Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

Many IT teams underestimate the true cost of managing infrastructure themselves. At first glance, DIY tools may seem like a cost-effective and flexible solution — but the workflows you build and manage with in-house tooling reveal a host of hidden expenses, inefficiencies, and risks as your IT scales. While it’s not a new problem, it’s one that’s revealing itself more and more clearly as time goes on.

When looking at the broad landscape of IT automation tools, you’ll find dozens (if not hundreds) of tools that seem like viable solutions to your automation needs. Almost all of those tools can be broken down into two categories: Open source automation tools and commercial automation tools. (Open source automation tools with a commercial offering are still considered open source, even if the commercial edition has a price tag.)

The broad umbrella of today's IT security includes standards, tools, technologies, and human practices that reduce risk and protect your systems. System hardening is one conceptual catch-all for those components of IT security — but what does system hardening mean in relation to your actual day-to-day operations? And how do you achieve system hardening without burdening your whole team?

The software supply chain has become the backbone of modern IT environments. It powers applications, underpins operational processes, and drives innovation within organizations across industries. Securing the software supply chain has moved from a peripheral concern to a central element of cybersecurity: The vast network of code, dependencies, integrations, and third-party tools that comprise the supply chain is increasingly under siege from cyber threats and at risk of exploitation.

Let's face it: no one likes patching. For some IT ops teams, it's such a burden that it's easy to forget why patching is important. Lots of teams put off patching until it's deemed absolutely necessary, like a vital app update or a piece of critical software going EOL. We all know ignoring patches, or letting them pile up, is a bad practice. Read this blog to remind yourself why patching is crucial, what can happen if you don't patch, and how to stop putting it off.

Effective vulnerability management has become a growing priority for organizations. Aided in part by AI, threats and vulnerabilities grow in speed and sophistication while IT environments become more complex. The skill gap for cybersecurity keeps widening (further worsened by a sprawling toolkit), exposing critical systems to exploitation. Managing secure infrastructure manually just isn’t possible at the scale and speed today’s enterprises demand.

Learn how to use automation to combat this year's emerging DevSecOps trends. The dream of DevSecOps has always been resilience. To focus on proactive strategies rather than reactive firefighting; to learn from failures and build something stronger and more flexible in their wake. DevSecOps adoption may have grown, but implementation remains uneven: Many teams struggle to align their security and development workflows into a cohesive system.

Technology's moving incredibly quickly. Automation has shifted from being an optional benefit to a core requirement for businesses aiming to optimize operations, increase efficiency, strengthen security, and maintain regulatory compliance across international markets. At the center of this change is infrastructure automation. To understand which vendors are leading in this area, resources like The Forrester Wave provide valuable comparative analysis.

A well-built vulnerability management program covers everything from detection to patching to documentation, reporting, and ongoing measurement. Taking a structured approach to vulnerability management is a differentiator for DevOps teams: The more you can automate and enforce, the less time and effort it takes to find, fix, and monitor software vulnerabilities.