At its recent BMC Exchange event, BMC Software announced it will be infusing machine learning algorithms and other artificial intelligence (AI) technologies across its entire portfolio of IT operations software.

The first instance of BMC software to make use of machine learning algorithms is the latest version of TrueSight AIOps platform, which ingests data from multiple data sources to automate processes across BMC service desk, IT operations and tools for managing DevOps processes. BMC also is working with IBM to employ the cognitive computing services known as the IBM Watson cloud service across its portfolio.

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Which of the following best describes how you currently monitor and manage systems across your hybrid cloud environment?(Required)

Multiple separate tools for different environments

Multiple separate tools for different monitoring and management functions

Single consolidated dashboard

Custom built monitoring and management solution

No full monitoring and management solution

Don’t know

How valuable would it be for your monitoring and management solution to incorporate predictive analytics to help you identify and address system issues that are critical and not waste time or effort working through all the data and “noise” that is not critical?(Required)

Extremely valuable

Moderately valuable

Somewhat valuable

Slightly valuable

Not valuable

How do you most typically address potential system issues BEFORE they impact your operations?(Required)

Automated workflows and playbooks to remediate potential issues as soon as they are detected

An orchestrated response process that leverages automation, AI, and human expertise to rapidly respond to potential issues

Advanced monitoring tools such as predictive analytics and anomaly detection to proactively identify and address potential issues

Respond to issues as they arise, using manual processes and troubleshooting techniques

A combination of automated remediation, orchestrated response, and/or proactive monitoring to address potential system issues

Don’t know

Other

What methods does your organization use to control and monitor cloud/IT spending?(Required)

Centralized procurement processes

Pre-approved budget thresholds

Automated cost monitoring tools

Department-level spending controls

Regular cost audits and reviews

Cloud cost optimization platform

Approval workflows for resource provisioning

Native financial operations tools provided by the cloud provider

No formal controls in place

Don’t know

Other

Please specify:

Which methods do you rely on most to detect security vulnerabilities in your systems?(Required)

Automated scanning tools

Manual assessments

Vendor notifications

Threat modeling (for early detection)

None of these

Don’t know

Other

Please specify:

What are the TWO most common ways you prioritize vulnerabilities to address within your environment?(Required)

Based on potential impact

Based on exploitability

Regulatory compliance requirements

Based on CVSS scores

Risk-based analysis of multiple factors

First-in-first-out approach

No formal prioritization process

Don’t know

How do you typically handle system updates and security patches?(Required)

Automated updates and patches

Manually review and apply updates and patches on a regular schedule

A combination of automation and manual review

Apply updates and patches on an as-needed basis.

Outsourced update and patch management

No defined process

Don’t know

Other

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In addition, the company launched TrueSight Cloud Cost Control, a tool for managing and tracking usage of cloud services across multiple providers, and BMC SecOps Policy Service, which easier to embed compliance and testing via an external service that gets included in their software development processes.

Finally, BMC announced it has signed an alliance with Amazon Web Services (AWS) under which the two companies will work to accelerate the migration of application workloads to the AWS public cloud.

Dan Streetman, a senior vice president for worldwide sales and marketing at BMC, says his company is developing a product strategy around three major themes:

• IT organizations will require management tools that will work across multiple clouds;
• As part of general “shift left” developers now expect to be able to programmatically invoke IT operations and security services; and
• IT professionals now expect the tools they use to manage IT to have the same types of advanced capabilities that consumer applications provide via speech interfaces such as Apple Siri or Microsoft Cortana. Various IT and customer service desks also soon will use speech interfaces to provide a highly automated self-service experience to end users.

In fact, given the complexity of the IT tasks that now need to be managed, Streetman says a race is now on between IT vendors to live up to those expectations. Much less of a concern, he says, is any notion that AI technologies might one day replace IT professionals that by and large are already overtaxed; rather, it is apparent that IT vendors are now being evaluated on their ability to maximize existing investments in IT professionals that are already in short supply. The real opportunity is to free IT professionals to enable them to concentrate on higher-value tasks.

Naturally, it remains to be seen how various AI technologies will impact the management of IT. It certainly will take a while for IT administrators to put their faith in AI. But as those technologies continue to mature, there may soon come a day when IT professionals look back with wonder at all the things they used to have to accomplish one manual task at a time.

— Mike Vizard