SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) Business Benefits Survey

1. Server & Application Monitor – Customer Survey
Results
October 2014
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

2. Server & Application Monitor (SAM) Customer Survey
» Survey sent to United States Server & Application Monitor customers who are active
on maintenance.
» The survey was sent October 13, 2014 and was closed on October 20th, 2014.
» 579 customers responded to the survey
 50% were system administrators or system engineers
 30% were network administrators
 23% were IT Directors/IT Managers
 The remaining respondents were application admins, virtual admins, architects, IT generalists,
etc.
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

3. Summary Results
Server & Application Monitor Improves Service Availability: After implementing Server & Application Monitor, 85%
of customers saw some improvement in availability and 39% of customers saw 6% or more improvement in service
availability.
Server & Application Monitor helps you Fulfill Monitoring Requests Faster: Before deploying SAM, just 20% of IT pros
could respond to a request to monitor a new server/app in less than 30 minutes. After implementing SAM, 59% of
users can respond to requests in less than 30 minutes.
Server & Application Monitor helps you Respond More Proactively: Before using SAM, only 14% of respondents
were taking proactive actions 50% of the time. After SAM, 49% of respondents were taking proactive action 50% or
more of the time.
Server & Application Monitor provides Better TCO: 65% of administrators spend less than 10 hours administering
SAM, and 86% of administrators spend less than 20 hours administering SAM per month. That’s around 12% of an
admin’s time spent administering the software. 66% of companies who have deployed SAM spent less than $5,000
on training, consulting and other services in the last year.
Server & Application Monitor helps you find the Root Cause Faster & with Fewer People: Before using SAM, just 28%
of respondents found the root cause of problems in under 3 hours per month; with SAM, 69% of users say that it
takes less than 3 hours to identify root cause of performance issues per month.
Before using SAM, 40% of respondents indicated 4 or more staff was involved in finding the root cause of issues.
After SAM, 16% of companies required 4 or more staff to find the root cause.
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

4. Server & Application Monitor Improves Service Availability
Has your company's availability improved as a result of implementing Server
& Application Monitor?
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Yes, availability has improved by more than 10%
Yes, availability has improved by 6% to 10%
Yes, availability has improved by 2% to 5%
Yes, availability has improved by 1%
Yes, availability has improved by .1% to .5%
Yes, availability has improved by .1%
No, availability has not improved significantly.
Basic Expert Overall
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
• Overall, 85% of customers saw some
improvement in availability and 39%
of customers saw 6% or more
improvement in availability.
• Expert users of the product saw far
greater availability improvements than
basic users. 45% of advanced/expert
users saw greater than 5%
improvement in availability; 23% of
basic users reported a greater than 5%
improvement in availability.

5. Server & Application Monitor helps you Fulfill Monitoring
Requests Faster
» Before deploying SAM, just 20% of IT pros could respond to a request to monitor a
new server/app in less than 30 minutes. After implementing SAM, 59% of users can
respond to requests in less than 30 minutes.
Time to Respond to Request to Monitor a Server/Application
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
greater than 10 hours
6 to 10 hours
31 to 59 minutes
3 to 5 hours
1-2 hours
Less than 30 minutes
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Before SAM After SAM

6. Server & Application Monitor helps you Respond More
Proactively
» Before using SAM, only 14% of
respondents were taking
proactive actions 50% of the
time. After SAM, 49% of
respondents were taking
proactive action 50% or more of
the time.
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
0% less than
5%
% of Proactive Issues Acted Upon
6-10% 11 – 20%20 – 30% 31-40% 41-50% 51-60% 61-70% 71-80% 81-90% 91-100%
Before SAM After SAM

7. Server & Application Monitor provides Better TCO
» 66% of companies who have
deployed SAM spent less than
$5,000 on training, consulting
and other services in the last
year.
» 65% of administrators spend less
than 10 hours administering
SAM, and 86% of administrators
spend less than 20 hours
administering SAM per month.
That’s around 12% of an admin’s
time spent administering the
software.
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Excluding the software cost for Server & Application
Monitor, how much have you spent in the last 12 months
on training (including class fees and travel expenses),
consulting (installation, upgrade, customization) and other
services related to implementing or upgrading Server &
Application Monitor?

8. Server & Application Monitor helps you find the Root Cause
Faster & with Fewer People
» Before using SAM, just 28% of
respondents found the root cause of
problems in under 3 hours per month;
with SAM, 69% of users say that it takes
less than 3 hours to identify root cause of
performance issues per month.
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Time it Takes to Find the App/Server Root Cause per Month
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Less than 3 hours
4-10 hours
11 – 15 hours
16-30 hours
31-50 hours
51-80 hours
> 80 hours
Before After
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
>10
6 to 10
4 to 5
2 to 3
1
Overall Users Involved in Root Cause Analysis
Before After
» Before using SAM, 40% of respondents
indicated 4 or more staff was involved in
finding the root cause of issues. After
SAM, 16% of companies employ 4 or more
staff to find the root cause.

9. Saving Time Saves Money
» According to the mode, each hour of
downtime costs companies $1,000 to
$10,000.
» A 1% annual improvement in
availability could save between
$20,000 and $208,000.
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

10. Learn More
» Learn More & Free Trial: Solarwinds.com/SAM
» Administrator Guide:
http://www.solarwinds.com/documentation/en/flarehelp/sam/default.htm#cshid=
OrionAPMSAMvsAPM.htm
© 2014 SOLARWINDS WORLDWIDE, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.