You’ll already know about the benefits Splunk can bring to your organisation – indexing, searching, analyzing and mapping vast streams of real-time machine data to extract intelligence based on your customized parameters. You may even be among the thousands of organizations that have already invested in Splunk’s agile platform to streamline information flows, slash tech troubleshooting times and turn a capital investment into bottom-line savings. When exploited to its full potential, Splunk can be transformative. Yet, a significant percentage of buyers will never realize the business benefits Splunk can deliver, thanks to a lack of in-house expertise, under-resourcing the platform’s implementation or, quite simply, a failure to visualize just what can be achieved from Splunk’s organization-wide adoption.
Although Splunk is promoted as an out-of-the-box solution, it most certainly requires effective mastery of a niche skill set in order to fully optimize its features. Customers who don’t have the requisite in-house technical expertise or the internal resources to implement the platform successfully won’t necessarily see the results they expect. Without the right approach, customers may even find they’re spending more than they need (on licensing or infrastructure costs, for instance), while at the same time underperforming against predicted ROI. Partnering with a Splunk specialist enables organizations to maximize ROI through a best-practise approach to Splunk deployment, implementation and administration. A professional Splunk consultant will begin with you – taking your business or technical goals as a start point – and leverage their expertise to solve them. Whether you need assistance with your initial install or with the development of bespoke apps or customized searches, the right approach can help you squeeze every advantage from your Splunk investment.
It can be hard to know how your Splunk usage will change and adapt over the years. But, if you fail to optimize the initial configuration options, you could be storing up admin problems further down the line – and racking up hefty costs at the same time. If you involve Splunk professional services from the outset, your Splunk install will not only encompass your existing requirements but will be designed for scalability so that introducing new components at a later stage is a minor task rather than a full-blown project. It also means that as you add new data sources or servers, you’ll already have a workable template. A professional install will ensure that you invest in the right fit, as opposed to over- or under-specifying infrastructure and resources. It sounds simple, but it’s an approach that will ensure you get the performance you expect, without wasting money on excessive hosting or licensing costs.
Splunk opens up a whole new world of data analysis. But the sheer scale of the options available is enough to send any inexperienced Splunk administrator into a tailspin. Splunk professional services delivered through a qualified Splunk consulting partner can help customers to pinpoint the value in their data in double-quick time, assisting in the development of customized searches and giving businesses a jump start on their data-mining projects. A professional Splunk install can also show customers how to exploit underused features and functionality that may improve operational efficiencies as well as signposting Splunk apps that could speed up routine procedures. An experienced consultant can provide the essential link between Splunk functionality and business intelligence, so that no stone goes unturned. And, because Splunk charges are based on inbound data, it makes sound economic sense to repurpose that data as often and as productively as possible.
In short, Splunk professional services help you make the most out of this versatile platform, getting you up and running, accelerating adoption, optimizing processes and procedures and fine-tuning performance. Partners can also train teams up to manage Splunk – or even manage the platform on your behalf, if you’d rather outsource the expertise. Splunk has the power to transform – but only if you drive the process. DIY might seem like a more cost-effective option at first glance but professional services can help you achieve ambitious goals in a short time-frame and obtain higher value from your investment, while lowering your TCO. If you’d like to learn more about how Conducive professional services can drive your Splunk adoption, get in touch for more information.