Proactive Hub: A path toward intelligent IT management

In the past, IT problem-solving meant guessing in the dark. When a user reported: “My computer is slow,” IT admins began searching and asking questions: Was it the application, the device, the network, an update, or something else entirely?

Today, the situation is different. IT teams can see more device configuration and status data than ever before, most of it in real time. It’s an improvement. It’s also a new problem.

Increased visibility helps, but it’s not a solution – yet.

Here’s an example: A business-critical application regularly freezes for many users. At the same time, it becomes apparent that an outdated version of the application is running on multiple endpoints. This creates instability and reveals a potential security issue.

The IT dashboard displays affected devices, outdated app versions, user-reported problems, and known vulnerabilities. All of this information is relevant, but not equally important. What is the cause? What is the risk? What needs to happen first? Should IT roll out the security update immediately, or will that worsen stability problems? Should IT roll out the update to a test group to assess the results? Or is a targeted root-cause analysis required before initiating remediation?

The problem isn’t a lack of visibility. It’s decision-making without clear signals.

Digital Employee Experience (DEX) tools remain an important breakthrough. baramundi Argus Experience, our first DEX solution, and its successor, baramundi perform2work, captured real-world troubleshooting data that replaced guesswork, gut feelings, and vague support tickets.

Using the earlier example of the freezing application, DEX provides the decisive signals: How often does the problem occur? Which devices are affected? Which version is installed? Has behavior changed after an update? Do users report frustration even though the monitoring data appear nominal?

DEX remains critically important because it provides a foundational signals layer. Without it, modern IT wouldn’t have the data needed to identify and resolve both common and unusual endpoint issues. 

DEX shows where digital work suffers. That is exactly why it remains central.

If the dashboard shows that an application frequently freezes, the most important work remains undone. Is it due to the version, RAM usage, a specific device type, an update, or a combination of these factors?

And even if the cause is apparent, the question of how to address it remains: Update, rollback, submit a ticket to the vendor, engage with users, or just keep monitoring? These aren’t rhetorical questions; rather, they frame the IT admin’s expertise and actual work: classify, test, exclude, decide. It’s good detective work, but it takes time that could be spent on other tasks.

That’s a limitation of data capture and analysis tools. DEX makes problems more visible, but finding and implementing solutions remains a challenge for admins.

If you can only see but can’t act on problems, you have an expensive dashboard.

The same pattern persists in modern vulnerability management: scanners identify open CVEs, outdated applications, risky configurations, or missing updates. On paper, this is good. In practice, however, it mainly lengthens the to-do list.

The pressure is real: The global cybersecurity threat landscape has never been more demanding to navigate. In 2025, the number of published CVEs rose 20.6% to more than 48,000, or more than 130 new vulnerabilities per day. But to keep those numbers in perspective, the Verizon 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report finds that unpatched known vulnerabilities were the top attack vector in 2025. In other words, strong vulnerability management practices remain as critical as any emerging threat.

Returning to the example: The freezing application is not only an experience problem.  It could also be a security problem. A patch could reduce the risk, but it may worsen performance. A rollback to the previous “stable version” could improve stability while degrading security. This is exactly why experience and security must be considered together.

Endpoint experience and security are often intertwined.

The surge in vulnerabilities is unfolding amid worldwide IT skills and staffing shortages. Companies are deploying AI to close that gap. Fortinet's 2026 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report found that 91% of respondents are already using or experimenting with AI-powered security tools, and 84% report that these tools are making their teams measurably more effective.

This does not mean that AI will replace admins. But it shows where modern IT platforms must evolve: they must not only deliver more data. They must help IT teams work more effectively by prioritizing, providing explainable recommendations, and preparing actions.

When skills and staff are scarce, IT tools need to support decision-making, not just deliver data.

The baramundi Proactive Hub is much more than a new interface for perform2work; it is a major advancement in proactive IT management. perform2work provides the underlying signals layer, including stability, performance, connectivity, and end-user feedback data, that IT teams need to identify and address problems. But IT admins must also determine which data are most relevant, which risks are exposed, which actions are needed, and in what order.

As with the freezing, outdated application mentioned above, recognizing the problem is only the first step. The proactive IT management platform must help IT teams answer three questions:

What is happening?
The app freezes more often on certain devices. Specific software versions or device types are especially affected. User feedback confirms these findings.

Why is it relevant?
The problem reduces productivity and poses a security risk. Effective remediation must address both performance and security.

What should I do?
This is where the Proactive Hub's added value begins: it displays additional indicators and recommends next steps, such as grouping affected devices, comparing versions, assessing update impacts and experience, preparing a pilot group, informing ITSM, starting a remote analysis, or initiating a remediation action.

The Proactive Hub turns DEX visibility into dynamic IT management cycle: identify, understand, decide, execute, and verify impact.

The Proactive Hub provides three key enablers for proactive IT management:

Insight:
Into stability and performance, user feedback, critical vulnerabilities, and outdated software​​​​​​​
-> Problems are identified, classified, and prioritized.

Guidance: 
To identify likely causes, appropriate measures, and potential risks. 
-> Essential decision support for IT admins.

Action: 
Which steps to take and in what order, e.g., initiate a software update, transfer information to an ITSM system, start remote support, export data, or, in future versions, trigger automated remediation.​​​​​​​
-> Insight and action are directly linked.

The Proactive Hub provides a structured cyclical framework: identify, understand, decide, execute, and verify impact.​​​​​​​
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A dashboard shows what is. The baramundi Proactive Hub changes what will be.

Ongoing development will extend proactive management capabilities from making digital friction and remediation data visible to comprehensive proactive management of the digital workplace. That means addressing problems before disruptions occur or support ticket volumes surge by identifying them early, classifying and prioritizing them, and initiating targeted measures. 

Proactive management capabilities encompass more than a simple auto-fix button. Instead, they are part of a mature and trusted platform infused with the context and experience needed to provide standardized, guided, automated human-in-the-loop, and eventually autonomous execution of IT management processes. Today, the Proactive Hub helps IT admins classify causes, evaluate risks, and implement next steps. Tomorrow, the platform will recognize similar patterns earlier, suggest proven measures, and automate specific steps in a controlled manner.

The baramundi Proactive Hub provides a structured path toward autonomous management of the digital workplace.