AIOps complements platform-oriented security for unrivaled peace of mind

For most organizations, the path to digital transformation is not a straight and simple line. It’s more like following a complicated recipe involving many processes that will eventually produce a crowd-pleasing dish.  

This is because true digital transformation isn’t simply a modernization initiative. IT environments are now more integrated and complex than ever before, and a transformation roadmap must consider all aspects of an ecosystem – including the network and cybersecurity – as well as alignment with the organization’s business goals.

Cyberthreats around the world are getting more severe and frequent, while hybrid work is expanding organizations’ attack surfaces. So, any digital gains can quickly be undone if security measures don’t keep pace with changes to the IT environment.

According to the Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024, published by the World Economic Forum, 29% of respondent organizations had been materially affected by a cyberincident in the previous 12 months – and large organizations are flagging the transformation of their legacy technology and processes as a big challenge.

• ALSO READ → Cyber resilience: how to limit the real cost of cyberattacks

How AIOps streamlines network operations

AIOps – short for “AI for IT operations” – uses machine learning and data analytics to automate and improve your network operations. By monitoring and analyzing huge volumes of data gathered across your network, AIOps can predict issues and prevent them from disrupting your business operations.

Should an anomaly occur, the real-time insights and predictive analytics that form part of AIOps give your network team everything they need to respond swiftly and efficiently.

It’s a game changer for CIOs and network leaders because it provides a high level of visibility and control as well as opportunities to automate routine tasks and remediation processes – and reduce human error.

This means less downtime and fewer business disruptions, and it frees up your network team from getting stuck in time-consuming routine maintenance.

• ALSO READ → AI in the SOC: the future of cost-efficient cybersecurity

The role of platform-oriented security in fortifying networks

Another major trend is platform-oriented cybersecurity, which integrates security measures directly into the core of your network. Security should, after all, be a fundamental part of your business operations, not just an add-on.

Imagine your network as a fortress. Traditional cybersecurity builds walls around fortresses to keep threats out. Platform-oriented cybersecurity, however, goes a step further by embedding security features within the very structure of the platforms. In this way, it provides unified protection across your network: from applications and endpoints to users.

It’s a proactive and cost-efficient form of defense that can scale with your expanding business needs, and it helps CISOs and network security teams by providing consistent security. When you add new applications, services or users onto your network, the integrated security features automatically extend to these additions to maintain your strong security posture.

A winning combination

Combining AIOps and platform-oriented security is a powerful, integrated way of addressing both operational complexity and security challenges.

AIOps gives you a unified view of your network environment, including security analytics. This supports better decision-making and faster response times.

When AIOps identifies a pattern that may signify an operational or security issue on your network, it can trigger automated remediation workflows. AIOps will also learn from the experience and use the newfound knowledge to improve its responses down the line.

In this way, you are constantly improving your defenses and proactively refining your security measures to stay ahead of emerging threats.

The benefits in practice

A leading pharmaceutical company focusing on natural health across 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific region found that their traditional network architecture and support services hadn’t kept pace with their growth. This was limiting their ability to unite their regional entities on a single network platform and adapt quickly and securely to changes in the business.

NTT DATA’s Managed Network Services team has transformed their networking infrastructure and security posture by deploying Palo Alto Networks Prisma SASE in combination with our managed services.

In this way, we have delivered a single network security platform with zero trust security to meet the company’s cross-border user needs. We find and patch critical vulnerabilities on their network proactively, which minimizes the need for emergency upgrades or network outages during business hours.

Our consultative approach and long-term strategic engagement will also allow us to continue making operational improvements to their network and security over time.

Making the case to management – with help

For your CIO, the combination of AIOps and platform-oriented security can expedite network transformation while delivering cost savings and operational efficiencies. Less network downtime means less revenue loss – and more satisfied employees and customers. Also, the unified visibility offered by AIOps helps improve resource allocation, which eliminates waste and reduces spending.

The security features of this combination are of particular interest to your CISO, as these real-time technologies transform your security operations into a proactive, cost-effective and highly efficient function that supports business growth.

Similarly, the ability to maintain a stable, reliable and secure network with less human intervention than before will appeal to your head of networks.

And the one thing that will please the entire C-suite is knowing that your organization can work with expert technology and service providers like NTT DATA and Palo Alto Networks to achieve these goals.