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Key Takeaways
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As a product specialist, I’ve had countless conversations about network observability. I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the downright confusing. The market is flooded with vendors, all claiming to have the magic bullet for your network woes. Everywhere I go, the story is the same. The neat and tidy world of the on-premises data center is gone, replaced by a sprawling environment that stretches across multiple clouds, your own facilities, and out to the edge. This new reality changes the game, and it means the questions you ask a potential observability vendor are more critical than ever.
Forget the feature bake-off for a moment. While a slick user interface and a long list of supported integrations are appealing, they don't get to the heart of what truly matters. To get beyond the shiny surface, you need to ask questions that reveal a vendor's fundamental approach to observability. So here are three questions I believe every technology leader should be asking any potential vendor. And yes, that includes asking them of me. I expect it.
This might seem like a basic question, but the answer is incredibly revealing. Yesterday's network was a relatively straightforward affair of routers, switches, and firewalls in a data center you controlled. Today, your "network" is a dynamic entity that includes cloud provider backbones, SD-WAN overlays, and countless third-party services that are critical to your operations—but entirely outside of your direct control.
A vendor that still thinks of the network in terms of traditional device-centric monitoring is missing the bigger picture. Their solution will likely leave you with significant blind spots in the very areas that are most likely to cause performance issues for your end users. What you need is a partner who understands that the modern landscape is a "network of networks" and has built a platform designed to provide genuine end-to-end visibility, from your data center to the cloud and every service in between.
A truly comprehensive observability solution should be able to trace the entire journey of an application's data, regardless of where it travels. This requires a platform that can ingest and correlate a wide variety of data, not just from your own devices, but from across the internet and cloud provider networks. Without this holistic view, you'll be left with finger-pointing between teams when performance issues arise, with no clear path to resolution.
This second question also cuts to the chase. This is about the journey from raw data to actionable insights. Every observability vendor will tell you they collect a vast amount of faults, metrics, logs, and traces. But data alone is not the answer. In fact, an overwhelming volume of data can be just as problematic as not enough, leading to alert fatigue and wasted resources.
The real value lies in a platform's ability to intelligently analyze that data and present you with clear, concise answers to your most pressing questions. When a critical application is slow, you don't need a dashboard with a thousand blinking lights. You need to know why it's slow and what you can do about it. This is where the power of AI and machine learning come into play.
But be wary of vendors who use "AI" as a mere marketing buzzword. Dig deeper and ask how their AI and machine learning models actually work. A mature observability platform will use AI not just for anomaly detection, but for root cause analysis, predictive analytics, and even automated remediation. A platform should be able to learn the normal behavior of your network and applications, and then proactively alert you to deviations that could impact performance, often before your users even notice a problem. The goal is to move from a reactive to a proactive stance, and that requires a platform that can think, not just display data.
The only constant in technology is change. Your network and applications will continue to evolve in ways we simply can't predict today. Therefore, the final, and perhaps most important, question to ask a potential vendor is how their platform is designed to adapt to the future.
A solution that is rigid and built on a closed architecture will inevitably become a legacy system, one that is unable to keep up with the pace of innovation. Look for a platform with an open and extensible architecture that can easily integrate with new technologies and data sources. This is crucial for ensuring that your observability solution can grow and evolve alongside your business, so you can leverage your investment over the long haul.
Consider the vendor's approach to open standards and open-source technologies. A commitment to open standards is a good indicator of a vendor's willingness to play well with others and help you avoid vendor lock-in. Furthermore, a platform that can be customized and extended will empower your teams to solve unique challenges and innovate on their own. The right observability partner will not just sell you a tool; they will provide you with a flexible platform that enables you to build a culture of observability within your organization.
In the end, choosing a network observability vendor is about more than just technology; it's about finding a partner who shares your vision for the future. By asking these three fundamental questions, you can move beyond the surface-level sales pitches and gain a much deeper understanding of a vendor's capabilities and philosophy. The answers will help you identify a partner who can not only solve your immediate challenges but also empower you to confidently navigate the complexities of whatever comes next.
Asking these questions will help you find the right partner for your future. But the answers you get will be most valuable when you know where your own organization stands today. Understanding your current capabilities is the first step toward building a true culture of observability. To see where you are on that journey, use our Network Observability Maturity Model to get a clear assessment and identify the steps needed to get to the next level.