What is Operate? And Why Do You Need It?

In our Operate services page and case study, we’ve introduced the five key pillars of Operate and outlined its benefits. We’ve also shared how a client leveraged our health check, remediation, and ongoing Operate services to optimize their Splunk environment. 

Yet, we often hear:

• What is Operate?
•  Why should I consider it?
• And more commonly, since it’s unique, why would I need it?
   

Here’s how we explain it: 

Think of Splunk Like a Living Organism!

Imagine Splunk as a delicate houseplant. It thrives with proper care—regular watering, optimal sunlight, warmth, and occasional pruning, perhaps even re-potting. But neglect any one of these, and it withers. Similarly, your Splunk platform is a living system, growing and adapting to your organization’s evolving needs. It requires continuous tending to sustain its performance.

Our Operate service provides that care through five core functions:

1. Platform Management
2.  Data Management
3.  Performance Management
4.  Analytics Management
5.  Reporting and Content Management 

Why Most Organizations Struggle to Operate Splunk Effectively

1. Lack of Dedicated Resources 

Very few organizations have a dedicated team whose sole responsibility is managing Splunk. More often, its upkeep is squeezed into the responsibilities of DevOps, CloudOps, or engineering teams, who lack the time or expertise for Splunk’s specialized care.

2. Multiple Stakeholders and Complexity 

Splunk serves multiple departments—each with unique goals and priorities. Whether it’s security, operations, or analytics teams, everyone wants data tailored to their needs and corresponding dashboards, searches, reporting.  Without proper coordination, this can lead to:

– Overlapping or conflicting use cases

– Inefficient data consumption

– Performance bottlenecks caused by excessive or poorly managed searches

3. Operational Chaos 

–Do you know what’s happening within your Splunk platform at any given moment?

– Are searches optimized, or are they overwhelming the system?

– Are your RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) lists accurate and well-maintained?

– Are notifications and alerts actionable, or are you drowning in noise and alert fatigue?

Without a sound operational model, your Splunk platform can become chaotic—undermining its value and creating unnecessary risks. 

Operate: The Blueprint for Consistency 

Each function, whether the CISO office, Sec Ops, Dev Ops, have or should have the ability to benefit from correlated data relating to security in a SIEM.  An Operational model, consistent good practice across data, security posture and frameworks, modelled through risk and threats, creates if you like a blueprint.  The Operate service is designed to bring the blueprints together into operations and hold each party/users/API to account.  Using Operate the interactions with the platform either match or not ! back to the operational model and blueprints.  If not highlight and adjust. 

The Operate service polices a structured operational model that aligns with your organization’s security posture, frameworks, and risk assessments. It creates consistency across teams by: 

– Reviewing the platform interactions ratifies blueprints for data management and security operations.

– Reviewing the platform interactions confirms responsibilities for all stakeholders, including APIs, external SOCs, and internal teams.

– Monitoring and adjusting operations to meet evolving requirements.

A Proactive and Evolving Service

Operate isn’t static—it evolves alongside your needs. Many of our clients have asked us to extend its capabilities, and we’ve delivered:

• SLA-driven SOC performance reporting
• Data ingestion trend analysis
•  Enhanced monitoring services
• Regulatory framework reporting
• Oversight of new tools like data pipelining systems
• Data egress and storage monitoring

Because Operate is designed to be customizable, it adapts to your preferences—ensuring it remains an indispensable part of your Splunk strategy.

Why Choose Operate?

By choosing Operate, you gain:

1. Expert management of your Splunk platform, ensuring it stays optimized and secure.
2. A consistent operational model that eliminates chaos and aligns with your goals.
3. The flexibility to adapt and grow as your needs evolve.

Ready to transform how you manage Splunk? Contact us below to discuss your specific needs.