What Is Application Management? +Benefits, Best Practices

  • Updated: April 26, 2024
Samantha Rohn
Samantha Rohn
application management

After a few years of declining IT investments in industries across the board, the tides have shifted. IT budgets are expected to increase this year, according to 66% of organizations surveyed in 2023. 

Why the urgency?

Outdated IT infrastructures lead to growing inefficiencies in an attempt to keep up with hybrid work environments and a maturing technology stack. Factors like cybersecurity risks, inflation, and employee growth also fuel the need for more and better software — and as IT investments go up, so do the complexities of IT application management. 

Suppose you’ve experienced delays in accessing the right business applications, resolving IT tickets, or getting proper onboarding documentation for new tools. In that case, you’re familiar with the effects of poor application management. 

Let’s dive into what it means to have a strong application management strategy and some actionable tips you can implement today.  

What Is Application Management?

Application management refers to how organizations oversee, execute, and optimize processes for software applications. These processes expand across the entire lifecycle of a software application, from procurement requests to how it’s deployed, maintained, and sunsetted. 

Application management formally organizes company-wide protocols, procedures, and systems into a clear, repeatable framework. This effort aims to eliminate uncertainty, increase productivity, and avoid costly mistakes when governing application performance. 

Application management vs. application governance

Application management and application governance are popular terms used by IT and operations professionals — but they don’t mean the same thing. While application management codifies end-to-end processes to ensure software resilience and efficiency, application governance strictly defines the rules that shape application management processes in the first place. 

Application governance is an evolution of how IT professionals think about IT governance, with software introducing new stakeholders and risks that organizations must account for in their business operations.

“SaaS use is pervasive and often in a manner that leaves a complicated web of integrations and interdependencies, which can lead to a cascading impact when a single SaaS provider is compromised,” writes Chris Hughes, co-founder of Aquia, in his newsletter, Resilient Cyber. 

This complexity calls for application governance to dictate company policies, such as those regarding information security and data storage. Once these policies are in place, companies can start executing the processes required for application management.

Application management services

Application management services refers to outsourcing application management tasks to an external IT service provider — like an IT consulting firm, cloud service provider, or managed service provider. These external vendors are experts who can dedicate their time to managing and maintaining the entire application management lifecycle or specific stages that organizations don’t have the bandwidth to execute. 

For example, a bank may rely on application management services to help them monitor and resolve software issues in their online banking application infrastructure. This could allow their IT and developer teams to focus on requests that are more time-sensitive and critical for business impact. The bank would work closely with this external service provider to ensure that application management aligns with all business aspects.

Application lifecycle management

Application management involves processes in its operational lifecycle, which refers to the tasks that an organization executes to keep software operating as scheduled daily.

On the other hand, application lifecycle management encompasses activities that an organization executes throughout a software’s entire lifecycle. This is typically owned by an internal IT software development team and includes tasks like evaluating the need for new software, gathering design requirements for implementation, configuring the software, planning deployment stages, and coordinating responsibilities when software is retired.

Chris Hughes
“SaaS use is pervasive and often in a manner that leaves a complicated web of integrations and interdependencies, which can lead to a cascading impact when a single SaaS provider is compromised."

CHRIS HUGHES

CO-FOUNDER, AQUIA

Application Management Strategies

Application management practices span across all stages of a software application’s lifecycle. Naturally, these efforts require businesses to coordinate their resources efficiently and maintain software functionalities, customer experiences, performance metrics, etc. 

Companies can’t jump into application management blind. Teams must define and document frameworks, processes, or standard operating procedures (SOPs) that employees and vendors can use to securely and consistently execute application management responsibilities. 

Let’s explore a few best practices you can adopt in your application management strategy today.

1. Application inventory and catalog management

Companies used 130 business applications on average in 2023. A growing catalog of applications to manage comes with the challenges of ensuring consistent oversight and operations — especially if you want to avoid security risks and time wasted on manual, repetitive workflows. 

Keeping an up-to-date inventory of your business applications will help you stay on top of routine tasks, performance optimizations, and critical decision-making. Effective inventory management also calls for organizations to accurately catalog important details such as the application’s name, the business departments and office locations that deploy it, usage information, and licensing details. Your application inventory aims to be a single source of truth for your IT department to correctly asses opportunities and weaknesses in an organization’s software infrastructure, which is especially critical for budget planning and regular audits.

2. Application rationalization and portfolio management

Application rationalization refers to identifying which software applications to maintain, eliminate, or replace with better options. Companies do this to optimize their application portfolio and eliminate redundancies that introduce friction to daily operations or take up unnecessary costs, time, and talent. To effectively streamline applications, you’ll have to assess the relevance of each software to your existing operations and determine the ones necessary for your success. 

For example, larger organizations can accrue an extensive portfolio or legacy applications over time. With business software today prioritizing more automation, intelligence, and data-driven capabilities, many enterprises can do more with less. This leaner and modern enterprise IT organization can save on costs and reduce operational distractions like human errors, manual intervention, and inaccurate data.

3. License management compliance

This strategy requires companies to keep track of all software licenses and ensure their compliance with security and regulatory requirements, as well as vendor agreements outlined by your IT department. For each business application, you’ll want to review license agreement terms, usage, transfer and migration terms, renewal and expiration dates, and the license types available for each user. 

Tracking compliance across these different factors is critical to avoid legal disputes and performance issues that can grow into big cost sinkers for your organization. Teams can use license management software like Flexera and AssetExplorer to automatically monitor usage and prevent accidental term violations.

4. Performance monitoring and optimization

Effective application management requires organizations to be consistent and proactive. Your IT organization shouldn’t be addressing software errors and risks only after the damage is done. Being reactive in managing software performance makes your business vulnerable to issues that lead to unreliable service delivery and higher customer churn rates. 

Your organization should continuously track, monitor, and assess software performance to stay ahead of any vulnerabilities. Deploying software monitoring tools can empower your IT team and maximize your available resources. Measuring IT metrics like server availability, network latency, capacity utilization, uptime, and more can help you spot bottlenecks in your application portfolio before they hinder your operations. 

5. Security and vulnerability management

Over 80% of IT professionals surveyed last year say they’re responsible for protecting sensitive data in software applications. Storing sensitive information in cloud servers is the new norm — and despite the scary headlines we see about cybersecurity, security infrastructure for software is a much more secure environment to handle data. 

A successful application management strategy involves strengthening software security with advanced encryption, network monitoring systems, access controls, and data recovery plans. Businesses must allocate sufficient resources and talent to be held accountable for tasks like evaluating application vulnerabilities, addressing user security concerns, and proactively implementing security patches. 

6. Automation and orchestration

Application management and strategic automation go hand-in-hand in enabling businesses to maintain consistency and quality when executing tasks across a high volume of applications company-wide. With software spread across different business departments, each with its own contractual terms and key performance indicators (KPIs) for success, automation is critical to reduce errors and implement improvements with fewer delays or dependencies on resource availability. 

Teams can automate processes to streamline application deployment, updates, and management tasks. For example, companies can implement configuration management tools to keep application settings and server configurations consistent across specific business environments. IT teams can also automate event-based alerts and actions when certain events or anomalies are detected.

7. User training and education

Your software applications are only as effective as the way they’re used. A digital adoption survey by Whatfix discovered that 84% of employees don’t know how to use some of the core software features and processes they use daily. To maintain the performance of your software application portfolio, companies must invest in providing end users with effective training and education on how to correctly use software and troubleshoot routine errors. 

Software management today is no longer centralized within the IT department. With this widened access to technology, companies must empower users with digital skills that maximize software productivity and prevent costly errors. For example, Sophos’ Firewall used Whatfix’s digital adoption platform to implement self-helo training content to help users navigate the complexities of cybersecurity deployment configurations without relying on Sophos’ support team. This allowed Sophos to scale its product training program while saving $390,000 in support resources.

8. Vendor and supplier relationship management

The success of a software application is heavily influenced by the relationship organizations have with software vendors. Strong relationships with vendors and suppliers help businesses negotiate terms and align software initiatives to long-term goals in a transparent and respectful environment. 

Companies can establish these relationships by maintaining transparent and clear communication with vendors and suppliers, adhering to payment terms, giving them the training resources they need for success, and involving key stakeholders at these external organizations in strategy sessions that establish mutual goals. Once you’ve built and grown these partnerships, your vendors and suppliers become an asset you can depend on to ensure long-term success, stay on top of industry trends, and execute complex strategies.

9. Continuous improvement and monitoring

Companies must implement tools and frameworks that allow teams to systematically track software performance, detect inconsistencies, and push software improvement projects to their development pipeline. For example, software organizations adopt the Agile methodology to streamline project management and problem-solving, creating a culture that can improve and adapt quickly. 

To execute software improvement tasks, IT teams and business department leaders must also define SOPs and best practices for reviewing and updating software application processes, gathering feedback from end users, and implementing iterative changes without disrupting existing workflows. 

10. Cloud application management

Today, about 60% of company data is stored in the cloud. With the cloud giving organizations a stronger foundation for speed, scalability, and security, there is a growing need for professionals who can effectively drive cloud adoption and manage day-to-day operations. This includes handling relationships with third-party cloud application vendors, optimizing resource allocation, overseeing data migration projects, and preparing existing data architecture for this technology.

For example, businesses going through hypergrowth benefit from using this strategy to respond quickly to market needs by scaling software resources without spending tens of thousands to deploy new technology systems.

Related Resources

11. Mobile application management (MAM)

Whether you’re a small business at a farmer’s market or a multi-franchise retail store, mobile application management aims to give end users a fast and secure mobile experience. This strategy accelerates the distribution of mobile applications to employees and customers while maintaining the settings and configurations that comply with legal and security protocols, adhering to application store policies, and ensuring a user-friendly platform. Take user authentication and authorization as an example of MAM at work. With this strategy, IT teams at retail companies can execute a comprehensive plan to equip employees with mobile point-of-sale applications that can only be accessed with the right employee credentials.

12. Self-service application portals

Much like how the modern business leader empowers employees with self-serve capabilities to build software proficiency, this autonomy can also extend to requesting and managing application administration. No business department wants its technology stack to be held back by lengthy review and approval processes for every software application. Requests that fall within specific criteria — such as cost or the number of licenses — could be available for self-service management in a user portal. Eliminating dependencies for routine application administration work will help organizations future-proof their operations by addressing gaps faster than competitors and allocating IT resources to more complex technology deployments.

13. Application deployment and lifecycle management

This strategy involves organizations coordinating and executing various tasks throughout an application’s lifecycle — from its implementation to its retirement. What does this look like? At the beginning of the application lifecycle, teams can start by formalizing procedures for software requirements analysis, designing application functionalities, and conducting tests or pilot programs to ensure software quality. A similar approach to planning and resource management is also emphasized before deployment and during the end-of-life phase of an application, with a clear plan outline for user training, data migration, collecting feedback, managing licenses, and more. 

14. Application usage analytics

The speed and agility of software applications allow organizations to be more data-driven and meticulous about performance KPIs. Teams can foster a culture of continuous improvement and efficiency by using application analytics to quantify success metrics, such as end-user behavior, application performance, and engagement with different features and capabilities. 

Usage analytics also help companies prioritize ideas and resource allocation. For example, teams can use Whatfix’s product analytics to determine application drop-off rates and frustration signals throughout the customer journey. Instead of relying on limited feedback or biased perspectives, you can make informed decisions based on more representative data to address more pressing bottlenecks.

15. End-of-life (EOL) and End-of-Support (EOS) planning

Phasing out an existing software application isn’t as simple as turning a switch on and off. Whether you’re retiring an outdated application or migrating to new replacement software, organizations will have to consider how eliminating software may impact technology stack operations, performance quality, and user productivity. 

This phase of application management requires organizations to develop plans for migrating data to a new tool, transitioning users to a new system, and ensuring compliance with vendor terms, legal policies, and security requirements. Communication with users will also play a significant role in determining the success of EOL and EOS planning. Teams will have to implement new software documentation, self-service support, and technical assistance to help users transition away from workflows and systems that are more familiar.

16. Data governance and data integration

Data integration and management are crucial and non-negotiable components of the software application lifecycle. With businesses using over 100 applications on average, the typical software experience involves users interacting with multiple tools daily. That’s a lot of data flowing in, out, and between different people and systems. 

Data governance policies are needed to ensure that data is moving securely, is of high quality, and doesn’t require users to spend hours configuring connections with other business platforms. For example, a company that manages large volumes of customer information will need a framework to determine the right access controls, consent management protocols, policy enforcement, and quality standards for effective operations.

17. Integrations with IT Service Management (ITSM)

In high-performing organizations, applications and related IT processes follow the guidelines of the IT Service Management (ITSM) framework. This term encompasses everything from developing a software application strategy to operational improvements throughout the application lifecycle. Optimize your application management processes for broader ITSM principles — which are aimed at helping IT and business departments keep their IT infrastructure in order. Organizations can use ITSM principles to implement and optimize process application request management, incident management, knowledge management, and IT service desks.

18. Business process integration

Every application in your organization serves a purpose. Whether it’s improving the end-user experience, automating manual workflows, or accelerating day-to-day tasks, these applications give businesses a return on investment. Integrating these applications into broader business processes and systems will help each department track and measure their impact on company-wide goals. Creating siloes between applications and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, for example, prevents companies from getting accurate insight into improvements in user productivity, revenue generation, service quality, and more.

19. Cost optimization and budgeting

Between 2022 and 2023, a survey of 500 enterprises discovered that up to 19% of annual company revenue is spent on IT. The software application evolves quickly, reflecting the shifting needs of companies operating in digital-first environments. It’s necessary to continuously monitor and evaluate software spending for opportunities to consolidate and automate application management processes. 

For example, companies can conduct regular audits of applications to identify applications that can be streamlined into better, more cost-efficient software. Deploying cloud-based infrastructure and self-service support channels also keeps application costs predictable, even when handling fluctuations in user onboarding and application usage.

20. Scalability and flexibility planning

Software applications give organizations fewer restrictions when tackling a growing user base, accommodating shifting business priorities, and enabling customizable experiences. Consider your long-term business mission and vision when planning and designing your application infrastructure. If you’re working toward a specific KPI within a certain period, adopt an application management strategy to help you maximize or improve your technology stack to hit that target.

The BigTeams athletic management platform recognized that they needed 60,000 users across educational institutions to know how to use their product. With Whatfix’s digital adoption platform, they could scale customer education across their growing user base while deflecting over 190,000 support tickets and reducing customer support costs.

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Benefits of Application Management

Formalizing and standardizing company-wide protocols will ultimately lead to more synchronized action across all stakeholders. Teams can maximize this IT alignment across the organization to implement transformative initiatives that drive productivity and revenue.

Let’s take a look at a few immediate and long-term benefits companies can expect with proper application management:

1. Cost savings

Companies can apply application management principles to identify opportunities for software consolidation, retirement, and license optimization. By consistently monitoring resource usage for software applications, companies will find it easier to define protocols, workflows, and reporting mechanisms that minimize unnecessary spending.

2. Improved compliance

Application management gives IT teams a framework to implement systems and processes that ensure adherence to regulatory compliance. Gaining visibility into overall application infrastructure helps companies implement better vendor risk assessment protocols, stay on top of compliance requirements, and involve the right stakeholders to complete compliance-related tasks.

3. Increased productivity

Applications that are managed efficiently and maintained consistently are less prone to technical bugs and downtime that impact end-user performance. With more application usage and engagement transparency, companies can also better allocate training and learning initiatives that boost technology proficiency and unlock more application capabilities.

4. Enhanced security

Like application management strategies streamline compliance management tasks, IT and security teams can enforce systems and tools that protect software assets from unauthorized access. From user access requirements to data governance policies and network monitoring tactics, companies can effectively plan and prioritize security programs based on their application needs.

5. IT resource optimization

Application management forces companies to think strategically about an application’s role in the business. Stakeholders can better work with data and processes that provide a holistic view of an organization’s needs, preventing rash decision-making when addressing IT bottlenecks, resource allocation, and more. 

6. Scalability and flexibility

Application management strategies empower organizations to forecast business needs and leverage the right IT resources to achieve desired outcomes. Centered around the principles of equipping business functions with the applications they need to succeed, companies are more inclined to align technology resources with long-term goals instead of immediate needs that can phase out quickly.

7. Strategic decision-making

A systematic approach to application management equips organizations with the tools and resources to be data-driven throughout the application lifecycle — from procurement to ongoing performance monitoring and software retirement protocols. Companies will find it easier to prioritize the right initiatives and align IT projects with high-level business targets.

8. User satisfaction

Efficiently managed applications consider the entire user lifecycle, allowing companies to drill down on the user experience and implement tactics that drive user adoption and engagement. This leads to stronger partnerships between IT teams and department leaders to build better user education programs, regularly gather feedback, and set up workflows for more efficient issue resolution.

9. Risk mitigation

Application management creates a culture where organizations must consistently report on and assess application performance. This enables stakeholders to proactively identify risks and vulnerabilities before they disrupt operations or pose security concerns.

10. Long-term sustainability

Application management strategies help companies look at technology projects as long-term investments instead of short-term tactics. Companies can use the frameworks discussed in this article to build processes that keep stakeholders accountable and consistent as they build and grow their IT infrastructure.

Application Management Stakeholders

A successful application management strategy requires the partnership of various stakeholders throughout the organization. Let’s explore the roles and responsibilities that come into play when designing and executing effective IT initiatives:

1. IT Team

  • IT operations team: Takes charge of day-to-day tasks related to managing and maintaining application infrastructure, like monitoring software performance, troubleshooting errors, and ensuring adherence to service level agreement (SLA) targets. 
  • IT management: A manager-level role that coordinates IT strategies, allocates resources, and aligns operational tasks with broader departmental or company-wide initiatives. 
  • Security team: Responsible for conducting application risk assessments and implementing security measures that adhere to industry standards, regulatory compliance, and company protocol. 
  • Help desk and support teams: Provides on-demand and ongoing technical assistance to all application users so companies can troubleshoot issues efficiently. 
  • Application managers: Involved in overseeing the end-to-end lifecycle of applications within the organizations so companies have a clear point of contact for application-level issues. 
  • Change management teams: Rolls out new application initiatives and improvements in a structured way to prevent disruptions and ensure proper communication with end-users.
  • Quality assurance/testers: Tests application functionalities and performance to ensure quality standards are met before deployment.

2. Business and Strategy

  • Application owners: Responsible for managing application-related decision-making to ensure it delivers value to an organization successfully. 
  • Business analysts: Analyze business strategy and application data to bridge the gap between application capabilities and business needs. 
  • Executive leadership: Define organization-wide priorities influencing application strategies, resource allocation, and targets.

3. Governance and Compliance

  • Software asset managers: Optimize software assets to meet compliance requirements and adhere to company-wide governance policies. 
  • Legal and compliance: Ensure all application and vendor management practices do not put the company at risk of legal disputes, financial penalties, or business risks.

4. Financial Management

  • Procurement and vendor management: Responsible for managing processes related to purchasing new applications, onboarding new vendors, and aligning contract terms with organizational requirements. 
  • Finance department: Defines the financial strategy that governs application decision-making, such as software budgeting, forecasting return on investments, and allocated costs for supporting activities.

5. End-Users

End-users are the individuals who use software applications regularly to execute necessary tasks and help business departments meet key performance indicators (KPIs).

Application Management Best Practices

We can clearly see that application management has many moving parts — from different stakeholders to a diverse portfolio of applications and goals that are constantly evolving. It begs the question: How can organizations stay data-driven and proactive while staying on top of day-to-day operations? Here are a few best practices to bring back to your team:

1. Prioritize applications for optimization

Focus your resources on improving processes for applications that are the most critical in helping end users reach their KPIs. Teams can determine high-priority applications by identifying the most significant IT blockers preventing teams from reaching the organization’s objective key results. Companies should also leverage quantitative user metrics across different applications and qualitative user feedback to determine the biggest optimization opportunities. 

2. Define application governance and policies

Establish and document a framework that outlines all the stakeholders, deliverables, and expectations involved in management. Executive leaders and managers must communicate these policies effectively and make helpful IT resources visible across the entire application ecosystem. This ensures teams have constant access to up-to-date information and are aligned with leadership in creating a software-driven culture.

3. Automate routine tasks

Streamline repetitive administrative tasks or trigger-based processes that can be pre-defined, like approval workflows, ticket assignments, and license renewal deadlines. Automating busy work allows all stakeholders to focus on more complex tasks that require more research, critical thinking, and collaboration.

4. Implement performance monitoring

With the right tools and reporting mechanisms, companies can consistently track and capture application performance over time instead of building ad-hoc reports when issues arise. Continuous performance monitoring gives IT and business departments visibility into patterns that indicate poor reliability, lackluster user experiences, or failure to meet requirements outlined in SLAs.

5. Conduct license management and compliance checks

Don’t wait until the very last minute to follow up on license renewals, compliance requirements, and other industry-standard regulations. Use application management tools to stay on top of important deadlines for software licensing agreements with notifications and reminders. These tools can also help IT, security, and finance teams automate workflows to check on compliance regulations at set intervals and notify the right stakeholders.

6. Maintain security and vulnerability management

Your security and vulnerability management processes can make or break your entire infrastructure. Approach this strategy as a set of essential tasks for applications to operate optimally. When defining software maintenance processes and policies, account for resources required to create a secure software environment — like regular software updates, security audits, and patch management.

7. Foster collaboration between IT and business units

Technology implementation has to be aligned with high-level business initiatives to ensure alignment on company-wide initiatives, allocate resources correctly, and determine the appropriate goals. Companies must execute IT initiatives with buy-in from all the right stakeholders. Siloed application management can lead to big losses and risks, considering the high costs associated with deploying, scaling, and managing an application ecosystem.

8. Continuously monitor and optimize applications

Instilling a culture of consistent optimizations with an application management strategy is the most effective way to stay organized and efficient. Implement iterative processes that enable stakeholders across the organization to evaluate application performance regularly, share feedback with application managers, and revisit goals at a set cadence.

Application Management Challenges (+Solutions)

Let’s explore a few examples of challenges you can avoid when deploying your application management strategy.

1. Inadequate resource allocation

Teams can only execute end-to-end processes with sufficient resources to power their application management initiatives. This is especially apparent when allocating bandwidth and budget to consistently oversee operational tasks, report on ongoing efforts, and implement timely improvements. Whether optimizing headcount or investing in tools that can automate and scale necessary activities, companies must prioritize the right resources to ensure the continuity of their application management efforts. 

 

Solution: To avoid spreading bandwidth too thin while being mindful of resource limitations, companies must thoroughly evaluate existing resources and high-priority applications based on short-term and long-term OKRs. Map out available resources according to those priorities to ensure that the team focuses on IT initiatives that align with any non-negotiable goals.

2. Complex license management

A lack of visibility into all active and underutilized licenses can lead to excessive spending, compliance gaps, and poor user productivity. When companies overbuy licenses and are forced to deal with software sprawl and shadow IT, it becomes difficult to assign clear points of accountability and prioritize the correct licenses to optimize. This complex network of applications also puts companies at risk of poor auditing practices, unclear vendor management protocol, and security compliance issues. 

Solution: Teams can avoid this headache by deploying a license management platform to centralize all license management tasks. These platforms aim to make it easier for companies to track license usage, application inventory and cataloging, identify shadow IT, and track expenses.

3. Security vulnerabilities and threats

Keeping up with evolving cloud security requirements and best practices can be challenging as the software stack grows. The more applications you integrate into your business ecosystem, the more entry points there are for unauthorized access to sensitive information and cybersecurity threats. Even with a clear understanding of what security to prioritize, companies struggle to keep up with existing and preventative security needs. This includes tasks like patch updates, network monitoring, anomaly detection, compliance checks, and proactive analysis to identify cybersecurity weaknesses within the organization.

Solution: Companies must maximize automation to remove the manual burden of centralizing and assigning security tasks. Implement automated workflows, triggers, and push notifications to ensure IT teams conduct regular updates, audit security processes, and define the proper requirements for access to application licenses and cloud data. End-user education and training also play a role in standardizing policies for securely installing and using approved applications.

4. Resistance to change from end-users

Pushback from team members about new application management protocol occurs when end-users are unsure about the value new processes and tools can add to their day. The biggest bottleneck to adapting to change is convincing individuals that these changes will not hinder existing workflows and productivity methods. It’s also important to consider how integrated existing processes are into day-to-day expectations and organizational culture. Will KPIs have to change? Must teams abandon communication and collaboration methods they’re already familiar with?

Solution: Change becomes less scary when organizations create a transparent, communication-first culture. End-users must have access to up-to-date information and helpful resources whenever needed. Beyond giving users timely updates about IT transformation initiatives, companies can deploy intuitive training programs that don’t force users to spend additional time learning to use new tools. Digital adoption platforms like Whatfix can help teams integrate onboarding and training directly within application interfaces for 24/7 self-service support.

5. Legacy systems and compatibility issues

Outdated tools hinder seamless real-time data synchronization across the entire technology stack, forcing teams to spend more time on manual IT migration and management tasks. Legacy systems tend to be less flexible, giving teams fewer native integrations to work with or limited APIs to bridge effective communication with newer applications. Even with a solid application management framework, incompatible systems limit teams from scaling to meet the capabilities of newer expectations. It will also require more IT resources to fix these problems, which limits innovation that can be happening elsewhere in your team.

Solution: Prioritize software interoperability when selecting the tools to build your application management. Use integration capabilities to evaluate potential applications in the procurement cycle or identify opportunities to retire or replace existing tools. Ultimately, teams should future-proof their organization by phasing out systems that are not expected to be helpful in the next 12 months.

6. Limited budget and resources

When companies deprioritize investments in application management, they can’t invest in the people, resources, and technologies that can align application management with broader business goals. Organizations must equip themselves with the technical skills and technologies that can help them standardize IT operations, report consistently on progress, and spot risks before they impact the business. When application management resources are spread thin, companies are forced to be reactive instead of strengthening their infrastructure against bigger risks in the future. Compounding issues with no long-term solution means more downtime, security breaches, and data inconsistencies.

Solution: If you’re working with a lean team and budget, consider prioritizing specific applications you want to invest in or working with scalable infrastructure with predictable pricing. Transparency and effective vendor communication can help companies negotiate the right contract terms or outsource tasks to reduce in-house costs. Companies must also automate routine tasks as much as possible so expert talent can spend their time on strategic initiatives that add value to the organization.

7. Inefficient manual processes

We all know that repetitive administrative tasks slow teams down. However, when managing a long list of application management tasks, manual processes also lead to more errors, slower response times, and more hours spent putting out fires instead of working toward a specific goal. Every protocol that diverts resources from impactful projects is a hindrance to application management and the bottom line.

Solution: Organizations can avoid this trap by automating routine tasks based on pre-defined criteria, triggers, or events. For example, teams can implement application management software with workflow-building capabilities for user onboarding and onboarding, license provisioning, project management, IT ticket creation, and more. 

8. Scalability

If your application management strategy isn’t designed to scale, you won’t be able to swiftly respond to an evolving technology stack or increased workloads. This leads teams back to where they started — operating without clear processes and rules. Companies should not expect IT teams to spend their time manually scaling up servers and databases. This effort is time-consuming and restricts IT departments from driving more transformative projects that can elevate end-user productivity quickly.

Solution: Scalability can be achieved if teams implement applications with cloud-based infrastructure and services. This allows organizations to support fluctuating usage and redirect IT initiatives when necessary without worrying about the costs and commitments of physical on-premise infrastructure.

9. Keeping pace with technological changes

The technology landscape changes rapidly, which can introduce challenges in keeping applications up-to-date. For example, companies don’t want to miss out on new software features that can help them improve the user experience and accelerate growth. On the other hand, rushing too quickly toward new technology features leads to unpredictable budgets and a lack of stability within the IT infrastructure. Application management calls for companies to strive for innovation while being able to commit to IT initiatives for a suitable length of time. 

Solution: IT teams can manage this expectation by conducting regular application evaluations, feedback collections, and information-sharing. This allows teams to proactively learn and discover alignment between market opportunities and existing bottlenecks instead of only reacting to unavoidable setbacks.

Top 5 Application Management Tools

When building an application management strategy and implementation plan, the tool you choose to drive these efforts will make a difference. Different tools focus on different capabilities and opportunities for the application ecosystem. For instance, some might prioritize license management, while others aim to streamline the management of enterprise-level software assets. Companies must prioritize their investments in systems most closely aligned with their long-term vision for application management and the risks they want to avoid. 

Let’s look at five tools you can evaluate for your organization’s needs:

Microsoft logo

1. Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager

G2 Rating: N/A

Price: Contact for tailored pricing

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager is a platform that helps organizations streamline software across an entire suite of Microsoft products. It integrates with popular technologies like Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Azure, and Windows Server Update Services, giving teams an ecosystem of tools to coordinate activities across software assets. 

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) Lab

Key features:

  • Automated IT workflows 
  • Cloud-powered analytics for on-premise and software assets
  • Compliance settings management
HCL logo

2. HCL BigFix

G2 Rating: 4.4 / 5 

Price:  Contact for tailored pricing

 

With HCL BigFix, IT teams can use a single platform to centralize software asset management tasks like license optimization, application audits, cost analysis, risk compliance, and more. The platform’s architecture is also designed to help IT and security teams scale cybersecurity measures and report on patching efforts in alignment with business targets.

HCL BigFix

Key features:

  • Software cost management 
  • License optimization
  • Automated security and risk compliance workflows
flexera logo

3. Flexera Software Asset Management

G2 Rating: 4 / 5 

Price: Contact for tailored pricing


Organizations use Flexera to optimize license management across their application stack. Teams can reduce unnecessary expenses on underutilized licenses by automating how they track and identifying existing applications, shadow IT, and unsanctioned software within the organization.

Flexera

Key features:

  • Automated effective license positions (ELP)
  • Regulatory and vendor audit workflows
  • Application discovery and recognition
Dynatrace logo

4. Dynatrace

G2 Rating: 4.5 / 5

Price:  Hourly pricing for different features


Dynatrace’s cloud platform enables IT teams to monitor and optimize software infrastructure with various AI-powered capabilities. Organizations can use data intelligence to prevent and resolve application errors with deep visibility into application health and availability, server response times, impact analytics, and more.

Dynatrace

Key features:

  • Application discovery 
  • Security and vulnerability analytics
  • Multi-device platform and end-user monitoring
appdynamics logo

5. AppDynamics

G2 Rating: 4.3 / 5 

Price:  Contact for tailored pricing


AppDynamics is a cloud monitoring platform that gives IT and business stakeholders robust capabilities to tie IT performance metrics with business KPIs using data intelligence. AppDynamics also helps companies monitor networks consistently and identify software anomalies for faster issue resolutions.

AppDynamics

Key features:

  • Business performance monitoring
  • Automated anomaly detection
  • IT lifecycle management
Strengthen application management and enable end-users with Whatfix’s in-app guidance and self-help support

Whatfix empowers organizations with an intuitive, no-code platform to deploy self-help application training and education. Enhance your application management strategy with on-demand guidance to shorten the learning curve for new software, increase user engagement for IT investments, and reduce the likeliness of errors or unsanctioned processes. 

With in-app guidance like interactive product walkthroughs, tooltips, beacons, and pop-ups, application users can quickly access the information they need to build application proficiency without disrupting their day-to-day workflows. To learn what Whatfix can do for your IT projects, request a demo today!

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What Is Whatfix?
Whatfix is a digital adoption platform that provides organizations with a no-code editor to create in-app guidance on any application that looks 100% native. With Whatfix, create interactive walkthroughs, product tours, task lists, smart tips, field validation, self-help wikis, hotspots, and more. Understand how users are engaging with your applications with advanced product analytics.

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Software Clicks With Whatfix
Whatfix's digital adoption platform empowers your employees, customers, and end-users with in-app guidance, reinforcement learning, and contextual self-help support to find maximum value from software.
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