Automation of services and their orchestration are the new pathways to successful future of enterprises. From small processes to huge IT operations, enterprises are working hard and fast to adopt automation to them. However, there are any problems that enterprises still face in the complete adaption of automation like, departmental silos, leadership, different platforms for different purposes etc.
Moreover, a lot of important information becomes insecure due to the access to platforms available in the organization. To stop the silos and secure important data organizations need a secure orchestration platform. There are many options for good orchestration platforms available in the market. However, organizations must look into some aspects to select the platform that fits all their needs.
Define the Needs of Enterprise
Enterprises need a good orchestration platform for many reasons, and it is essential to clarify the requirements before diving into the selection of the platform. Some of the points that are commonly considered are;
- Are you facing problems monitoring various security alerts?
- Is gathering information and prioritizing actions time-consuming in your organization?
- Are you facing trouble hiring and retaining talented people?
- Are you looking to automate different aspects of security in your organization?
- Do you think it is highly time-consuming and cumbersome managing your operational integrations and automation?
Once you find answers to these questions, define the most common use cases of your enterprise. For instance, many organizations need to orchestrate data enrichment and threat hunting to get ahead of the security threat to their systems. Having a knowledge of why you need orchestration helps you in evaluating your choices for orchestration platform.
How to Choose the Correct Orchestration Platform?
1. Minimum Coding Requirement
More than costs the biggest investment that enterprises make while onboarding a new platform is spending time writing codes for its deployment. However, the whole point of selecting an orchestration platform is to save time, so you should look for a platform that requires minimum coding to run.
2. Ample Plugins and Integration Options
After coding the next thing to make sure is the platform has plugins and third-party integrations for specific use cases. You should check your work environment and note down tools that your enterprise uses on a daily basis. Thus, when it comes to evaluation of vendors, you can match the processes and tools to the services offered by the vendor. A good and secured orchestration platform must have a deep library of plugins, integrations and workflows that are robust.
3. Customization Options
Just as no two organizations are alike, so will be their needs. With time the needs become more and more specific, an orchestration platform that you choose must be able to account for that. Therefore, it is important to find out if you require specific integrations done, or will the platform allow you to build your integrations with the existing ones. If the platform allows you these integrations, it becomes far more valuable to the enterprise.
4. Ease of Deployment
While evaluating orchestration platforms, it is essential to understand that how much time will be required for deployment. The requirement of resources and cost to get the platform running are some factors that need considerations. Moreover, you must also consider various deployment options as different platforms provide different features like; some offer cloud deployment options, some offer on-premise, and some provide both. You should also enquire that if there will be a need for professional services or your team will be able to get the platform deployed.
5. Ease of Maintenance
Maintenance of a platform is a hassle; therefore, you should choose a platform that requires very little maintenance work. For instance, is it easy to use tools you require in a workflow, or if there is a change in the manner of data reporting of API how the vendor will handle it? All these factors should be considered. The platform should enable easy monitoring of broken processes and API updates.
6. Costing
The biggest and the most important question at the end of the day is how much is the cost of the platform? The traditional platforms require a complete onboarding process, and you have to pay for every bit of it. However, the modern ones allow you to get started onboarding for free. Once you know the upfront costs find out about the ongoing costs. The costing will differ on the basis of usage and vendors, choose a platform that suits both major and minor requirements.
In Conclusion, you can say that the requirement of a good orchestration platform is at large. Enterprises need effective solutions to their problems, while the selection of a platform is obvious there are many factors that must be considered to make the right choice. The above pointers might help you in choosing the correct orchestration platform for your enterprise.