is planning and trying to control events before an Evolutionary or Revolutionary Change happens. Two Directed Changes can occur within an organization, depending on the impetus:

Developmental Change: A reaction to perceived Evolutionary Change, this is the process of improving what the company is doing on an ongoing basis. The company commits to continuous improvements in operations, finance, and other areas.
Transformational Change: A reaction to perceived Revolutionary Change, this begins with a new vision, changes in the marketplace, new leadership, or an external event that creates a need to transform rapidly. This change often causes uncertainty and stress within the company, but if managed correctly it can be the most beneficial.

Change Management Software

Change Management software can be difficult for organizations to implement and adopt. Many business leaders believe an ECM application will simplify and mitigate common mistakes.

For the most part, an application can help understand the organization, but it is not a solution to everything. When used in conjunction with a solid change management system outlining the transformation in the business, ECM software will be a good ally in running an organization’s goals.

Read more on TechnologyAdvice: Here Are 6 Change Management Tools That Every Project Manager Needs In Their Life

The Reality of Change Management

Change management is complex by nature. Many businesses begin these efforts with the best intentions and want a tailor-made solution that will resolve everything. Unless the company wants to waste time and resources building a custom software application, the best it can wish for is a third-party solution.

Further, most large corporations have ECM teams; however, many smaller companies don’t. For any size of business, keep these things in mind to help in your change management efforts:

Simplify: Do not overanalyze the initiative. Many companies fall into a rabbit hole, especially when there are multiple business areas involved.
Divide the effort: Keep the effort manageable, dividing work and resource allocation into stages. If a third-party vendor is involved, ensure your internal team is strong enough to provide push back if needed to keep the work moving forward. There is no one-stop solution!
Communicate: Set up timely meetings to inform everyone how the effort is going, and maintain open lines of communication with all stakeholders.
Manage time: Remember, change management is a continuous process. New changes will always occur, so be adaptable and comfortable with this fact.

The post What Is Enterprise Change Management? appeared first on CIO Insight.

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News

What Are DevOps Best Practices?

What Is the Difference Between DevOps and Agile?

Who Is on a DevOps team?

Future of DevOps

Why It’s Important to Implement DevOps

Blurring the Lines

The Shadow IT of Messaging Apps

End-to-End Encryption Isn’t Enough

Best IT Management Software Solutions

Key Features of IT Management Applications

Incident Management

Problem Management

Change Management

Service Asset/Configuration Management

Service Desk

Table of Contents

What Is a CASB?

Top CASB Solutions

Why Is a CASB Important?

How Do You Choose What a CASB Does?

Choosing the Right Cloud Access Security Broker

Types of Enterprise Change

Traditional Change

Evolutionary Change

Revolutionary Change

Directed Change

Change Management Software

The Reality of Change Management