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Majority of Organizations Cannot Realize Full Potential of Observability

Although 78% of organizations surveyed have an observability practice in place, 91% said they face challenges that prevent them from realizing the full potential of the systems they have already deployed, according to Observability and Demystifying AIOps, a report from Chronosphere and the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG).

Scalability and reliability of the observability tools were cited as the top concerns.

Additional survey findings include:

Observability tool sprawl is expanding

A majority of organizations reported at least 6 different tools in use, with more than half (52%) using 11-20 different tools. The report also shows that 72% of organizations agree that the number of tools they use adds complexity.

Explosive observability data growth

Additionally, 69% of survey respondents reported that the most costly line item for most observability solutions, data storage, is growing. Respondents stated that "the amount of observability data is growing at a concerning rate" and one in five respondents reported that this explosive data growth was their top concern.

To address data growth, organizations are taking a mix of steps to rein in costs, including:

■ increasing storage spend (52%)

■ limiting the number of observed applications in their environment (44%)

■ limiting the number of observed metrics per application (43%).

Cloud is greatest Observability challenge

Many respondents also noted that applications deployed in the cloud were harder for them to monitor and few of them felt that their observability solution was helping them meet their availability goals.

When asked about their biggest observability challenges, 60% agreed that "Lack of visibility into our cloud applications makes achieving SLAs a challenge," and only 20% chose "Improved SLA Performance" as one of their monitoring/observability strategy's most impactful benefits.

Methodology: TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) surveyed 374 IT (58%) and DevOps/AppDev (42%) professionals responsible for evaluating, purchasing, managing, and using observability at large midmarket (500 to 999 employees) (11%) and enterprise (1,000+ employees) (89%) organizations in North America (US and Canada).

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Majority of Organizations Cannot Realize Full Potential of Observability

Although 78% of organizations surveyed have an observability practice in place, 91% said they face challenges that prevent them from realizing the full potential of the systems they have already deployed, according to Observability and Demystifying AIOps, a report from Chronosphere and the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG).

Scalability and reliability of the observability tools were cited as the top concerns.

Additional survey findings include:

Observability tool sprawl is expanding

A majority of organizations reported at least 6 different tools in use, with more than half (52%) using 11-20 different tools. The report also shows that 72% of organizations agree that the number of tools they use adds complexity.

Explosive observability data growth

Additionally, 69% of survey respondents reported that the most costly line item for most observability solutions, data storage, is growing. Respondents stated that "the amount of observability data is growing at a concerning rate" and one in five respondents reported that this explosive data growth was their top concern.

To address data growth, organizations are taking a mix of steps to rein in costs, including:

■ increasing storage spend (52%)

■ limiting the number of observed applications in their environment (44%)

■ limiting the number of observed metrics per application (43%).

Cloud is greatest Observability challenge

Many respondents also noted that applications deployed in the cloud were harder for them to monitor and few of them felt that their observability solution was helping them meet their availability goals.

When asked about their biggest observability challenges, 60% agreed that "Lack of visibility into our cloud applications makes achieving SLAs a challenge," and only 20% chose "Improved SLA Performance" as one of their monitoring/observability strategy's most impactful benefits.

Methodology: TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) surveyed 374 IT (58%) and DevOps/AppDev (42%) professionals responsible for evaluating, purchasing, managing, and using observability at large midmarket (500 to 999 employees) (11%) and enterprise (1,000+ employees) (89%) organizations in North America (US and Canada).

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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? ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ... 

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 ...

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 ...