Blog post
Blog Post
Why Internet Performance Monitoring is the new health check for IT organizations
By
Monitoring has been part of our lives for centuries. We watch ourselves, our environment, and our habits to gain insights and make better decisions. Even the much-dreaded annual health check we line up for each year is just another facet of this age-old process. The goal is simple: spot small red flags now, before they balloon into bigger health complications later. It’s the same principle that has guided us for generations—keeping tabs, so we can correct course before trouble takes hold.
The personal monitoring revolution
With modern technology, our ability to observe has grown. Smart rings and watches help us track everything from how restless our sleep was to the precise moment our heart starts racing after that extra espresso shot. Some devices, like the Apple Watch, even go so far as to perform an ECG—so you’ve basically got a mini heart lab strapped to your wrist.
In many ways, these tools know more about us than we know ourselves: when we go to bed, how often we toss and turn, how many times we slouch too long on the couch, and exactly how many steps we take each day. They’re no longer just fancy gadgets; they’ve become personal health assistants, quietly tuning in to every part of our daily routine. The promise is simple yet powerful: by being constantly aware of our bodies’ signals, we can make smarter choices—like moving a bit more, breathing a bit deeper, and hopefully living a bit healthier.
Of course, this habit of checking vital signs doesn’t end with our wrists or our fingertips. Organizations face a parallel challenge in keeping their digital systems healthy—because when a critical application crashes, the consequences can be catastrophic.
Digital health: Why organizations need monitoring
Today’s digital landscape is complex, and organizations face numerous challenges in maintaining optimal performance and user satisfaction. Monitoring is the lifeline here—the key to catching issues before they impact your customers.
For years, many businesses have leaned on Application Performance Monitoring (APM) to measure the health of their applications. APM tools log response times, error rates, and performance bottlenecks, all in the name of ensuring a smooth user experience. But while APM is useful, it can’t see all the forces affecting user experience. Sometimes, the real culprit might be network congestion or DNS delays, not the app itself. That’s where Internet Performance Monitoring (IPM) comes in.
The Need for Internet Performance Monitoring (IPM)
IPM provides a more comprehensive view of your entire digital experience, looking not just at the application itself but also at the underlying internet infrastructure—what we like to call the Internet Stack.
By diving into network conditions, DNS performance, and more, IPM uncovers issues that traditional APM misses—much like using a health wearable to catch warning signs early.
Let’s take a global eCommerce site that relies on online sales for its bottom line as an example. Its APM data shows smooth operations: no glaring code errors, no crashes. Yet users in a few regions keep timing out at checkout and abandoning their carts. Leveraging IPM, the company realizes the problem lies with slow DNS lookups and network lag in those specific areas. Armed with that intel, they optimize the network, add CDN servers, and tweak DNS settings. The result is faster page loads, happier customers, and—naturally—higher sales.
Where to go from here
By now it’s clear that IPM fills the gaps APM can’t reach, especially in a world where the Internet is fast becoming the new enterprise network. The stakes are higher than ever—when your Internet dependent applications and services fail, so do customer experiences and brand reputation.
So how do you pick the right IPM solution? Catchpoint has put together an Internet Performance Monitoring Buyer’s Guide to help CIOs and IT leaders navigate this evolving landscape. In it, we answer the tough questions every CIO asks when selecting an IPM solution:
- How do I ensure my chosen platform can measure performance from the user perspective?
- What are the components of the new Internet Stack every company needs to monitor?
- How can AI-driven diagnostics help me identify issues quicker and reduce resolution times?
And that’s just the start, the guide also includes a handy Checklist for Evaluating IPM Platforms to make sure you're selecting the most suitable solution for your organization. Think of it as your personal health check—only this time, for the digital heartbeat of your entire organization.
Read the IPM Buyers Guide to Get the insights, tools, and checklist you need to future-proof your organization.
This is some text inside of a div block.
