When you think of the world’s most iconic brands—Amazon, Nike, Starbucks, BMW, Samsung, and beyond—what do they have in common?

Simply put, they are great companies because they aspire to do great things—and they achieve them. These organizations have inspiriting missions that drive them to be better, to achieve more, and to put their customers front and center in all they do.

But that’s only the beginning of the story. World-class, enduring companies become great because their employees find meaning in the work they do and have a sense of ownership. They find this meaning by setting ambitious goals and creating a shared sense of purpose towards becoming the best at what they do—inspired by the purpose at the core. Expressions of that purpose serve as a North Star to help companies stay the course they set for themselves and to remain centered, even in times of change.

Our North Star is shining a light on the internet

From the beginning, New Relic has been driven to instrument the digital world. Lew Cirne, our founder and CEO, has dedicated his life's work to helping the world create more perfect software. Today, as a company, we exist to continue that work as the internet grows ever more complex, fragmented, and interdependent—and as it expands into all corners of the economy. Our goal is to establish the standards by which all software, and the impact of that software, can be measured and improved—quickly, accurately, and all in one place, not broken down into dysfunctional silos.

It’s a big job. Despite the rapid growth of New Relic and the monitoring industry, it is estimated that only about 5% of applications are currently instrumented. That means the vast majority of apps—including business critical applications of all kinds—are being run with zero visibility into their performance or how users are interacting with them. Companies are in the dark as to how their software is performing, and that’s increasingly affecting their growth and business success. This trend persists even as estimates suggest that within two short years, fully half of the global economy will be digitized.

In today’s business world, we can no longer think of software as just a cost to be managed—it is the essential fuel that powers growth and topline results across industry after industry.

Tackling a big job

As we celebrate in the short video below, New Relic is in pursuit of a more perfect internet. You can’t improve what you don’t measure, so our mission is to instrument, measure, and improve the internet to help our customers create more perfect software, experiences, and businesses.

Yes, it’s a big job, but we couldn’t be more excited to tackle it. And as the video below makes clear, we’re just getting started: