What if your biggest security vulnerability isn’t a hacker, but your support strategy? In this episode of Let’s Solve IT!, Matt Brown sits down with Mike Eubanks, Senior Director of IT Operations at NetApp, to explore why reactive IT support is becoming a growing business risk. From technical debt and aging infrastructure to ransomware and expanding attack surfaces, they discuss why proactive operations, observability, and AI are becoming essential tools for modern IT organizations. You’ll hear: Why reactive IT support is becoming a growing security risk in the age of ransomware and cyber threats What a technical debt, aging infrastructure, and poor technology hygiene expand an organization’s attack surface The role of observability, AI, and proactive operations in identifying and resolving issues before they impact the business Practical strategies for reducing risk, improving security posture, and shifting IT support from firefighting to prevention Support teams rarely get recognized when nothing breaks, but that’s exactly the point. The real challenge in modern IT isn’t responding to disasters faster. It prevents outages, ransomware attacks, and operational disruptions before the business ever feels the impact. You are not alone. Let’s Solve IT! Learn More: IT case studies | NetApp Connect with us: Matt Brown | LinkedIn Michael Eubanks | LinkedIn Below is a summary of this episode’s transcript: What does it really mean to make IT support proactive in an era defined by AI? In this episode of Let’s Solve IT!, host Matt Brown sits down with Mike Eubanks, Senior Director of IT Operations at NetApp, for a candid, real-world conversation about why traditional IT support models are breaking—and what it takes to evolve them. Key topics: Why unsupported systems and legacy applications create hidden security vulnerabilities How observability enables predictive, proactive IT support The role of AI in correlating data, reducing troubleshooting time from hours to seconds How to build a secure AI environment with governance and guardrails Why culture is critical to shifting from reactive to proactive operations The importance of failing fast, iterating quickly, and empowering teams to act early If your team is still waiting for tickets to come in, this conversation will challenge you to rethink what modern IT support should look like—and how to get ahead of risk before it disrupts the business. At the center of the discussion is a fundamental shift: IT support can no longer afford to be reactive. While business leaders continue to invest in innovation and AI-driven transformation, support organizations are expected to operate like a utility—always on, always available, and invisible when working well. But under the surface, aging infrastructure, unsupported systems, and growing data complexity are creating a constant stream of hidden risk. Notable Quotes: “Being secure requires a different focus." (1:58) - Stated when explaining growth of security risks forced IT and the business to change their approach. AI is fundamentally changing both sides of the equation. On one hand, it’s accelerating innovation and enabling faster insights. On the other, it’s amplifying security risks, exposing new ways for bad actors to identify and exploit weaknesses. "You have to listen to the experts. You have to let them plan and understand the plan and then communicate that plan." (2:45) - Said while describing his leadership philosophy in IT support, emphasizing collaboration and expertise. “We don't look for things that are broken. We look for things that are breaking and AI helps us do that." (5:22) - This was Mike's explanation of the shift from traditional monitoring to proactive observability. He shares how his team is shifting from traditional monitoring to modern observability, using AI-powered analytics to identify patterns, detect anomalies, and predict issues before they impact users. “Unsupported breeds the problem. What that means is that they don't support and they don't provide security patches and those types of things anymore, which creates a huge risk if you are keeping privileged company data or your company secrets on an old server that has an aging OS that's out of support and is not receiving patches on a regular basis or at all.” (2:16) Mike explains how legacy hardware and applications are no longer just performance liabilities—they are critical security vulnerabilities, especially when they fall out of vendor support and stop receiving patches.” "What you have to do is first of all, you have to create a culture... where it's okay to fail. Just fail fast and learn and iterate, iterate. Don't wait until everything's perfect to release or you'll never release." (12:39) - Stated when discussing the importance of creating a culture that encourages rapid innovation and is not paralyzed by the fear of failure. How do leading IT organizations get ahead? Shift to modern observability with: AI-driven correlation of massive data sets, reducing troubleshooting time from hours to seconds A next-generation Network Operations Center (NOC) model, combining real-time visibility with intelligent diagnostics The ability to trace issues across services, pinpoint root causes, and feed insights directly to engineering teams for permanent fixes Continuous feedback loops that turn incidents into long-term improvements Mike also highlights how cloud architectures are changing the game, enabling organizations to eliminate downtime entirely in some cases by shifting workloads, rebuilding environments, and avoiding traditional patching cycles. But technology alone isn’t enough. A major theme throughout the episode is culture. Moving from reactive to proactive support requires a mindset shift across the organization: Teams must be trained to seek out risks before they surface Leaders must encourage experimentation and remove the fear of failure Organizations must adopt a “fail fast, learn fast, iterate” approach to keep pace with rapid change Continuous learning is essential, especially as AI capabilities and threats evolve at unprecedented speed Mike emphasizes that many teams still operate with a “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” mentality—which is no longer viable in a modern IT environment. The new mandate is clear: identify risks early, act sooner, and build systems that improve continuously. Practical advice for IT leaders: Invest in a strong observability foundation Build secure AI environments with governance and guardrails Stay current on emerging technologies and evolving threat landscapes Create a culture that prioritizes proactivity over perfection Ultimately, this episode reframes IT support as a strategic capability—not just a cost center. The organizations that succeed will be the ones that can anticipate issues, reduce risk, and maintain resilience in a system that never stops moving. If your IT team is still operating in reactive mode, this conversation will push you to rethink what’s possible—and what’s required—to stay ahead.
