Are you still managing your SAN with a “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” mindset? It might be time to rethink that approach. According to a recent IDC Business Value Solution Brief, sponsored by NetApp, Interviewed companies reported a 49% faster identification of root causes for issues, thanks to unified dashboards and topology mapping from servers to storage. This report dives deep into the return on investment of observability and AI-powered analytics, showcasing how these advanced capabilities can streamline and enhance the process of upgrading SAN environments, turning your infrastructure into a strategic asset rather than a constant headache.
According to a NetApp technology customer, “NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights has helped us pinpoint the root cause of issues faster because it provides us with a single dashboard. We can see everything in the infrastructure, including the topology from the server to the storage, and quickly identify where a failure has occurred. It is easy for us to recognize which server is failing and where it is connected to the SAN.”
Breaking down operational silos
One of the biggest challenges with legacy SAN environments is the lack of end-to-end visibility. Troubleshooting block workloads often leads to finger-pointing between virtualization admins, network admins, and storage admins, which delays resolution and drives up costs.
Data Infrastructure Insights tackles this problem head-on with its SAN Analyzer feature, providing a complete VM-to-LUN topology map. This feature breaks down silos, offering a unified view across heterogeneous environments and supporting both Fibre Channel and iSCSI. By overlaying performance metrics and alerts directly on the topology, all stakeholders gain a shared understanding of issues, leading to faster resolution times.
The result? A 49% quicker identification of root causes of issues, as highlighted in the IDC Business Value Solution Brief. That means less time troubleshooting and more time focusing on strategic initiatives.
Moving from reactive to proactive with AI
Downtime is the enemy of ROI, and traditional monitoring tools often flood teams with noisy alerts, leading to missed critical issues. Data Infrastructure Insights leverages AI to cut through the noise, using self-learning algorithms to detect anomalies before they cause disruptions. Whether it’s storage performance saturation, SAN port throughput issues, or hardware degradation, AI-powered insights help you catch problems early.
This proactive approach doesn’t just save time—it prevents costly service disruptions, ensuring mission-critical workloads stay online and your business avoids lost revenue. In fact, the IDC Business Value Solution Brief found that customers saved an average of $128,539 value in staff time after implementing Data Infrastructure Insights thanks to proactive alerting and faster troubleshooting.
De-risking change management
Infrastructure changes are one of the leading causes of IT incidents. A minor configuration update can ripple across the infrastructure, creating unexpected outages. Data Infrastructure Insights tackles this challenge with Change Analysis, which monitors your environment for changes and correlates them with alerts and performance issues.
This feature is invaluable both for daily operations—quickly identifying whether a recent change caused an issue—and for large-scale projects like SAN refreshes or migrations. By validating each step, you can reduce risk and ensure stability throughout the process.
Bridging the SAN skills gap
Advanced SAN expertise is in short supply, creating bottlenecks and over-reliance on specific individuals. Modern tools like Data Infrastructure Insights democratize this expertise, providing intuitive visualizations and actionable insights that empower generalists to handle complex tasks. This reduces your team’s dependency on SAN specialists, allowing senior engineers to focus on strategy while improving morale and efficiency.
Unlocking the full value of SAN modernization
The “if it isn’t broken” mentality may feel safe, but it’s costly in the long run. Modernizing your SAN management with tools like Data Infrastructure Insights gives you the clarity, control, and proactive capabilities needed to optimize your infrastructure investment. By reducing downtime, accelerating troubleshooting, and improving efficiency, you can unlock real ROI and transform your operations.
Ready to see the full picture?
Don’t let outdated strategies hold your infrastructure back—download the report and take the first step towards smarter, more efficient SAN management. Download the full IDC Business Value Solution Brief
* IDC Business Value Solution Brief, Sponsored by NetApp, The Business Value of NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights, #US54271626-BVSB, March 2026
