Security

CDW Executive SummIT: 3 Ways Platform Engineering Boosts Business Velocity

At the April SummIT, experts said integrating NetOps, SecOps and AIOps is the best approach for better performance in hybrid environments.

Lily Lopate

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Lily is a Senior Editor at BizTech Magazine. She follows tech trends, thought leadership and data analytics.

Digital velocity isn’t just about moving fast, it’s about moving smart. To meet this challenge, IT leaders are turning to platform engineering because it’s a way to align infrastructure, development, security and operations teams around one automated and resilient platform.

At the CDW Executive SummIT, hosted April 1-3 in Chicago, experts said embracing this model isn’t just a technical decision, it’s a strategic one that allows any business to grow faster.

Here are three ways platform engineering boosts digital velocity by aligning with NetOps, SecOps and AIOps:

1. Integrated NetOps Automation Speeds Up Connectivity

Traditionally, network operations have been a bottleneck in the software delivery lifecycle. Too often, manual network provisions, static configurations, and siloed teams slow down the deployment of new apps and services. However, platform engineering flips the script by incorporating NetOps capabilities directly into the developer platform.

Using Infrastructure as Code, policy-based automation and API-driven networking, teams can now provision secure network connectivity on demand. For example, instead of submitting tickets for firewall changes or VLAN provisioning, developers can request these services through a self-service portal, with preapproved templates that fit governance policies.

This level of automation not only accelerates delivery but also reduces misconfiguration errors across hybrid and multicloud environments. Research shows that “by 2026, 30% of enterprises will automate more than half of their network activities,” according to a Gartner press release.

Evaluate how and why your NetOps and SecOps teams operate currently. Ask what needs to change for them to collaborate more closely.”

Dave Abbott Security Engineering Leader, Cisco

2. Use SecOps to Achieve a Security-by-Design Approach

Rather than apply security as a post-deployment layer, embed SecOps capabilities directly into the platform. Experts said this ensures that security controls are built into every step of the pipeline, including automated security scanning in continuous integration/continuous delivery workflows, role-based access controls and runtime policy enforcement.

Developers work within a framework that ensures all deployments meet enterprise security and compliance requirements by default. Abbott also noted that with a security-first design, there are fewer audit delays and less back-and-forth between development and security teams.

And since security breaches frequently occur along networking endpoints, Cisco has brought the two together with its new XDR Security and Network Operations Center, which integrates with Meraki MX appliances. The platform unifies security and networking operations under one roof for faster threat detection and greater visibility across the entire network.

“The SNOC brings these teams together. I can take Meraki networks flows, send them into XDR, and now I’m able to see the different types of security events in Meraki again. The network team sees this, and the security team can take action immediately,” said Dave Abbott, security engineering leader at Cisco.

This speed makes a difference, especially since it only takes an adversary “51 seconds from initial access to lateral movement,” to move deeper into the network, noted Todd Felker, executive healthcare strategist at CrowdStrike.

It also improves overall cyber resilience. A unified, role-based approach helps teams operate from a central command center and adapt to adversaries’ tactics in real time. Compare this with the fact that “55% of security teams say critical alerts are missed,” due to managing more than 76 disparate security tools that lack context and direction, according to a Cisco infographic.

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3. AI-Driven Operations (AIOps) Keep Teams Productive

As platforms scale, traditional monitoring and incident management tools can’t keep up with the volume, velocity and variety of telemetry data. That’s where AIOps comes in. By integrating AIOps, organizations gain real-time intelligence into system behavior.

“So many customers tell us, I’m not sure that I need hyperconverged in order to achieve the automated and orchestrated environment,” said Ryan Shullaw, vice president of Americas presales at Dell Technologies. But often, he said, that convergence is useful. “AI has fundamentally changed where my data lives and how close I want those applications to be to that data.”

In the case of the AIOps, having data close to operational systems means that insights can be implemented that much faster. Platform-native observability feeds these artificial intelligence and machine learning models with logs, metrics and traces so that they can detect anomalies, predict outages and automate remediation. For example, if an application experiences performance degradation, AIOps can trigger autoscaling, rollbacks or network rerouting before end users even notice.

This automation reduces mean time to resolution, increases uptime and frees up IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives.

Combining NetOps, SecOps and AIOps successfully requires that businesses consider how the people, process and technology will work together. Make sure that any unified platform works with your team and organizational structure.

To begin that process, Abbott said, decision-makers must evaluate how and why their NetOps and SecOps teams operate currently. Ask what needs to change for them to collaborate more closely. What infrastructure and cloud security tools work for convergence? And consider when NetOps and SecOps must be triaged for certain incidents.

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