Cybersecurity is a hot topic across all industries, with most companies recognizing the importance of identifying and mitigating risk factors across IT environments. Recent news headlines have focused on external threats, but internal risks represent over $40 billion in losses annually. When developing an enterprise security plan, it’s important to account for common IT security risks, both external and internal.

On our Integrate blog, our Enterprise Content Intelligence team recently shared a series of common enterprise security risks, based on decades of experience implementing enterprise content and process management systems across all major industries.

They identified the following risks:

• Applet viewers
• Deprecated hash algorithms in SSL certificates
• Infrastructure updates (patches and fix packs)
• Bypassing SSL and creating security holes into your organization
• Guessing document versions
• Poor password and access policies
• Virus-laden downloads and committed documents
• Logging of personally identifiable information (PII) in trace logs
• Production vs development clarity
• Defining, recognizing and handling risky behavior

For details on each of these risk factors, read the full blog post here.

We’re happy to announce that Perficient won the 2017 IBM Beacon Award for Outstanding Watson Solution, presented this week during IBM’s PartnerWorld Leadership Conference.

The Beacon Awards recognize select business partners who deliver exceptional IBM-based solutions that drive business value and transform the way clients and industries do business in the cognitive era. This year’s awards honor achievement across 19 solution areas including analytics, collaboration, cloud, commerce, cognitive, the Internet of Things, security, and Watson. Winners were selected by a panel of IBM executives, industry analysts, and media members.

The Beacon Award recognizes our Watson-based predictive modeling solution for patient readmissions, designed to better identify patients in need of interventions and ultimately reduce readmission rates. The solution extracts key information from previously untapped sources of unstructured data, such as doctors’ notes and psycho-social information.

“Many of our healthcare customers have been challenged to make demonstrable, evidence-based decisions to improve patient care and engagement while dealing with the growing amount of data they have available to them,” said Kevin Nunnally, Perficient’s National Partner Executive for IBM. “Perficient has followed the technology for several years and started out investing in our expertise and educating our clients on what Watson is and what it can do. This award is tremendous recognition for our success in helping our clients and our partners work with Watson and understand the scope of its capabilities.”
This is Perficient’s third consecutive Beacon Award. In 2015, we received the Outstanding Information Management Solution award for our Health Analytics Gateway, an information management framework that streamlines data processing for healthcare organizations. In 2016, we received the Outstanding Enterprise Cloud Solution award for our Immersion solution, a migration-as-a-service for the IBM Bluemix cloud platform that boosts in-cloud application development efficiency nearly 40 percent over standard migration practices.

“By delivering innovative solutions to drive business value, Beacon Award winners help transform the way their clients and industries do business,” said Marc Dupaquier, general manager, IBM Global Business Partners. “We’d like to congratulate Perficient on winning the Beacon Award for Outstanding Watson Solution and delivering exceptional client satisfaction and results.”

IBM has redesigned their partner program to reflect an increased investment in cognitive and cloud solutions, and to better recognize partners with a strategy aligned to this cognitive solution path. We are happy to announce that Perficient has achieved Platinum status in the new IBM PartnerWorld program. Earning the highest tier within the PartnerWorld program, Platinum Business Partners consistently demonstrate proven capabilities and expertise in IBM technologies to help their clients succeed in their digital transformation.

IBM added the Platinum designation as part of the newly redesigned PartnerWorld program, which the company announced last February at the PartnerWorld Leadership Conference. The new, four-tiered PartnerWorld program moves IBM and its Business Partners from a product-centric model to one focused on competencies, customer satisfaction and revenue. The Platinum level is designed to recognize partners that consistently deliver the highest level of excellence. Organizations achieve the Platinum level by earning at least two competencies (one at the Expert level), attaining significant sales success, demonstrating client satisfaction and verifying two client references. At this time, Perficient joins a very select group of partners, with only 74 companies achieving Platinum status worldwide.

“The new PartnerWorld program is designed towards ultimate simplification to help our partners both large and small succeed and drive velocity in high growth areas like cloud and cognitive, said Marc Dupaquier, general manager, IBM Global Business Partners. “By achieving the Platinum level, Perficient has shown its commitment and expertise in delivering client solutions with the power to transform businesses in the cognitive era.”

Through our partnership, Perficient combines the powerful capabilities of IBM’s analytics, collaboration, cloud, commerce, cognitive, IoT, and Watson platforms with our extensive industry and domain expertise to offer customers innovative solutions for digital transformation. We work closely with IBM’s sales, channel, and marketing communities to successfully go to market with these award-winning solutions. This success and our dedication to the IBM partnership is highlighted in the volume of our awards, successful customer implementations, and trained resources.

Today kicks off World of Watson 2016, the latest evolution of IBM’s premier data and analytics conference. During the opening session for the partner summit, Perficient was asked to share our experiences with the Watson portfolio, since we were one of the first participants in the partner ecosystem for Watson. Christine Livingston, Perficient’s Watson Practice Director, discussed our strategy and impressions with Stephen Gold, Watson Group CMO.

Stephen: You work with all of IBM’s software.  Why did you make the decision to heavily invest resources in Watson and why now? 

Christine: We’ve followed the technology for several years now, and we started out evangelizing and educating our customers on what Watson was and what it could do. Over the last couple of years we’ve seen new titles like Chief Innovation Officer and Digital Transformation Director becoming more prominent. As those roles have emerged and evolved we now see that our customers are coming to us, asking how they can apply their ideas for Watson and how they can get started. They’re very excited about the art of the possible and the conversation is no longer about us educating our customers, but rather about working with our customers to help them get started on their journeys.

Stephen: It’s certainly exciting that customers are now coming out and asking about the technology. But part of that success is the ability for Perficient to educate and articulate to the customer what exactly cognitive is and what Watson does. Tell us a little about what it took to spin up a staff of about 30 people dedicated to Watson. What was it like for them as individuals?

Christine: It’s definitely been a journey for that team as well. We’ve looked to find people that were dedicated and interested in learning new and emerging technologies. Developers are typically very excited to stay on top of the curve and learn what’s new, what’s next and what’s coming, so we looked for that type of person – someone interested in emerging technology and how cognitive can be applied to situations.

Stephen: Can you share an example of when you’ve worked with an industry or client on a cognitive journey?

Christine: Healthcare is probably one of my personal favorites. We’ve seen a lot of our customers challenged in the post-Affordable Care Act landscape to make demonstrable, evidence-based decisions to improve patient care and engagement all while the amount of data that they have accessible and available is growing tremendously. So it’s been a very interesting experience to work with those companies and customers to understand the art of the possible – how Watson can help drive these massive corporate initiatives, how it can help engage patients in new ways, and to explore their journey to a cognitive business. It’s definitely a journey, it’s not a one stop implementation. And it’s been very exciting to work with our customers and help them understand how to execute on bite sized investments, so they can ultimately achieve that grand vision of the Watson platform.

Stephen: For people interested in starting on their cognitive journey, what would you share with them on lessons learned or best practices?

Christine: Watson drives a unique value proposition and it transcends corporate initiatives. I think it’s important to understand what that value proposition really is. Sometimes it’s hard to measure and quantify the value of interacting with data on human terms, but we found that it’s critical to the success of your project to make sure that the value is measurable and demonstrable, and that outcomes can be tied back to Watson. Our customer’s success is ultimately our success, so we find that to be the key piece in our Watson implementations.

To find out more information on how Perficient is helping organizations realize the art of possible with Watson and IBM Analytics, or to meet with Christine to continue this conversation, stop by booth 824 in the Cognitive Concourse this week.

With World of Watson, IBM has expanded its annual data and analytics user conference to encompass cognitive business applications. Perficient is proud to be a sponsor of World of Watson 2016, which is being held October 23-27 in Las Vegas. If you haven’t already registered, there’s still time to secure the pre-conference rate: https://www-304.ibm.com/events/tools/wow2016reg/registration/#/  If you’ve previously attended IBM Insight, there’s also an available alumni rate with the code “WOWAlumni”.

We hope to see you at the event and look forward to meeting with you at the conference. Stop by the Cognitive Business section of the expo hall to learn how we’ve leveraged our extensive expertise in Analytics, ECM, Information Management, Big Data and Asset Management solutions to drive digital transformation for our customers.

Highlighting some of these projects and lessons learned, Perficient has a great line up of sessions, where you can meet with subject matter experts and thought leaders:

How TriHealth is Reducing Patient Readmission Rates with Watson
Session ID: WAT-2874
24-Oct-2016 | 08:00 AM – 08:45 AM | South Pacific G
Using hard evidence to make a clinical decision is arguably the most important caveat to the transformation of healthcare in the post Affordable Care Act landscape. This evidence is derived from empirical data that is tested in the most efficient way possible for patients and the healthcare organization. The research institute at TriHealth, a unified health system based in Ohio, successfully leveraged Watson to uncover new evidence that is improving patient outcomes. This data helps decision-making at the point of care, ultimately allowing TriHealth to uncover new readmission indicators, decrease their readmission rate and, in turn, decrease the cost associated with readmissions.

Disrupting Industries and Identifying Value with IBM Watson: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
Session ID: WAT-3053
27-Oct-2016 | 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM | Islander I
IBM Watson ushers in a new era of computing, bringing groundbreaking cognitive capabilities to individual organizations seeking to disrupt or revitalize their industries. Driving business value is critical to a company’s success, and Watson can help you do that. When implementing a Watson solution, what steps should you take so that you’re well-positioned to demonstrate value? IBM Business Partner Perficient will explain how you can incorporate cognitive solutions within your organization while driving and ensuring value in your implementation.

Achieving Analytics-Driven Management of ECM and BPM Systems at America First Federal Credit Union
Session ID: ECM-2236
24-Oct-2016 | 03:00 PM – 03:45 PM | Jasmine C
America First Federal Credit Union (AFCU) has implemented big data based monitoring and reporting to gather real-time details and metrics around all transactions occurring within their IBM FileNet P8 and IBM Datacap systems. The wealth of data this approach provides is accessible to managers through an easy-to-use visualization and analytics interface, which provides instant, freeform access to all underlying data. IT and business stakeholders have been empowered to quickly investigate trends and anomalies, leading to improved issue resolution, benchmark tracking, performance optimization, and decision-making. Find out how AFCU achieved insight into its system, and learn about the successes that such visibility has enabled.

The Role of IBM Datacap in an Enterprise Content Management Modernization Effort
Session ID: ECM-2056
26-Oct-2016 | 04:00 PM – 04:45 PM | Jasmine E
Despite the prevalence of digital content, many organizations remain inundated by paper. To make matters worse, these organizations are too often reliant on obsolete capture and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) technologies, including multiple capture applications, undocumented sources of content, and extensive customizations developed over many years. Capture is the launching point of the ECM process, so any successful modernization effort should start there. IBM Datacap enables you to consolidate the myriad of capture technologies that have evolved in the ECM infrastructure into a single, unified platform. Learn how Perficient has assisted organizations across a wide range of industries with successful ECM modernization using Datacap.

Geospatial Analytics Goes Mainstream
Session ID: 4028A
25-Oct-2016 | 02:00 PM – 02:45 PM | Breakers K
The proliferation of location data has created virtually endless business optimization opportunities for those who have the right strategy, partners, and tools.  Learn how Perficient consulting and Pitney-Bowes software are teaming to put leading edge Geospatial Analytics within the reach of IBM Cognos customers.

If you’re not able to attend World of Watson stay up to date on conference topics by following us on social media and our IBM blog. Our experts will frequently post the latest news and trends on analytics, big data, cloud, mobile, Internet of Things and Watson from event sessions. Engage with us on Twitter by using @Perficient_IBM.

A premier asset management organization, the Society of Maintenance & Reliability Professionals (SMRP), is a nonprofit society formed by practitioners to advance the reliability and physical asset management industry. To provide their 5,000+ members the opportunity to learn, mentor, and network, the SMRP hosts an annual conference. We interviewed Kevin Clark, a member of the Conference Committee and director of Perficient’s asset management practice, to find out more information on the conference.

How did you first get involved with SMRP?

I joined SMRP in 2003, while a leader in engineering at Johnson & Johnson, and the Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP) program in 2004. At the time, the SMRP only had 1,000+ members and CMRP members were still a small number. Today, the SMRP is 5,000+ members with over 4,000 certified worldwide. Over the years I have served as board member, vice chair, chair and past chair for the Indiana SMRP, one of the largest and most active divisions in the SMRP community. Most recently, I became a member of the Conference Committee for the Annual SMRP Conference being held in Jacksonville, FL in October.

It’s been an incredible and rewarding journey.

What is your current role with SMRP and the upcoming annual conference?

The Annual Conference is the BIG event for the SMRP. It draws in over 1,000-1,500 attendees composed primarily of asset management practitioners from around the world. My role on the Conference Committee consists of workshop and tour coordination, ensuring the content is relevant to the trends of our industry and the quality of presenters and environment is second to none.

Next year, 2017, I will coordinate over 75 track sessions for the conference. In 2018, I will co-chair the conference, followed by the conference chair position in 2019.

What is the goal of the conference and what should attendees learn by attending?

In reality, the conference is designed so that the attendee decides what they are going to learn and at what level. We have tracks and workshops that start at the beginning of your trek towards asset management excellence OR simply add to your existing skills OR hone those expert skills by sitting in on success stories and lessons learned. Our sponsors and leaders are practitioners, so they expect the very best. There’s also the opportunity to get CMRP or CMRT certified while at the conference.

How important are maintenance and reliability solutions to Perficient?

Perficient has grown into a very unique and exciting position in the asset management industry. Our focus is enhancing and perfecting the sustainability processes surrounding our clients’ most critical assets by utilizing technology best practices. This means we understand assets, we understand their likelihood to fail, we understand their need to be maintained, we understand the technology, and we understand how to make the technology and assets work together.

How is Perficient helping customers implement these solutions?

First of all, Perficient is a diverse technology management organization. Our ideas are strategic. Our strategic ideas become solutions. And, of course we can integrate, build infrastructure, configure interfaces, enhance user experiences, upgrade environments, migrate to the cloud, implement mobility, etc. But we only consider those our elementary skillsets. We provide our clients with asset management solutions that provide critical data and information to the executive team, assist the Maintenance Manager in strategic and tactical decisions, the Maintenance Planner in predictive planning, the Engineer in equipment design and enhancements, and the Inventory Coordinator in spare parts stocking levels. Our clients depend on Perficient to help them see today and into the future.

Adoption of cloud computing and SaaS applications continues to increase as advances in technology address concerns with security, privacy and customization limitations.

• The global SaaS market is projected to grow from $49B in 2015 to $67B in 2018, attaining a CAGR of 8.14% (Roundup of Cloud Computing Forecasts and Market Estimates, Forbes, Sept 27, 2015)
• 64% of Small & Medium Businesses (SMBs) are already using cloud-based apps, with average adoption being 3 apps

The CRM industry is at the forefront of cloud adoption, with over 50% of current worldwide CRM software spend in the cloud. Gartner predicts that 62% of CRM software will be delivered through the cloud by 2018. Within the CRM market space, Salesforce is the clear leader, with over 18% of the market share.

By now, the benefits of cloud computing are well publicized – cost savings through reduced infrastructure spend, decreased reliance on IT, increased flexibility and scalability with elastic resource allocation, and improved accessibility. For CRM applications, a cloud-based environment like Salesforce expands on these benefits to include:

• Enhanced Productivity: Users can access the CRM system through a variety of devices, anywhere with an internet connection. This accessibility allows employees the ability to access customer information in the field, in real-time. Workflow and collaboration capabilities also dramatically improve productivity, by streamlining communication and expediting approval processes.
• Informed Decisions: All account, opportunity and contact information is stored in a central location, presenting a clear customer profile. This information is also easily converted to reports, dashboards and sales forecasting to improve decision making across the enterprise.

CRM Data Challenges in the Cloud

Even as cloud adoption and popularity continues to rise, challenges exist with data quality and integration in a hybrid environment. “More than 64% of companies struggle with connecting, synchronizing, and relating data, applications and processes. This leads to cloud adoption challenges.”

Data quality often takes a back seat to more urgent matters, but the importance and value of complete, accurate data should not be downplayed. Successful companies are learning to leverage internal and external data as strategic assets that drive intelligent business decisions. However, this approach requires a well-defined strategy for maintaining and collecting data to maximize quality and optimize value.  Poor data quality can impact your customers’ perception of your business, your employees’ abilities to efficiently complete tasks, and can lead to lost revenue opportunities or the inability for executives to make important business decisions.

This data management strategy extends to all enterprise platforms, including CRM systems, which house a wealth of valuable customer and transitional information. To get the most from a CRM platform like Salesforce, it’s essential to integrate data sources from key applications such as ERP, accounts payable, and marketing automation systems.

Data integration is a challenge for many organizations, and a cloud-based environment adds a set of unique challenges. In order to effectively integrate data across cloud and on-premise sources, it’s critical to implement a set of best practices for data quality, data integration, and CRM-instance consolidation, along with a set of tools that help automate many integration steps.

We’ve found that there are essential elements to any cloud-based data integration initiative:

If you’d like assistance with your cloud-based data strategy or architecture, we’re here to help. We’ve created a 4-week quick start to get you on the right path with each of these components of cloud-based data integration and modernization. Download more info here: https://go.pardot.com/Cloud-Modernization-with-Informatica-Quick-Start

In May, Perficient formalized a partnership with Alfresco to expand our capabilities in the Enterprise Content Intelligence space. Alfresco provides modern enterprise content management (ECM) and business process management (BPM) software that enables organizations to unlock the power of their business-critical content.

Based in San Mateo, CA, Alfresco provides ECM and BPM solutions with controls that IT demands and the simplicity that end users love. Alfresco’s open source technology enables global organizations to collaborate more effectively across cloud, hybrid and on-premise environments. Innovating at the intersection of content, collaboration and business process, Alfresco’s software manages over seven billion documents, powering the daily tasks of more than 11 million users worldwide.

We join the Alfresco Global Partner Program as a Strategic Systems Integrator with Worldwide implementation capabilities. By joining this community, Perficient has access to training and support services that allow us to fine-tune our certified solutions based on Alfresco technology and expand our expertise across ECM and BPM platforms.

“Perficient has been a major player in the ECM and BPM space for many years with broad-based experience in numerous technologies and a deep understanding of the market and competition,” said Bob Crissman, vice president of global channel sales for Alfresco.  “Alfresco could not be more excited to have Perficient as one of our newest Strategic Partners.  We look forward to many joint successes as Perficient and Alfresco go to market together.”

In parallel to the launch of this new partnership, Perficient has expanded several of our award-winning solutions to support Alfresco as a content and workflow engine. These solutions are featured in Alfresco’s certified Partner Solutions program:

• Trex – Front-end transaction manager designed for high volume, human- and document-centric workflow, facilitating rapid development and deployment of mission-critical ECM solutions
• Trex Templates – Industry templates for Investor Services, Loan Servicing, Property and Casualty, Life and Annuities, and Account Opening/Maintenance
• Distillr – ECM and BPM platform management, optimization, and reporting solution based on open source Big Data and best-in-class technology expertise

“Perficient is looking forward to partnering with Alfresco to provide our customers with leading edge solutions to their ECM and BPM business challenges.  Coupled with our cloud initiatives, this partnership will expand the breadth and depth of solutions we bring to our customers.” -Ben Hartner, Director of Enterprise Content Intelligence at Perficient

Our team is excited about the possibilities of this new partnership. Alfresco’s open source and cloud-based implementation model aligns with the evolving strategic direction and goals of our customers. Beyond the Enterprise Content Intelligence team, Perficient as a whole is also investing in Cloud First solutions. Earlier this year we launched a “Cloud First, Business-Driven” initiative that reflects our commitment to cloud as the fuel for our clients’ digital transformations. We are well-positioned to help adopt business-driven cloud strategies and fully support their unique business challenges and delivery needs.

The Internet of Things has taken the Life Sciences industry by storm, challenging norms, the status quo, standards, barriers, and most notably, regulated constraints. IoT solutions are already dramatically impacting and improving processes around clinical trials, biotech, and pharmaceutical and device manufacturing. To examine the evolving role of IoT in the industry, IBM’s Watson IoT Analytics team is hosting a dinner and discussion in New York on Tuesday, June 14 at 5:30pm.

Perficient expert on asset management and IoT, Kevin Clark, is presenting on Challenges of IoT in Life Sciences. He will discuss challenges, the real value of IoT, and the solutions that are emerging to best realize these benefits. The full agenda includes:

5:30 PM – Check-in & Cocktail Reception
6:00 PM – Dinner & Discussion

• IoT-ology: The Ever Changing Study
• IoT in the Real World: Industry Use Cases
• Analzye THIS: Watson IoT Analytics & Maximo

7:30 PM – Networking

Join Perficient and IBM for an amazing dinner and a highly interactive IoT discussion with your industry peers.

The Cube at Riverpark
450 E 29^th St.
New York, NY 10016

For more information on the event and to RSVP, visit: https://ibmscienceofiotdinner.splashthat.com/

Informatica World wrapped up last week with some exciting product discussions, including Informatica Product 360, Data Governance, and Cloud Data Management. The Informatica Cloud product team entertained business and IT on the ease of use and time to value of data readiness using Informatica Cloud including Cloud Big Data, Cloud MDM, and Cloud Data Integration. While the Product 360 team showed the keys of successful product mastering and the new features in v8.0.5. In addition, a few data governance topics were also exciting with customers sharing their journey of Data Governance.

The closing keynotes were two extremes of humbling and mind boggling. What do we pursue, how do we pursue, and how do we keep going was Jessica Jackley’s keynote about entrepreneurship. While, how to blast things and not get hurt was Adam Savage’s entertaining and thrilling keynote on how he survived the MythBusters series with minimal injuries.

Overall, Perficient had a great week in San Francisco meeting with Informatica representatives and companies implementing Informatica products. There is a lot of excitement around cloud, Big Data and analytics solutions, along with the ongoing advancements and innovations of these platforms.

Looking forward to some key product launches over the next couple of months!

Perficient is proud to once again sponsor the IBM Vision conference, the premier business analytics and performance management conference for finance, risk management and sales compensation professionals.  Visit us during the event from May 9-12 at booth #2 in the EXPO Hall, where you can learn how we’ve leveraged our expertise to deliver award-winning solutions for analytics-driven digital transformation.

Our expertise spans all performance and risk management software, including IBM Planning Analytics, Cognos TM1, Cognos Disclosure Management, and Incentive Compensation Management. We also have extensive experience with complementary advanced analytics and data management solutions, and are consistently recognized as one of the top IBM partners, most recently winning the prestigious Worldwide Analytics Partner of the Year and Big Data & Analytics Worldwide Business Partner Excellence Award.

We’re happy to share our experiences implementing these solutions. For example, you can hear how we helped a rehabilitation and long term care organization implement a flexible and scalable system that includes the following benefits:

• The solution increased accuracy with direct links to patient and financial systems, and billing accuracy has improved 26% by identifying under-documented patient stays in real-time.
• The organization can now target and support the referrers who are most likely to provide qualified patients.
• The company now enjoys automated, accurate, and timely financial reports across facilities and produces consolidated income statements, balances sheets, and cash flow statements into a single, comprehensive corporate view. The automated nature of these reports results in reduced error rates.
• The solution provides improved analysis of referral sources and performance transparency across facilities.

If you haven’t yet registered for the event, there’s still time – registration is open until the last day of the conference. We look forward to seeing you at the event!

It’s no secret that data is accelerating at a dramatic pace in terms of volume, velocity, variety, and variability. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), unstructured data accounts for more than 90% of the information in today’s organizations and its use is accelerating. Of the many different types of Big Data and unstructured data, machine data is arguably the fastest-growing, most-complex and most-valuable segment.

If we store and analyze this information, we can gain valuable insights into everything from how our products are being used to how our organization is being run. However, this is a daunting task since there is so much data, generated from so many directions, arriving at an extremely rapid pace. To make things more complicated, all of the information is stored in different formats.

This flood of complex data represents a challenge for IT professionals in managing a vast array of data streams. In the telecommunications industry, maintaining infrastructure like cell towers and networking equipment is critical to the success of an organization. The following post highlights a network optimization project at a leading telecom provider that chose Splunk for operational intelligence.

About the Company

 The customer for this project is a telecom-based company providing network optimization services to telecom providers. Its proprietary software developed in house for cell site optimization helps telecom companies optimize their network more efficiently at peak usage times, dynamically changing and optimizing cell sites across the network based upon changing traffic patterns.

Business Challenges

 Through this optimization engine, cell site operators can rely on dynamic changes to the network where needed.  However, the optimization solution lacked an interactive and clean interface between operators and the rules engine. Without an adequate interface to the optimization/rules engine, there was no way for operators to monitor the performance of the network and adjust settings if manual intervention was required.

Solution Deployed

 Perficient partnered with the telecom company to provide a front end solution to its optimization engine for cell site operators to monitor performance and adjust optimization processes across a cell site network. Perficient’s Splunk solution is capable of indexing a variety of log formats from the optimization engine and the syslog traffic from the cell site network itself, allowing for both monitoring of the network and the processes and optimizations that the engine is undertaking.

Splunk was deployed for its ability to index and store unstructured data easily, with a built in alerts engine allowing for customized rules and searches to trigger certain events. Splunk’s powerful search language allows results to be mined efficiently from large data sets, while also being able to transform these result sets into diagrams and graphs for easy monitoring.

Splunk was the obvious choice for this solution due to its ability to index many different data types. Its customizable alerting engine provided the ideal platform to automate the processes within the optimization engine from the traffic patterns in the syslog data. Splunk’s built-in maps feature allowed Perficient to plot each cell site in the network using longitude and latitude coordinates, showing key metrics on the map to pinpoint the most affected locations. Perficient developed the Splunk dashboards in XML to monitor the performance of each cell site and allow operators to interface with the optimization engine to manually override functions.

Business Value Delivered

• Effective interface between cell site operators and the optimization engine
• Provides a single view into the optimization activities of the customer’s rule engine
• The alignment of Perficient’s Splunk solution and the customer’s optimization engine provides telecom providers with the ability to meet SLAs and reduce down time for various segments of its network at peak usage times
• Successful optimization and monitoring of cell site performance improves the ability of the telecom operator to keep the network operating at its full potential with minimal interruptions to peak performance

More Info

Check out our guide, Making Sense of your Machine Data, to see how other organizations are using Splunk to address IT optimization and security challenges: https://go.pardot.com/ppc/Splunk-Making-Sense-of-Your-Machine-Data