Platforms will usher in the next era of IT simplification

A cursory look across the IT strategies of many organisations today shows there's a clear desire for simplification, as organisations actively target the removal of complexity and cost from their operations.

The number of point solutions and applications that businesses rely on over time are often the source of much of this complexity. Many organisations wind up with duplicated applications, or with multiple instances of a single application, through organic and acquisitive growth. Standardising on one platform makes financial sense and is more operationally efficient.

Within the application estate, the IT management stack of solutions used for networking and security represent another area that organisations want to streamline. 

A recent survey by Extreme Networks found 88% of respondents desire a single integrated cloud-based platform for networking, AI and security, reflecting increased demand and appetite for what has become known as platformisation.

Platformisation's current rise is fuelled by the recognition that technology - and its administration and oversight - is growing in complexity, and that running multiple functions or capabilities in the one place is simply a more efficient approach.

Many organisations have reached this point after years of buying point solutions for every specialised networking and security domain. They've since found the inefficiency of having to constantly move between screens – often referred to in IT as 'swivel chair management' – is not the most productive experience for operations teams. Nor is the cost and management overhead conducive to operating effectively in the cloud and digital era.

But an even bigger drawcard is that security and networking are increasingly intertwined. 

The network is recognised as the foundation of a robust cybersecurity and risk management strategy. Extreme's survey shows that for 55% of respondents, built-in security is now a top-three requirement when selecting a networking vendor. In addition, the desire to automate actions in response to network and security events means that operations teams also want AI capabilities in the same integrated platform. 

CIOs and senior IT leaders overwhelmingly desire a single platform to incorporate security - and increasingly GenAI as well - into their network operations, to improve productivity, streamline investments, and enable protection against evolving cyber threats. Given this, it makes sense that the network is the foundation of any platformisation strategy.

Three characteristics of an effective platform

Ideally, a platform-based offering should have three characteristics. 

First, it should simplify and unify experiences, benefitting both the immediate owners of the platform - in this case the network, security or ops teams - and the end users relying on a performant and secure experience to be able to work productively and effectively.

Second, a platform should have strong integration of network data, workflows and tools. Rich analytical data about network utilisation is the starting point for creating actionable insights. This can be used to inform the design of workflows, automations and other tools available to help ops teams oversee the environment. Where applications are siloed, platforms should be designed to integrate workflows, services and data across domains. 

Third, it should be capable of delivering step-changes in value as it looks after more of the operational oversight aspects of the networked environment, and as more capabilities within the platform are engaged. This has the potential to increase over time, as the platform itself is unlikely to remain static. A key feature of cloud-based platforms today is that a regular cadence of new features and functionality is added, increasing the value that can be derived from being in that platform ecosystem over time.

Streamlining for success 

The end result of platformisation is a much simpler architectural model for ongoing cloud-based and digital-first operations. Platforms will ultimately help organisations work through complex tasks much faster, leading to improved productivity for networking, sales, and business teams. 

Platformisation is also what will help organisations unlock the power of AI. AI applications, like all applications, often add additional complexity for an organisation and can turn into more tasks for for IT to manage. But with a platform approach, those organisations can go beyond chatbots and use AI to unify workflows, reducing the time it takes for IT to resolve anomalies. At the same time, security, procurement, compliance, and help desk teams can accelerate learning, planning, delivery, management, analysis, and governance—fulfilling AI's promise for everyone.

Clearly, careful consideration and strategic planning will be needed to embrace these architectural constructs, and to move down the path to platformisation. But the rewards of doing so are significant.

By converging networking, security, and AI into a unified platform, a more efficient, secure, and user-friendly IT environment is created - something CIOs, and IT professionals across the board, should be able to get behind.