Single Pane of Glass: Centralized IT Management for Greater Efficiency

What is the Single Pane of Glass?

In the digitalization that we are experiencing in the day-to-day life of our organizations, operational technologies (OT) and information technologies (IT) must be integrable, reliable and scalable to ensure business success with the collaboration of IT teams, development, operations, security and business areas.
Hence, centralized IT management is required through complete IT visibility, based on the integration of data (or data integration in a single pane), which flows from various sources, applications and environments in IT and OT, to generate a singlesource of truth, concentrating the information in a single control panel or Single Pane of Glass, from which agile and reliable decisions can be made, providing support efficiently, anticipating risks, planning improvements and even obtaining information on returns on investment in technology spending.

How a Single Pane of Glass works

Through network management and unified monitoring of systems from a single dashboard, IT and security teams managing multiple connected devices can easily monitor and manage them from centralized IT visibility to understand uptime/downtime, security breaches, outdated software, failed wireless connections and other vulnerabilities.
A SPOG solution also enables instant alerts on security issues and outages to be triggered in a timely and remote manner, aided by a unified management console.
To understand how a SPOG solution collects and presents operational data such as performance metrics, security reports and network status, remember that every system and every application has one thing in common: logs.
Each log has its own timestamp and is often preceded by a syslog header, which makes it easy to index and search.
From this data, a SPOG solution enables a single control panel (or single control panel monitoring) for centralized IT monitoring and management:

• It connects to multiple systems and data sources, such as servers, network devices, applications and databases.
• It can monitor in real time, relying on software agents and APIs to collect real-time data on network performance, security and status.
• Stores data in a centralized database for analysis and visualization.

Once this is accomplished, the SPOG solution can present the data in:

• Customizable dashboards according to the needs of the IT or security area, showing key performance metrics, security reports and network status.
• Automatic alerts and notifications when anomalies or problems are detected in operational data.
• Detailed reports that can be exported and shared with other teams or stakeholders.

The SPOG solution then provides IT and security management with visibility into key IT performance indicators and metrics such as SLI, security reporting and network health to align with business objectives.
To implement this solution, key metrics must be captured from different sources and in real time.

Key features for implementing an efficient Single Pane of Glass

A SPOG solution must have fundamental characteristics for its good use: a single management and monitoring console, where information from devices, systems and networks is concentrated, from various sources and IT resources, regardless of their location or environment (on-premise, cloud, Edge Computing).

• Intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) that is easy for users to interpret data and dashboards, and fast to navigate.
• Automatic reporting and alerting tools, with real-time data, generate reports on system and device status and performance, generating notifications based on specific thresholds or events that trigger a defined response.
  Through advanced analytics, the SPOG solution should be able to detect unusual patterns that may indicate performance or security issues.
  It should also facilitate root cause analysis.
• Integration with third-party applications through APIs, being compatible with various hardware and software manufacturers; that is, it must be able to integrate and monitor data from multiple vendors and platforms (multiplatform monitoring), consolidating all the information in a single place.

Benefits of a Single Pane of Glass for centralized, real-time management

From single, intuitive system visibility from a single IT dashboard, centralization and unified systems management can be implemented to make centralized monitoring easier and more efficient, with key tangible benefits such as:

• Reduced incident response time: When everything is laid out and visible, it is much easier and faster to spot problems as they occur.
  Unified monitoring and management reduces investigation time and allows your team to intervene and implement a solution immediately.
• Improved infrastructure visibility and control from a centralized console: Data consolidation ensures that rules and regulations are followed and connects sources of information, which in turn provides confidence in reporting.
  Also, the unification of network, system and device data helps identify tools that IT staff and end users don’t really need, thereby reducing the total costof ownership.
• Increased collaboration between IT/OT teams through shared data accessibility from a single dashboard for IT and security teams. The SPOG solution also reveals repetitive tasks that are ideal candidates for automation.
  Streamlining the operations of the IT team improves the overall productivity of your area, allowing you to allocate more resources to more strategic initiatives for the organization.

See Pandora FMS case study: EMT Madrid: Real-time monitoring from a control panel.

Single Pane of Glass use cases for implementing unified monitoring

A SPOG solution helps IT teams implement unified monitoring from a single centralized console, spanning the entire IT environment, including employee devices, servers, network equipment and other IT infrastructure components.
Let’s look at some use cases:

• Real-time monitoring of IT environments: A SPOG solution enables IT teams to monitor the health and performance of applications, networks and systems in one place and in real time.
  Systems data can be analyzed to make critical decisions beyond just monitoring performance, such as investing in new technology, upgrading security protocols or increasing network resources.
• Internet of Things (IoT) device management: A SPOG solution can be used for centralized monitoring that also allows remote management of IoT devices, especially when they are in locations that are difficult or costly to access or where there is little on-site technical support.
• Application Performance Optimization: Through the SPOG solution, application performance is monitored.
  All infrastructure components, services and their dependencies are also discovered and mapped, ensuring that new instances and applications are detected and mapped without manual intervention.
• Unified management to automate: From a centralized console, better use of data is given, allowing you to define which workflows can be automated in order to streamline IT processes, boosting productivity, reducing errors and saving time.

As can be seen, adopting a SPOG solution provides full visibility into IT systems and operations based on the specific needs of the organization.

Single Pane of Glass in cybersecurity management

A SPOG solution can significantly improve cybersecurity by providing a centralized, comprehensive view into an organization’s security posture by:

• Centralized monitoring where data from various tools (IT tool consolidation) and security systems are consolidated to monitor threats, vulnerabilities and incidents.
  Real-time alerts can be generated on any suspicious activity or possible security breaches, enabling rapid response and mitigation.
• Detection of threats or anomalies, based on advanced analysis andMachine Learning.
  It is also possible to define the correlation of data from different sources to identify attack patterns.
• Automated incident response, such as isolating or blocking systems that are currently under attack.
  Forensic analysis can also help security teams investigate and understand the nature and scope of an incident.
• Regulatory compliance and reporting, with comprehensive standards and reporting and audit trails.
  Reports can be customized to be shared with stakeholders to demonstrate the organization’s security posture.
• Improved collaboration, through access to the different teams (IT staff, security manager, development and compliance areas) of the organization, fostering orchestrated work and optimal management of security incidents.

Challenges in implementing a Single Pane of Glass

The main challenges for organizations stem from the fact that there are different IT solutions, sometimes of different generations (including legacy systems), different security tools,shadow IT and a series of integrations that need to be managed.
Often all these tools and solutions are managed by different teams, creating data silos.
This tells us that organizations must be clear that, without a unified vision and real-time monitoring, comprehensive coverage is practically impossible, even more so in large or more complex companies in terms of infrastructure and operation.
This generates operational inefficiencies and more security vulnerabilities, which reduces the productivity of your IT and security team.
The risk also translates into negative impacts on the organization’s reputation and revenue.

The Value of the Single Pane of Glass in Modern IT Management

In the digitization of organizations, we are certain that devices will continue to diversify inside and outside the organization, and that there will be an increasing demand for connection to networks and systems.
The implementation of a SPOG solution is required, which Pandora FMS offers as a comprehensive solution to manage increasingly complex and distributed IT environments, supporting IT and security staff in:

• Greater visibility and control of the infrastructure.
• Reduced incident response time, in addition to regulatory compliance.
• Increased collaboration between multidisciplinary teams involved in digitization and constant innovation.
• Boosting productivity, IT operational improvement and task automation.

In conclusion, Pandora FMS is a powerful solution for implementing a single dashboard that helps your IT and security team maintain a solid security posture, quickly detect and respond to threats, and put in place the elements for compliance.