DevSecOps in an AI world requires disruptive log economics

We’ve been talking about digital transformation for years (or even decades?), but the pace of evolution is now being catapulted forward by AI. This rapid change and innovation creates and relies upon exponential data sets. And while technology is rapidly evolving to manage and maintain these massive data sets, legacy pricing models based on data ingest volume are lagging behind, making it economically unsustainable.  

That’s why we’re introducing a disruptive way of pricing at Sumo Logic, one that bases cost on the value you receive from data insights versus the data you consume. By allowing unlimited data ingest on our platform and providing a single source of truth for Dev, Sec, and Ops teams, we are enabling organizations to unlock the next generation of AI and insights. 

But let me take a step back and explain how we got here. 

Data ate the world… and it’s getting hungrier

We all know software ate the world, and data hasn’t been far behind. Estimates show that by 2030, data will grow by 1,000 zettabytes per year as companies and services continue to digitize. With so much complexity caused by massive volumes of structured and unstructured data, siloed information, and data storage and governance costs, organizations are hamstrung. You need a comprehensive system of record built on logs to harness the business insights required to provide fast, reliable and secure digital experiences while enabling next-generation AI/ML initiatives.

At the same time, observability and security functions need to come together, shifting left to evolve a true DevSecOps approach that breaks silos and enables teams to solve the hardest operational and security challenges in record time. This is only possible when teams across development, security, and operations are looking at the same data and insights, which means aligning on the atomic level of data – logs.

Unfortunately, log management and analytics vendors have traditionally based costs on the same limiting parameters of data ingest or compute restrictions. Even as you’re trying to break down silos and bring all your data together into a single source of truth, you’re being penalized for ingesting too much or trying to use the data that you need. This becomes obvious in the newsworthy moments when companies were hit by surprise bills in the millions.

As data consumes the world, pricing models based on data volume simply can’t keep pace. Exponential billing is not an option for organizations, so sacrifices are made and visibility and security gaps ensue. 

There are real-world consequences when companies must split their logs between multiple solutions due to cost. For example, when a customer is hit with a security incident – and I do mean when, not if – many customers need to rehydrate their “unimportant logs” into the log analytics tool of choice or find ways to combine security and observability logs during incident response. This can take a very long time to do before they can get to answers and in these incidents, every minute can mean millions in impact. 

And the further back in time they have to go to rehydrate, days, months, or even years, the longer you have to wait. 

This is why the log management and analytics industry needs a new model.

Pay for insights, not ingest

Today, Sumo Logic is rolling out a new, first-of-its-kind, economic model called Flex Licensing starting with new customers. Our new model lets you take advantage of your ever-growing volumes of data and focus on the valuable analytics and insights you can derive from your comprehensive data. By not charging for log ingest, you can finally centralize, store and analyze all application, infrastructure and security data in one place without limits.

To put it simply – you pay zero dollars to ingest and pay for what you analyze.

When you don’t need to choose which logs you keep or lose based on budget concerns, you eliminate blind spots and unlock collaboration and velocity for your cutting-edge and secure digital experiences. Paying for insights means that your CFO and CEO can value the investment and align on ROI, streamlining the cost for rapid decision-making and accelerated innovation.

I see several key benefits of this model.

• Log everything. When you don’t need to pick and choose which data to collect and analyze, you remove blind spots or limited insights due to the cost barriers of ingest-based economic models.
• Straightforward pricing. No hidden monthly charges, unlimited users, no feature restrictions or performance tradeoffs. Simply pay for data storage and analytics.
• Deeper insights with AI/ML. Flex Licensing unlocks powerful AI/ML capabilities out-of-the-box to solve some of the hardest operational and security challenges. The more data, the better the accuracy and more powerful the insights.
• Unified log analytics for DevSecOps. Ingest all structured, semi-structured and unstructured data and run analytics at unmatched performance with Sumo Logic’s AI-driven log analytics platform. With one place for monitoring and securing applications, teams can break down silos, consolidate tools and expand DevSecOps transformations. 

Nancy Gohring, Research Director for Enterprise System Management, Observability and AIOps, at IDC explains:

Logs are a critical source of telemetry data, increasingly so as applications grow in scale and complexity. But the cost to collect the growing volume of logs isn't sustainable for many organizations. 

Vendors that offer the right backend technology and pricing models that allow businesses to focus on getting value from logs rather than managing volume will ensure that organizations can get the best intelligence about the operations of their infrastructure and applications. The result is increased efficiency in incident response, freeing up scarce skilled resources to focus on innovation and business growth.

I’m excited to see how this new pricing model unlocks innovation and velocity for our customers. With broader data sets, we can unlock next-generation observability. Logs turn into greater insights and understanding without high maintenance and instrumentation while freeing development resources to focus on what they do best. 

Learn more about Flex Licensing.