Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

Software patching is the important process of deploying updates. These updates are often released to resolve security vulnerabilities and exploits that could lead to a cyberattack. In fact, many high-profile cyberattacks could have been minimized or avoided altogether if not for unpatched software -- which is why patch management is a critical part of cybersecurity best practices and compliance. As cybersecurity regulations continue to roll out, new standards are being created for patch management.

It’s no secret that the digital transformation essentially broke IT operations. With the rise in technology came a rise in outages capable of bringing organizations to a screeching halt. Those outages are expensive, and for years, the same number was thrown around as the authority on how much an outage cost (around $5,600 per minute). This number took off and was used in presentations, sales decks and other resources for years. But how could this number have stayed the same year over year?

In Parts 1 and 2, we looked at how you can build and maintain effective test suites. These steps are a key part of ensuring that application workflows function as expected. But how you run your tests is another important point to consider, so in this post, we’ll walk through best practices for executing your tests across every stage of development. Along the way, we’ll also look at how Datadog supports these practices for the applications that you are already monitoring.