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Companies Embrace AIOps as Strategic Imperative

Businesses are embracing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to improve network performance and security, according to a new State of AIOps Study, conducted by ZK Research and Masergy.


The survey results demonstrate strong AIOps (AI for IT Operations) technology adoption rates and reveal a heightened level of confidence and trust as companies invest in AI to make their IT operations smarter, faster, and more secure.

"While digital transformation was already in motion prior to the pandemic, work-from-home (WFH) business models demand a whole new level of application performance and security measures to power and protect multi-cloud and hybrid work environments with no physical boundaries," said Terry Traina, CTO of Masergy. "The study reinforces that we are at a pivotal moment where automation and AIOps are no longer a nice to have but rather a strategic imperative for successful, secure business operations."

Key findings from the survey include:

More than half (64%) of companies surveyed are already using AIOps, with 55% using it across both network and security.

Moreover, 94% believe it is important or very important for AIOps to manage network and cloud application performance.

With more employees using third-party cloud applications from numerous locations and devices, IT leaders, tasked with securing corporate information everywhere, can't afford to trade WFH flexibility and performance for security. In fact, they are using AIOps to help manage those tradeoffs. The reasons companies use AIOps are tightly intertwined with network operational efficiencies, faster security threat identification, and faster security threat response reported as the top three.

"The vast majority of IT leaders have already embraced AIOps, and they're pointing to benefits such as productivity, cloud application performance, and security improvements," said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst, ZK Research. "Clearly, the business value of AIOps is justified. The era of AIOps is here, and anyone without a strategy will quickly be left behind."

More than two-thirds (73%) of survey participants identified software-defined network modernization and virtualization as the top IT investment required to prepare for AIOps. Today's businesses see SD-WAN's virtualization and orchestration benefits valuable in managing distributed networks and security policies. In fact, most businesses are putting more assets in the cloud, with 67% citing cloud migration as another top investment making them AI-ready.

A resounding majority (84%) see AIOps as the path to a fully automated network environment, with 86% expecting to have a fully automated network within 5 years.

Asked about the confidence they have in trusting AIOps tools to act on their own recommendations and create fully automated systems, 97% of respondents are confident they can be trusted.

Additionally 77% agree that AIOps performs better with a secure access service edge (SASE) architecture, where SD-WAN and security are all in one platform.

"A new wave of opportunity comes when SASE and AIOps unite in a single solution," said Traina. "IT executives need overarching insights where AI is deeply embedded into a unified platform, and this is precisely how Masergy is helping our customers transform with certainty."

Methodology: ZK Research conducted the study in August 2021 on behalf of Masergy, surveying more than 500 IT decision makers in US headquartered businesses across seven industries.

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Companies Embrace AIOps as Strategic Imperative

Businesses are embracing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to improve network performance and security, according to a new State of AIOps Study, conducted by ZK Research and Masergy.


The survey results demonstrate strong AIOps (AI for IT Operations) technology adoption rates and reveal a heightened level of confidence and trust as companies invest in AI to make their IT operations smarter, faster, and more secure.

"While digital transformation was already in motion prior to the pandemic, work-from-home (WFH) business models demand a whole new level of application performance and security measures to power and protect multi-cloud and hybrid work environments with no physical boundaries," said Terry Traina, CTO of Masergy. "The study reinforces that we are at a pivotal moment where automation and AIOps are no longer a nice to have but rather a strategic imperative for successful, secure business operations."

Key findings from the survey include:

More than half (64%) of companies surveyed are already using AIOps, with 55% using it across both network and security.

Moreover, 94% believe it is important or very important for AIOps to manage network and cloud application performance.

With more employees using third-party cloud applications from numerous locations and devices, IT leaders, tasked with securing corporate information everywhere, can't afford to trade WFH flexibility and performance for security. In fact, they are using AIOps to help manage those tradeoffs. The reasons companies use AIOps are tightly intertwined with network operational efficiencies, faster security threat identification, and faster security threat response reported as the top three.

"The vast majority of IT leaders have already embraced AIOps, and they're pointing to benefits such as productivity, cloud application performance, and security improvements," said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst, ZK Research. "Clearly, the business value of AIOps is justified. The era of AIOps is here, and anyone without a strategy will quickly be left behind."

More than two-thirds (73%) of survey participants identified software-defined network modernization and virtualization as the top IT investment required to prepare for AIOps. Today's businesses see SD-WAN's virtualization and orchestration benefits valuable in managing distributed networks and security policies. In fact, most businesses are putting more assets in the cloud, with 67% citing cloud migration as another top investment making them AI-ready.

A resounding majority (84%) see AIOps as the path to a fully automated network environment, with 86% expecting to have a fully automated network within 5 years.

Asked about the confidence they have in trusting AIOps tools to act on their own recommendations and create fully automated systems, 97% of respondents are confident they can be trusted.

Additionally 77% agree that AIOps performs better with a secure access service edge (SASE) architecture, where SD-WAN and security are all in one platform.

"A new wave of opportunity comes when SASE and AIOps unite in a single solution," said Traina. "IT executives need overarching insights where AI is deeply embedded into a unified platform, and this is precisely how Masergy is helping our customers transform with certainty."

Methodology: ZK Research conducted the study in August 2021 on behalf of Masergy, surveying more than 500 IT decision makers in US headquartered businesses across seven industries.

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According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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