A look at which applications government IT Pros are using, where applications are stored, how application problems are identified, how application performance issues are addressed, and more.

1. Survey:
Application Use & Challenges in
Government IT Infrastructures
A look at which applications they’re using, where apps are stored, how application
problems are identified, how app performance issues are addressed, and more
July 2014
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

2. Study Overview: Areas of Discussion
» Which applications are being hosted, and where
in the IT environment are they hosted?
» How is the root cause of an application problem
identified?
» How quickly can government IT Pros: identify
application problems, determine the location of
the problem, determine the root cause, and fix
the problem?
» How much monthly downtime do agencies have
from application performance issues?
» How have SLAs for response time or related
metrics for key applications changed over time?
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

3. © 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Which applications are hosted where in federal
IT environments?
On
premise
In a public
cloud
In a
community
cloud
In a private
cloud at a
government
agency
In a private
cloud at a
public cloud
provider
In a hybrid
cloud
Is not running in
my IT
environment
Email applications 8.0% 3.4% 43.2% 40.9% 0.6% 1.1% 3.4%
Video or Web- conferencing
applications
8.0% 1.1% 36.9% 49.4% 1.7% 0.6% 4.0%
Office applications 11.9% 1.1% 44.9% 39.8% 2.3% 0.0% 1.1%
File sharing applications 10.9% 2.3% 4% 47.4% 35.4% 1.1% 1.1%
Social media applications 1.1% 4.6% 3.4% 39.1% 43.1% 2.3% 10.9%
Collaboration applications 11.4% 0.6% 1.1% 85.7% 2.9% 0.6% 1.7%
Analytics applications 3.5% 0.6% 43.9% 2.9% 36.4% 2.9% 9.8%
Enterprise resource
planning applications
4.6% 0.6% 2.3% 46.2% 39.9% 2.3% 9.2%
CRM applications 5.7% 0.6% 43.7% 38.5% 1.7% 0.0% 10.9%
Proprietary/ custom
business applications
11% 4.0% 1.2% 82.1% 0.6% 0.0% 2.9%
Answered question 176
Q: Which of the following applications are you hosting in your IT environment?
Most respondents said applications are hosted in either a community cloud, a private cloud at a
government agency, or a private cloud at a public cloud provider.
The majority of collaboration apps (86%) and proprietary and custom business apps (82%), are
hosted in a private cloud at a government agency.

4. © 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
How are the root causes of application
problems identified?
Individual or cross-functional team using monitoring tools
specific to their primary application or infrastructure area
54.0%
Individual or cross-functional team using the interfaces data
from the individual applications or infrastructure they use
42.0%
Specific application performance management software
solution
9.1%
Individual or cross-functional team using integrated monitoring
across application and infrastructure silos
5.7%
We don’t have a tool or strategy to identify the root causes of
an application problem.
4.0%
Answered question 176
The majority of government IT Pros depend on their own siloed IT solution to identify
root causes of application issues
Q: What best describes how you identify the root cause of an application
problem? (Respondents could select multiple answers.)

5. © 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
How quickly are application problems
identified?
Determine where
the problem is
located
Uncover the root
cause of a problem
in an application
Fix the
problem
Less than an hour 9.1% 2.3% 2.3%
1-6 hours 5.7% 10.8% 6.3%
7-24 hours 81.8% 40.9% 51.1%
1-2 days 2.3% 43.8% 36.9%
3-4 days 1.1% 1.1% 1.1%
About one week 0.0% 0.0% 1.7%
More than a week 0.0% 1.1% 0.6%
Answered question 176
Most government IT pros take up to a day just to determine where an application
problem is located within their environments, find its cause and resolve the problem
Q: On average, how quickly can you identify application problems?

6. © 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
How much downtime do application
performance issues cause each month?
Almost 86 percent of respondents experience less than one hour of application down-
time per month
Q: How much downtime do you have from application performance issues
each month?
None 0.6%
Less than an hour 85.8%
1 to 6 hours 9.1%
7 to 12 hours 4.0%
More than 12 hours 0.6%
Answered question 176

7. © 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
How have SLAs for response time or related
metrics for key applications changed over time?
In the past 2
years
In the next two
years
SLA reduced 1-25% 2.3% 2.3%
SLA reduced 26-50% 3.4% 1.1%
SLA reduced >50% 79.5% 39.8%
SLA increased 1-25% 2.8% 43.8%
SLA increased 26-
50%
0.0% 0.6%
SLA increased >50% 0.6% 0.6%
No changes 11.4% 11.9%
Answered question 176
Nearly 80 percent of respondents said their response time SLA metrics for key
applications have reduced more than 50 percent in the past two years as organizations
call for shorter response times
Q: If you have SLAs for response time or related metrics for your key
applications, have they changed or will they change over time?

8. © 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Demographics: Federal government employer
78.40%
8.00%
6.80%
5.70%
1.10%
Current Employer
Intelligence Agency
A Department of Defense or Military
contractor (working onsite)
Federal civilian or Independent
government agency
A Federal government contractor (working
onsite at a federal civilian or independent
government agency)
Department of Defense (DoD) or Military
Service
Answered question: 176

9. © 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Demographics: Job title
80.10%
10.20%
4.00%
3.40%
Current Job Title/Function
Security/IA staff
IT/IS staff
Security/IA director or
manager
IT director/manager
Answered question: 176

10. © 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Demographics: IT focus area
29.00%
25.60%
21.00%
18.80%
17.60%
15.30% 15.30% 15.30%
13.60%
9.10%
0.60%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
Area of IT
Answered question: 176

11. © 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Demographics: Involvement in IT decision
making
Make the final decision regarding IT operations and
management and/or IT security solutions or contractors
82.4%
On a team that makes decisions regarding IT operations and
management and/or IT security solutions
6.8%
Manage or implement IT operations and management and/or
IT security solutions
6.3%
Evaluate or recommend firms offering IT operations and
management and/or IT security solutions
3.4%
Develop technical requirements for IT operations and
management and/or IT security solutions
1.1%
Answered question 176
Q: How are you involved in your organization’s decisions or recommendations
regarding IT operations and management and IT security solutions and
services?

12. Thank you for viewing our survey results!
Please visit www.solarwinds.com/federal for more information

13. © 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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