The Record - Issue 19: Winter 2020

V I EWPO I NT Delivering an exceptional user experience ROB DOUC E T T E : MAR T E L LO T E CHNOLOG I E S The use of a monitoring tool can allow IT teams to determine how users are being impacted before and after Microsoft service outages M ore than a million enterprises world- wide are using Microsoft 365 to ensure employee productivity, with more com- panies steadily adopting the solution to best achieve their business goals. However, increased usage from an influx of new users presents a different challenge: maintaining the delivery of an exceptional user experience. The demand for a top-quality solution has never been higher, which conversely has caused an increased occur- rence of Microsoft service outages. Microsoft is always quick to issue timely outage reports and ensure their users stay updated with the status. Most often, 90 per cent of performance issues enterprises face with Microsoft 365 are caused by their own infrastructure and network. When an outage occurs, tickets begin to pour into the IT helpdesk from users experiencing issues; this creates a strain on IT teams and leaves users frustrated. The other scenario is that end-users rarely take the time to notify IT after facing challenges. Both situations reaffirm how proactive IT teams can be with early notification of service interruptions and detailed data. Getting to the granular level of an issue is difficult; IT teams often do not have access to enough data to ensure swift and purposeful responses. By using a monitoring tool that develops synthetic transactions and automates the same activity as a user, IT can determine exactly how users are being impacted and, in some cases, before an outage has affected pro- ductivity. These synthetic transactions provide the IT team with increased visibility and the necessary data to assess the impact of an outage in real time. Businesses around the globe increasingly rely on Microsoft 365 to ensure employee produc- tivity, and the time has never been more criti- cal for IT teams to have granular monitoring of Microsoft 365. This provides them with clear visibility, proactive alerts, and the data needed to work directly on issues before they become a problem for business lines and IT. Rob Doucette is vice president of product management at Martello Technologies 87