Application Management Services (AMS)

Applications are essential components of today's system landscapes and interact with each other via various interfaces and processes. In addition, applications consume various cloud services (or microservices). Application Management Service refers to the responsibility for the technical operation of system landscapes as well as their development and support. It does not matter whether your applications run in a data center, are set up in a cloud itself or are integrated as a PaaS solution. With the Application Management Service, our aim is to identify problems in good time and minimize downtimes. Application Management Services also include the development, administration, operation, monitoring, optimization, protection and maintenance of infrastructure components. Furthermore, the Application Management Service includes established operations, service management and service delivery processes, which are managed by our dedicated operations and service team. Our AMS team ensures that all IT applications comply with ITIL. diva-e is ISO 27001 certified.

In the event of an incident, there are of course limits to PaaS offerings. A software provider with thousands of customers cannot know every customer system so well that it immediately knows where to start troubleshooting in the event of a failure or malfunction. A so-called SLA dilemma becomes apparent when the operation of a business-critical application is scrutinized in detail along all layers.

Firstly, there is the cloud infrastructure on which the store or CMS system runs. If it is a public cloud, the hyperscaler only provides reliable SLAs for around 15% of the services. This means that without specialist knowledge and the necessary experience in operating such cloud infrastructures, SLA gaps already arise here, which, in purely mathematical terms, must lead to a deterioration in availability and a poorer response and recovery time.

The next layer is the software provider's standard product, which it usually provides in a default installation. Ideally, SLAs guarantee the response time for the infrastructure managed by the software provider and the general availability of the application in the PaaS offering.

The providers only refer to the functionalities of the standard product. Some providers are still learning how PaaS offerings actually have to be operated and managed, and the available expertise among product manufacturers is often very thin on the ground. Please note: For years, product manufacturers have only had to deal with product development and therefore do not always have the best expertise for efficient and service-oriented operation.

The PaaS offerings of standard products often have another disadvantage: they are often software systems that contain large, monolithic parts; many components and modules have not been optimized for cloud operation or still need to be reimplemented as micro-services. This means that some parts of the cloud infrastructure cannot be used at all.

When it comes to the individual project, the custom code, in the next layer, the SLA gap arises. This is where the software provider makes the customer or their system integrator responsible. The same applies to connected third-party systems such as ERP, CMS, PIM and the like. It can happen that performance issues occur where the PaaS provider only sees in its monitoring that resources are being used to capacity - but without identifying the reason for this. This may be due to custom code or interfaces to third-party systems. None of this is within the scope of the PaaS provider. The same applies to incidents, where it is usually first necessary to analyze where exactly the cause lies.

To avoid this SLA dilemma, you need an institution that has an overview of the entire system landscape and its interaction. With our diva-e team of experts, we are therefore at your disposal and take on all the tasks involved. We have the know-how and also the authorization to approach the providers involved if necessary and to accompany, drive and bring the resolution of an incident to a conclusion.

Application Management can close this gap in communication. diva-e has extensive expertise in Application Management and Managed Cloud Services. We therefore offer our customers comprehensive support for their cloud-based projects. The primary goal of the AMS (Application Management System) is to minimize problems and guarantee reliability. To this end, the application managers deal intensively with your web applications and technologies, covering the entire life cycle of your services.

Our services include a comprehensive consultation in which we analyze which type of data center is ideal for you as a customer. Our aim is to ensure that we handle your computing satisfactorily and get the most out of your data. We focus on reliability and effortless migration – regardless of whether you need a hybrid solution or a different set-up.

If you have received an offer from a software manufacturer to operate the application, please ask yourself the following questions:

• Who has the know-how about the application and supporting systems in question?

• Who controls the incident management?

• What SLA does the PaaS provider offer?

• Which (public) cloud is the PaaS offering based on?

• What is the backup strategy?

• Who monitors the backups, who carries out recovery tests and recovery in an emergency?

• Who carries out the deployments?

• What options are there for connecting or implementing your own monitoring?

• Is service level reporting provided?

• How does the PaaS provider charge for its services; does everything run on a flat-rate basis or is there also a time & material (T&M) component?

If these questions are not answered or not answered sufficiently, then talk to us. We will be happy to evaluate these offers for you and compare them with the industry standard.

When it comes to Application Management Services, it is not enough to shine with technical and architectural knowledge of the system landscape. The service provider must also be familiar with the customer's internal organization. Who is the contact person on the customer side, which department or colleague should be informed first and via which channel? How business-critical is the error message?

Before an Application Management Service can be implemented, we carry out a transition project in which all the necessary information, processes, monitoring and tools are documented, set up and trained. On all sides, including the customer and the stakeholders involved. The security audit and supportability check are fixed and binding components of every transition project. Only then does our AMS team assume operational responsibility.

A service contract is usually concluded for a transition project, as it is closely interlinked with the implementation project and is usually managed in an agile manner. Fixed prices can also be agreed. Business-critical digital projects are usually transactional. This means that they are platforms, online stores, customer portals, service centers or B2B portals that are set up on the Internet.

Error prioritization according to SLA

In Application Management, faults are prioritized according to an error class. Troubleshooting is initiated in accordance with the service level agreement. As a rule, the Service Level Agreement (SLA) includes all information on the time and scope of services as well as the response time and availability of the provider. An on-call hotline for critical faults is available around the clock for the Service Level Agreements and 24/7 service packages.

diva-e has also set up a Follow-the-Sun Service, which we offer as an option. All components of the Application Management Service can be provided in all time zones. This makes it possible, for example, for service requests from a branch in Australia to be processed immediately. Our employees in the AMS team are active in Europe, the USA and the Philippines.

The diva-e service structure is integrated into the customer's organization. The service provider takes over the Application Management of the system landscape on behalf of the customer. The diagram shows the diva-e service structure.