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Cloud and SaaS Monitoring Myths

Why Monitoring SaaS, UCaaS Is Critical in the Age of Cloud Apps

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The Core of Your Business Runs Online. Monitor What Matters Most

There’s been plenty written about how the cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has changed everything – for both organizations and users. However, to be successful in the cloud, IT must pay close attention to the quality of service users are getting from SaaS applications, the Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) they get from their vendors, and fully monitor the end-user experience.

You're Still On the Hook for Ensuring Uptime, Reliability, and Performance

As organizations have adopted use of cloud-services like Microsoft Office 365, Information Technology teams might think they are no longer responsible for service levels or uptime.

The fact is that if your users can’t access a cloud-based service, they’re not going to call Microsoft or Salesforce. They’re going to call the IT help desk (maybe even you) directly and the IT team will be expected to diagnose and fix it ASAP.

Users don’t care whether the problem is located in infrastructure owned and operated by their IT department, the ISP, or the cloud service provider. If they aren’t having a good experience, IT will take the heat.

How do you avoid this? Here are six myths that can derail your use of the cloud due to lack of monitoring. Falling for them can put you on a path to protracted SaaS outages and frustrated users.

SLA guarantee SaaS Myth Icon

SaaS Monitoring Myth #1

I don’t need to monitor. I have a guaranteed SLA from the provider

SaaS providers not infallible. While Service-Level Agreements are great, how do you know they’re being met? SLAs only cover outages that the provider can control, i.e. their own networks, servers, and applications, and not the ISP or networks that connect you.

Don't need our own monitoring tools myth icon

SaaS Monitoring Myth #2

I don’t need my own monitoring tools. I use the service provider dashboard

Status dashboards, Twitter, and RSS feeds only cover the service provider’s infrastructure, not your side.  They provide generic information across all the tenants and are slow to update; they aren’t real-time monitoring solutions.

Hosted apps monitoring vs Cloud Apps icon

SaaS Monitoring Myth #3

I didn’t monitor my hosted services before, why monitor Microsoft 365 now?

Consuming cloud apps isn’t the same as managed services. MSPs often run dedicated infrastructure for each customer and take care of the monitoring. If you buy directly or through a reseller, you have take care of end-to-end monitoring yourself.

Moving to the cloud monitoring myths icon

SaaS Monitoring Myth #4

My existing tools work fine for cloud apps, just like my on-premise apps

Most legacy management solutions, e.g. SolarWinds or Microsoft SCOM, are designed to monitor systems with direct access. They’re not built to monitor web services or provide active monitoring of the user experience from behind your firewall to the service provider and back.

SaaS Monitoring Myth #5

I don’t need to monitor, I just wait for user complaints

That might be okay for less critical apps, but for collaboration like email or Microsoft Teams, they become mission-critical. Mean-time-to-resolution (MTTR) for cloud and service outages is key.

SaaS Monitoring Myth #6

Moving to the cloud means its someone elses problem

CapEx and OpEx benefits for IT don’t mean a thing if the Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) harms the business. When the business suffers an outage, it will be IT’s fault.

Don't Be Fooled

Don’t be fooled by these SaaS monitoring myths. Moving to the cloud doesn’t mean monitoring goes away, but it does fundamentally change the requirements.

You have to be able to monitor SaaS apps and troubleshoot infrastructure you cannot touch – the end-to-end service delivery chain from your premises, through the various internet service providers, to the application provider and back.

You need to be able to quickly detect, isolate, and resolve issues affecting cloud application performance before they negatively impact your users and your organization.

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