Application Monitoring is an indispensable tool for ensuring that all business processes are performing at optimum levels and that server uptime is high. There is only one way to ensure optimum performance or a high server uptime - keeping applications well-maintained. This can be a challenge for small businesses where budgetary and other constraints could mean that resources are spread out thinly and cannot be spared for functions other than the strictly core ones.

Employing effective tools for application monitoring can help bridge the gap between performance and maintenance.

In general, an application monitoring system takes care of the following areas within a system:

Problem Detection, including those that can affect user experience negatively

Understanding configuration of the applications that are to be monitored; updates can be carried out accordingly

Managing security; keeping a track of authorized and unauthorized usage

Apart from technical performance monitoring, application monitoring also provides invaluable data on traffic to the website, such as statistics on number of users accessing a particular application. These statistics can be helpful when measuring website traffic and page views. Depending on the type of tool chosen, application monitoring reports can be configured into daily or weekly reports.

Application monitoring also acts as a reserve for historical data. You can establish trends and patterns occurring in each application cycle, and make a note of how the changes are affecting performance. This data can help map changes in the application's health, allowing one to counter them in better and more effective ways.

Application monitoring can also act as a potential troubleshooting agent. This is because, ideally, your application monitoring systems should cover various components of the applications being monitored. Issues identified at the level of origin can then be resolved at a rapid pace, and with minimum interference being caused to other parallel systems. Also, at the component level, it is easier to analyze the problem such that appropriate steps can be taken to ensure it does not recur.

The ideal monitoring system will support a wide range of applications within a business. This in turn ensures a healthy functioning of the entire system. More importantly, a single application monitoring tool that takes care of the entire system is easier to deploy and manage. Managing and maintaining different options for different applications can also be an expensive enterprise. The costs of implementing a separate monitoring system for each application are especially significant for a small or mid-size business where a majority of the budget is dedicated towards meeting core functions for the client.