Application performance management (APM) can make the work of a software developer a lot easier. The right APM software can help identify errors quickly and efficiently, reducing the risk of serious operational, financial, and reputational damage.

But it's not just software developers who can benefit from the implementation of an APM solution. End-users benefit when errors are identified and dealt with quickly. Customers benefit when application bottlenecks and performance can be appropriately tuned to deliver an optimal application experience.

To achieve these benefits, we raise a couple of key questions: "What is the average cost of APM onboarding?" and "Are the benefits worth the investment?" Let's take a look.

Understanding the Role of APM

APM software "tracks the performance of and availability of digital assets like applications and websites."

The best APM solutions minimize the time required for onboarding and everyday use. Generally speaking, APM software focused on the needs of developers and DevOps professionals will require a lower onboarding investment.

APM tools are designed to perform the following tasks quickly and efficiently:

• Identify errors and recommend actions to fix errors before they impact a user
• Identify application bottlenecks and performance issues
• Capture & report key metrics used to assess the overall performance of the app or website
• Identify apps and websites that stop behaving normally
• Notify supervisory staff of issues as quickly as possible

There is considerable benefit to APM solutions. To assess the value of APM integration, we take this opportunity to consider the cost of the onboarding process.

Assess Your APM Project

Before you can estimate the cost to get started with an APM project, you must first assess the granularity of the monitoring required. The cost of integrating Immersive APM is low and relatively constant at a basic level, amounting to a few hours. However, as you add complexity and apply application-specific monitoring capability, additional time is required to extend your APM capabilities.

Consider a few questions to assess the scale of your APM project:

• What is the purpose of the APM project?
• Where would we expect to see performance bottlenecks?
• Where might errors introduced by "bad data" occur?
• What are the primary points of integration and communication that require monitoring?

Taking the time to assess these questions, investigate, and report back is a costly, time-consuming endeavor. That's why an automated approach makes financial sense. Immersive APM uses Open Telemetry as a core component. As a result, Immersive APM is able to monitor a wide variety of applications without the need for customized monitoring. When Immersive APM is integrated with an application, it immediately generates trace records for all common events. Such events include web page API calls, SQL Queries, and RPCs. This automated approach to monitoring and reporting cuts the cost of onboarding considerably by leveraging the full capabilities of OpenTelemetry.

Once you've clearly defined your APM objectives, you can begin to plan your application monitoring project in detail — and choose the APM solution that best suits your requirements.

• List the specific tasks and reporting required from your APM
• Create a detailed timeline to implement each APM experience
• Estimate the cost of basic APM integration
• Estimate the investment required to implement each APM experience

Consider the cost of the APM license or service fee. In addition, assess the cost of training, maintenance, APM implementation, and support.

The Primary Costs of APM Onboarding

Simply choosing your preferred APM platform is only the beginning of the onboarding process. You'll need to integrate APM with your current application(s), train your team to use the APM tools, establish application monitoring best practices, and maintain the APM integration.

Time

The APM onboarding process involves researching the market for the most suitable products. This requires detailed comparisons in areas such as cost, functionality, integration ability, and specific features.

Once you've chosen your preferred APM solution, you'll need time to implement and integrate it into your existing systems. You'll also need to test it, train your team on its use, deploy it, and support it going forward. During the first few weeks of operation, you'll need to closely monitor the APM. Use its new features and functions to eliminate software bugs, remove application performance bottlenecks, and streamline application operations — thereby reducing cost.

Many APM platforms are difficult to integrate and operationalize. They do not correlate traces and logs effectively. They take too long to deliver actionable results.

The APM software you choose will directly impact the time required to implement. A range of issues has the potential to increase the cost of onboarding:

• The total effort required to implement the most basic functions of the APM solution
• The functionality and granularity of the monitoring required
• The time — and cost — associated with integrating more advanced features

Once you've implemented your APM solution, you need to be sure that it is delivering value. That will only be the case if the onboarding process is fast, efficient, and relatively straightforward.

Additional Resources

According to AWS, additional costs are associated with implementing a powerful APM solution. If you plan to monitor several applications simultaneously, you may need to upgrade or add to your existing IT infrastructure. This means you'll need to factor those costs into your budget planning — along with the cost of purchasing the APM license.

Fortunately, there's a way to implement such a solution while keeping costs low. Immersive APM is a SaaS (software as a service) APM platform. This means that Immersive APM provides you with all the functions of an APM, as well as the necessary infrastructure. Unlike standard APM software, you don't need to install, maintain, or manage the software. Immersive APM, delivered as a SaaS service, significantly cuts onboarding costs.

When you use Immersive APM, the streamlined onboarding process involves just three steps: integrate, compile, and run.

Training

APMs that involve overly complex processes and reporting methods require extensive, time-consuming onboarding processes for all users. The training required involves labor costs and the costs associated with diverting your employees' attention away from customers and other initiatives.

Immersive APM training and integration costs are minimal. Thanks to the platform's real-time virtual reality APM experience, navigating and viewing monitored processes is quick and straightforward. Users simply need to navigate (stroll through) their application and touch process blocks, representing atomic operations, to inspect each process step.

Immersive APM delivers a full VR representation of your application Familiarizing yourself with application processes and inspecting architecture, flow, and functions is an intuitive and enjoyable experience.

Complexity

The complexity of solutions directly affects the cost of APM onboarding. When it's difficult to correlate logs and traces, or when analyzing huge swaths of statistics and data, attention is diverted away from your customers.

Immersive APM integration is a quick and simple process. Instead of setting up a host of processes, logs, and traces, you can integrate Immersive APM with just 10 lines of code. Recompile and run; you're ready to go.

If you want to move beyond basic Immersive APM functionality, you can do so at any time with the addition of specific code segments. With a few lines of code, you can monitor workflows, decisions, or outcomes. Application monitoring setup and operation with Immersive APM is relatively low. And you can do all of this without breaking your development stride!

The complexity of APM solutions can be kept to a minimum with the use of 3D and virtual reality (VR) solutions. Immediately, countless logs of dull data become easier to find and analyze because you can easily navigate, inspect, and visualize. Real-time APM that delivers key data via 3D presentations or VR landscapes makes error resolution faster and simpler — and that's something traditional APM solutions do not offer. There's real value to be gained when software developers have the ability to virtually explore and interact with their applications.

Cut the Cost of APM Onboarding Today

A new, innovative, and collaborative kind of APM is here, and it's cutting the cost of onboarding and everyday application management. Using a 3D virtual reality experience, Immersive APM delivers real-time analytics as part of an interactive, immersive experience.

This innovative approach to APM delivery makes finding errors and correcting them faster and simpler than ever before. And when these tasks are easier to perform, the costs to the business are minimized.

Easy to implement, simple to use, and designed to make application maintenance enjoyable, Immersive APM combines real-time app analytics with 3D virtual reality technology. The result is a uniquely immersive experience that, ultimately, cuts the cost of APM onboarding and ongoing monitoring.

According to APM: Best Practices (10 Tips from Real Users) by IT Central Station, the best return on investment comes from choosing an APM solution that's "quickest and easiest to get results out of." And that's exactly what Immersive APM is designed to deliver.

To see Immersive APM in action for yourself, get in touch today to request a demonstration.