Overview:

The airline software company approached us with the challenge of optimising their operational status monitoring, which included assessing existing monitoring tools, events, and operational processes. Our task was to evaluate the current status, identify areas of improvement, and implement a strategy that would enhance operational efficiency.

Approach:

1. Assessment and Maturity Analysis: Our journey began with a comprehensive assessment of the client’s monitoring environment. We gained valuable insights into the maturity of their systems and a clear understanding of the challenges that needed resolution.
2. Scoring and Prioritisation: We developed a scoring system to prioritise tooling capabilities and gaps. This step allowed us to identify critical areas that required immediate attention and improvement.
3. Strategy Definition: Based on our findings, we collaborated with the client to define a strategic roadmap. This roadmap was built upon solid use cases, covering telemetry, tools, monitoring approaches, and operational enhancements.
4. Addressing Critical Issues: We initiated our efforts by tackling the most critical issues that historically impacted service levels. We addressed these issues by implementing bespoke monitoring solutions that provided early warnings and improved correlation using open-source tools.
5. Quality Improvement: Over time, our team worked diligently to enhance the quality of monitoring tools. In some areas, we achieved remarkable results, with over 95% fewer false events. These improvements contributed to better incident management.
6. Observability Pilot: To address problematic customer environments, we initiated an observability pilot program. This led to a significant reduction in incidents, with some environments experiencing a near disappearance of issues. This pilot paved the way for a broader observability rollout.
7. Process Enhancement: Recognizing that tools alone cannot guarantee success, we collaborated with the client to improve operational responses to events. This included implementing orchestration and self-healing processes to streamline incident management.
8. Build vs. Buy Analysis: We assisted the client in evaluating the build vs. buy decision for each observability component. Our assessment considered the client’s existing skillsets and telemetry capabilities, leading to informed decisions that minimised disruption while maximising benefits.

Results:

• Stabilised Incident Management: Our efforts contributed to the stabilisation of incident management, enabling more effective responses to critical issues.
• Forensic Insight: We provided the client with the ability to perform detailed forensic analysis, aiding in problem management.
• Significant Event Reduction: Through our quality improvements, we reduced the number of events by up to 95%, allowing operators to focus on genuine issues.
• Strategic Planning: While addressing immediate priorities, we also guided the client in planning a comprehensive observability rollout across all customer environments.

In collaboration with the airline software company, we transformed their operational efficiency by enhancing monitoring, streamlining processes, and delivering tangible results that positively impacted their service levels and overall customer satisfaction.

What Our Client Said:

“We engaged Harrison to help us move forward our Observability Strategy to allow us to move away from Availability centric monitoring and focus on our Customer’s Digital Experience.

The expert consultancy from Harrison guided a thorough use case analysis and allowed us to make rapid tooling choices to support our strategy. This gave us the blueprint to deploy our Observability Platforms very quickly alongside our SaaS products.

Harrison Consultants also helped us build out our Observability CoE team, enabling them with the tooling knowledge and methodology to push the agenda forward. The Observability Platform brought to us several critical insights which immediately brought tangible benefits to our teams and our customers.”

Jason Hiscock – IBS Software

Harrison Solutions: 

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