At AWS re:Invent, I had the opportunity to sit down with Rick McConnell, CEO of Dynatrace, for a conversation that touched on observability, AI, partner ecosystems, and what it takes to build software that “just works” at global scale.

Rick has led multiple high growth businesses throughout his career, and Dynatrace is no exception. But what stood out most in our discussion was the clarity of his vision for where the world is heading - and why observability is at the center of it.

In Rick’s words:

“Our vision is to help large organizations deliver software that works perfectly.”

For Rick, this isn’t just an aspiration. It is becoming a requirement in a world where consumers expect flawless digital experiences every time they tap a screen, transfer money, book a flight, or check a bag.

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Cloud Scale, Data Explosion, and the End of Manual Operations

Rick explained that cloud growth and AI adoption are fundamentally changing the nature of operating software environments. According to him, the sheer complexity of modern cloud systems has made manual management impossible.

“It is rendering the ability to run software environments manually simply impossible.”

Organizations can no longer rely on traditional network operations centers scanning dashboards for “the needle in the haystack.” Instead, AI powered observability must guide every stage of detection, triage, and remediation.

With AI development accelerating the creation of new software loads and generating even more data, Rick says the challenge intensifies:

“Now you’re developing software loads even more rapidly, you’ve got even more data - further data explosion.”

This is why he sees observability not as an optional IT investment, but as critical infrastructure.

The Emergence of Agentic, Autonomous Operations

One of the most compelling parts of our conversation was Rick’s view of where observability is heading next. He believes we are entering an era of agentic, autonomous operations where large categories of incidents will be auto prevented, auto optimized, or auto remediated.

“A reasonable percentage of incidents can be avoided completely through agentic AI.”

Rick used a simple but powerful example. If Dynatrace detects that a cloud environment is about to run out of storage, why should a human intervene?

An agent should automatically handle it - provisioning new storage, notifying the right teams, and preventing customer impact before it ever occurs.

This is where observability becomes the connective tissue for an entire ecosystem of agents working together across platforms like AWS, ServiceNow, Atlassian, GitHub, and even Nvidia.

Why Trustworthy Data Matters

Rick emphasized that autonomy is only as good as the data behind it.

“If you can’t rely on the underlying answer, then the action that would be taken autonomously is not the right action.”

And this is where Dynatrace differentiates itself. Trustworthy, precise data is required for any AI agent to take action confidently. The partnership between Dynatrace and AWS, including the new Bedrock integration, is designed to enable organizations to build these agentic systems safely.

Partner Ecosystem as a Growth Engine

Rick’s commitment to partnerships is unmistakable. He shared that more than 80 percent of Dynatrace’s deals are now partner influenced or partner sourced.

“More than 80 percent of our deals go through partners.”

AWS is central to this. Dynatrace runs on AWS infrastructure, co sells with AWS teams, and continues to expand integrations that bring observability directly into customers’ AI and cloud modernization initiatives.

But GSIs and ISVs also play a major role, especially as customers look for end to end interoperability across the modern software ecosystem.

Why This Matters to Partner Leaders

For those working in the partner ecosystem, Rick’s message is clear:

The future belongs to platforms that work together.

The value flows to organizations that can interoperate across AI, cloud, and observability layers.

And autonomous operations will require coordinated action across multiple partner solutions.

Rick summed it up simply:

“It really isn’t just about observability anymore. It is about an end-to-end ecosystem of software that works well together.”

For partner leaders helping customers navigate AI, digital transformation, and cloud modernization, this episode offers a blueprint for where the market is heading - and how collaboration multiplies value.

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