Execs Expect Major Incident in 2025 as Large as July Global IT Outage

Learn more about PagerDuty

Service disruptions remain a critical concern for IT and business executives, with 88% of respondents saying they believe another major incident will occur in the next 12 months, according to a study from PagerDuty.

The study's findings illustrate how critical it is for companies to implement efficient processes and strategies for preventing major incidents and mitigating damages, while maintaining customer trust.

In today's digitally connected world, IT outages can be caused by everything from cyberattacks to human error.

  • 86% of executives surveyed now realize that they have been prioritizing security at the expense of readiness for service disruptions, causing changes within the company. The reality is that a focus on preventing service disruptions, which can often be security-related, is imperative for organizations today. Preparedness in terms of people, process and culture is key to ensuring disruptions are minimized to limit revenue and reputational harm.
  • 83% of business and IT executives admitted that the July global IT outage caught them off guard, exposing gaps in their preparedness for service disruptions. 89% of executives in the UK, 84% in the US, 80% in Japan and 77% in Australia admit to being surprised by the disruptions.
  • Nearly half of IT executives (47%) believe that insufficient incident management planning will exacerbate the impact of major IT outages on their organizations, a concern shared by 41% of business executives, if approaches to service disruption are not prioritized.

"The PagerDuty study shows that executives around the globe are shifting their leadership priorities with major incidents in mind, with 100% of those surveyed reporting a heightened focus on preparing for future service disruptions at their companies," said Eric Johnson, chief information officer at PagerDuty. "CEOs and their boards are now focused on this issue, and with the accelerated pace of AI and other advanced technologies being deployed, companies cannot afford to delay critical technology infrastructure updates."

Additionally, 55% of executives surveyed have observed a mindset shift towards continually evaluating and improving preparedness instead of a one-time move into investments in new systems or protocols that are now complete (45%).

Other key findings from the survey data include: 

  • A strong majority of executives surveyed in the UK (91%), US (89%), Australia (88%) and Japan (78%) believe that it's not a matter of "if" but "when" these service disruptions happen.
  • While some organizations were prepared for the digital disruption, others were not. Of those that were not fully prepared, 37% of executives said the July global IT outage resulted in lost revenue or an inability to process sales transactions and delayed response times by 39% to customer or internal requests.
  • Organizations that experienced multiple service outages due to the July global IT disruption suffered communication breakdowns between departments (38%), delays in workflow and projects put on hold (35%). Overall, 39% of executives saw an impact on decision-making.
  • Nearly half in the US (48%), Australia (48%), and the UK (47%), along with a majority in Japan (53%) believe that limited access to real-time data tools will further hinder their organizations during an outage, if approaches to service disruption are not prioritized.
  • For many who experienced disruptions during service incidents, the July global IT outage meant a return to the old ways of doing things, as 44% saw increased reliance on manual processes or workarounds following the incident, showing just how much organizations rely on digital tools.

Methodology: PagerDuty surveyed 1,000 IT and business executives who were director level and above, from the US, UK, Australia and Japan. The survey was conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of PagerDuty.

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Execs Expect Major Incident in 2025 as Large as July Global IT Outage

Learn more about PagerDuty

Service disruptions remain a critical concern for IT and business executives, with 88% of respondents saying they believe another major incident will occur in the next 12 months, according to a study from PagerDuty.

The study's findings illustrate how critical it is for companies to implement efficient processes and strategies for preventing major incidents and mitigating damages, while maintaining customer trust.

In today's digitally connected world, IT outages can be caused by everything from cyberattacks to human error.

  • 86% of executives surveyed now realize that they have been prioritizing security at the expense of readiness for service disruptions, causing changes within the company. The reality is that a focus on preventing service disruptions, which can often be security-related, is imperative for organizations today. Preparedness in terms of people, process and culture is key to ensuring disruptions are minimized to limit revenue and reputational harm.
  • 83% of business and IT executives admitted that the July global IT outage caught them off guard, exposing gaps in their preparedness for service disruptions. 89% of executives in the UK, 84% in the US, 80% in Japan and 77% in Australia admit to being surprised by the disruptions.
  • Nearly half of IT executives (47%) believe that insufficient incident management planning will exacerbate the impact of major IT outages on their organizations, a concern shared by 41% of business executives, if approaches to service disruption are not prioritized.

"The PagerDuty study shows that executives around the globe are shifting their leadership priorities with major incidents in mind, with 100% of those surveyed reporting a heightened focus on preparing for future service disruptions at their companies," said Eric Johnson, chief information officer at PagerDuty. "CEOs and their boards are now focused on this issue, and with the accelerated pace of AI and other advanced technologies being deployed, companies cannot afford to delay critical technology infrastructure updates."

Additionally, 55% of executives surveyed have observed a mindset shift towards continually evaluating and improving preparedness instead of a one-time move into investments in new systems or protocols that are now complete (45%).

Other key findings from the survey data include: 

  • A strong majority of executives surveyed in the UK (91%), US (89%), Australia (88%) and Japan (78%) believe that it's not a matter of "if" but "when" these service disruptions happen.
  • While some organizations were prepared for the digital disruption, others were not. Of those that were not fully prepared, 37% of executives said the July global IT outage resulted in lost revenue or an inability to process sales transactions and delayed response times by 39% to customer or internal requests.
  • Organizations that experienced multiple service outages due to the July global IT disruption suffered communication breakdowns between departments (38%), delays in workflow and projects put on hold (35%). Overall, 39% of executives saw an impact on decision-making.
  • Nearly half in the US (48%), Australia (48%), and the UK (47%), along with a majority in Japan (53%) believe that limited access to real-time data tools will further hinder their organizations during an outage, if approaches to service disruption are not prioritized.
  • For many who experienced disruptions during service incidents, the July global IT outage meant a return to the old ways of doing things, as 44% saw increased reliance on manual processes or workarounds following the incident, showing just how much organizations rely on digital tools.

Methodology: PagerDuty surveyed 1,000 IT and business executives who were director level and above, from the US, UK, Australia and Japan. The survey was conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of PagerDuty.

Hot Topics

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Gartner: Regular AI System Assessments Triple the Likelihood of High GenAI Value

Organizations that perform regular audits and assessments of AI system performance and compliance are over three times more likely to achieve high GenAI value than organizations that do not, according to a survey by Gartner ...

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Kubernetes has become the backbone of cloud infrastructure, but it's also one of its biggest cost drivers. Recent research shows that 98% of senior IT leaders say Kubernetes now drives cloud spend, yet 91% still can't optimize it effectively. After years of adoption, most organizations have moved past discovery. They know container sprawl, idle resources and reactive scaling inflate costs. What they don't know is how to fix it ...

Is Your Network Ready for the AI Boom? 5 Overlooked Stress Points

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future investment. It's already embedded in how we work — whether through copilots in productivity apps, real-time transcription tools in meetings, or machine learning models fueling analytics and personalization. But while enterprise adoption accelerates, there's one critical area many leaders have yet to examine: Can your network actually support AI at the speed your users expect? ...

Keeping Your Business Stable When Going Through an IT Disaster

The more technology businesses invest in, the more potential attack surfaces they have that can be exploited. Without the right continuity plans in place, the disruptions caused by these attacks can bring operations to a standstill and cause irreparable damage to an organization. It's essential to take the time now to ensure your business has the right tools, processes, and recovery initiatives in place to weather any type of IT disaster that comes up. Here are some effective strategies you can follow to achieve this ...

How Engineers Can Use AIOps to Innovate Their Infrastructure

In today's fast-paced AI landscape, CIOs, IT leaders, and engineers are constantly challenged to manage increasingly complex and interconnected systems. The sheer scale and velocity of data generated by modern infrastructure can be overwhelming, making it difficult to maintain uptime, prevent outages, and create a seamless customer experience. This complexity is magnified by the industry's shift towards agentic AI ...

MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Podcast - Episode 19: The AWS Outage

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 19, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA explains the cause of the AWS outage in October ... 

Cloud Migration Delays Are Putting Businesses at Risk

The explosion of generative AI and machine learning capabilities has fundamentally changed the conversation around cloud migration. It's no longer just about modernization or cost savings — it's about being able to compete in a market where AI is rapidly becoming table stakes. Companies that can't quickly spin up AI workloads, feed models with data at scale, or experiment with new capabilities are falling behind faster than ever before. But here's what I'm seeing: many organizations want to capitalize on AI, but they're stuck ...

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On September 16, the world celebrated the 10th annual IT Pro Day, giving companies a chance to laud the professionals who serve as the backbone to almost every successful business across the globe. Despite the growing importance of their roles, many IT pros still work in the background and often go underappreciated ...

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Poor DEX directly costs global businesses an average of 470,000 hours per year, equivalent to around 226 full-time employees, according to a new report from Nexthink, Cracking the DEX Equation: The Annual Workplace Productivity Report. This indicates that digital friction is a vital and underreported element of the global productivity crisis ...