Optimizing application performance is not a one-size-fits-all approach, business relevance is the key

Is your business operation dependent on an application that is running slowly? You want to optimize it, but developers have limited time and resources. So where should we spend our time and energy? Let's explore how to improve business performance and bring the most valuable returns by optimizing application performance.

Optimize application performance

When we think about improving application performance, the first thing we think of is to find the root cause of a large amount of application time consumption and speed it up. Here we take the Riverbed SteelCentral application performance management platform as an example. Let's take a look at the SteelCentral AppInternals interface. In the performance chart below, we can see that on the left, it is the sum of transaction and processing time. On the right, it is the method or SQL that consumes a lot of transaction time and processing time. The benefit of the performance chart is that it eliminates the complexity of dependency mapping, making it easier for us to immediately find the cause of slow business activities.

In the above example, if we want to reduce the time spent in the stock exchange and improve it, we need to improve the GetAnalysRecommendation method which consumes a lot of time. Our second priority is the order transaction, which spends a lot of time in the database call. How about it, through a tool like SteelCentral AppInternals, it seems simple and straightforward, right?

Although the method is good, have we found the right direction to work towards?

Time is money

Not all transactions are equal. Some transactions may be mundane and simple, without much commercial value. But some transactions are critical to our business. They are our revenue source and our most important business activity. If we can process more transactions in the same time frame or eliminate delays in transactions, it will increase our business revenue and bring us huge returns. This is the direction we strive for.

With tools like SteelCentral AppInternals, we can provide transaction value and understand the financial impact of transactions. We can also understand which methods and SQL calls have the most financial impact***.

In the above example, it is clear that stock trading is secondary. If the SQL statements that have the greatest financial impact on order trading can be improved, it will bring the greatest benefit to the business. In addition, we need to look at the situation of home loans (no one will consider time as the only consideration) and decide the priority of work based on the financial impact of the method/call.

If you want to improve the performance of your existing business, you might as well start adopting some optimization methods and technical means to solve the application problems that are most closely related to your business. Perhaps it will bring you more unexpected gains.