Introduction

The release of the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for I&O Automation, 2023 has inspired us here at OnPage to provide our insights on the latest trends in I&O optimization. In this blog, OnPage will predict the widespread adoption of technologies that can further automation efforts and thus contribute to I&O optimization. This blog focuses on tools—like OnPage’s incident alert management solution—we predict will be widely adopted as a standard for I&O optimization in the near future.

What is the deal with I&O Automation?

Infrastructure & Operations (I&O) refers to the combination of activities, processes, and resources involved in managing and maintaining an organization’s IT infrastructure.  As an experienced company offering an incident alert management platform with automated capabilities, OnPage believes that automating I&O activities (like hybrid cloud computing and continuous delivery) is critical to maintaining business continuity. OnPage agrees with insights reported by Gartner,

According to Gartner “Automation is a transformational investment for infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders. Investments in this area reflect the need to enable improved speed to market, increased business agility, mitigation of security and compliance risk, optimization of performance, and minimization of service costs.” (Gartner, Hype Cycle for I&O Automation, 2023, 14 July 2023)

OnPage believes that as tech vendors continue to innovate and establish automated technologies as the new standard for boosting IT operations’ effectiveness, they are also ushering in new business practices that promise to significantly reshape the existing industry dynamics.

Trends in I&O Optimization

Focus

I&O optimization trends show many automation technologies and frameworks revving up to break into the industry stronger than before. OnPage believes that Automated Incident Response (AIR), Hybrid Cloud Computing, and Continuous Delivery (CD) have rapidly increased in relevance across industries. Within a few years, OnPage expects these tools to be standard I&O optimization solutions.

Automated Incident Response

AIR centralizes alert management and incident routing, enabling organizations to streamline IT operations, reduce incident response time, and enhance incident resolution. One example of AIR is OnPage’s incident alert management platform that has on-call scheduling capabilities, escalation policies, and notifications that persistently ping until addressed by an on-call specialist.

The OnPage team is pleased to inform you that we’ve been included in the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for I&O Automation, 2023 as a Sample Vendor for Automated Incident Response. We believe it is an honor to be mentioned in the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for I&O Automation, 2023 and are proud to continue serving the IT community.

Over the past year, OnPage has observed that our target market needs better workflows for seamless collaboration and consistent IT service management (ITSM). AIR can be used to automate processes that usually slow the incident resolution process. For example, OnPage eliminates the need for an answering service and provides a dedicated phone number to call. After leaving a voicemail, OnPage immediately alerts the on-call tech and will automatically escalate alerts to every on-call tech until the issue is addressed. During this process, OnPage routinely creates audit trails so teams can track their efficiency. In this incident alert management workflow, vital activities are automated and improved.

Therefore, OnPage believes that AIR technologies like OnPage will become an integral part of lucrative I&O optimization. Investing in AIR will help organizations manage automated incident response workflows, oversee on-call scheduling capabilities, integrate monitoring solutions, and employ post-mortem incident response analyses to optimize I&O performance.

Hybrid Cloud Computing

OnPage believes hybrid cloud computing technologies will optimize I&O performance over the next few years. Gartner defines Hybrid Cloud Computing as:

“Hybrid cloud computing comprises two or more public and private cloud services that operate as separate entities but are integrated. A hybrid cloud computing service is automated, scalable and elastic. It has self-service interfaces and is delivered as a shared service using internet technologies. Hybrid cloud computing needs integration between the internal and external environments at the data, process, management or security layers.” (Gartner, Hype Cycle for I&O Automation, 2023, 14 July 2023 )

Hybrid Cloud Computing for data storage can eliminate the costs and stresses of managing on-premises servers. By hiring both private and public cloud services, organizations can have both strong cybersecurity (private) and flexible infrastructure (public).

For successful I&O optimization using hybrid cloud computing, OnPage stresses establishing standards for security and management collaboration between private and public cloud providers. With rapid innovation in the industry, now may be an excellent time to reevaluate your organization’s cloud maturity and consider if hybrid cloud computing is right for you.

Continuous Delivery

OnPage believes Continuous Delivery technologies have the potential to contribute to I&O optimization. According to Gartner:

“Continuous delivery (CD) is a software engineering approach that enables teams to build critical software quickly, while ensuring the software can be released reliably anytime. Through dependable, low-risk releases, CD allows continuous adaptation of the software to incorporate user feedback, market shifts and business strategy changes. This approach requires the engineering discipline to facilitate complete automation of the software delivery pipeline.” (Gartner, Hype Cycle for I&O Automation, 2023, 14 July 2023 )

With increasing DevOps initiatives across industries, organizations are increasing investments in CDs to reduce build-to-production cycle time. CD vendors are maturing their technology’s capabilities and process understanding to prepare for an increase in the market’s need for CD as an I&O optimization solution.

For companies looking to adopt CD, OnPage suggests taking initiative to optimize I&O by ensuring that CDs can fully integrate with an organization’s existing DevOps platform.

Summary

OnPage believes that AIR, hybrid cloud computing, and CD automated tools are increasing in relevance and offer the ability to support an organization’s I&O optimization. By monitoring the evolution and integration of AIR, hybrid cloud computing, and CD, organizations can transform their I&O practices, leading to increased operational efficiency, faster time-to-market, enhanced customer satisfaction, and cost savings.

Gartner, Hype Cycle for I&O Automation, 2023, 14 July 2023. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and HYPE CYCLE is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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