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Misaligned Architecture Causes Service Disruptions, High Operational Costs and Security Challenges

While nearly two in three organizations (63%) claim architecture is integrated throughout development (from design to deployment and beyond), more than half (56%) have documentation that doesn't match the architecture in production, according to the 2025 Architecture in Software Development study from vFunction.

The Business Impact of Architectural Misalignment

Misaligned architecture can lead to business consequences, with 93% of respondents reporting negative outcomes such as service disruptions, high operational costs and security challenges.

The financial services sector is particularly vulnerable, with 50% citing security and compliance issues as the top misalignment concern, highlighting increased risk in heavily regulated industries.

These issues extend beyond delivery schedules to affect core business functionality, with nearly a third (32%) of organizations reporting service disruptions tied to architectural inconsistencies, showing the cascading effect of documentation and architecture alignment problems on customer-facing issues.

The Future: Observability and AI

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents believe that AI-accelerated software development will simplify their current application architecture. This optimism suggests organizations view AI not merely as a new technology to accommodate, but as a potential solution to existing architectural challenges.

"As organizations aggressively adopt AI to automate processes and generate code, they're introducing new layers of complexity into their architecture. AI currently lacks the system-wide view which could lead to code duplication and microservices sprawl, escalating risks in security, scalability, and compliance," Rafalin adds. "Effective governance and continuous observability are essential for controlling the consequences of AI-generated code complexity, enforcing clear architectural boundaries and preventing system failures."

In fact, an overwhelming 90% of respondents agree that integrating architecture insights into observability capabilities would benefit their organization's software development practices.

OpenTelemetry adoption, which continues to grow with 59% of organizations using it either as their primary observability method (27%) or alongside proprietary solutions (32%), is a key example of how businesses are taking steps to gain visibility and streamline architecture management.

"The strategic importance of architecture is clear, but without visibility, integration, and continuous management, architecture cannot support business growth," Rafalin concluded. "Businesses should be focused on improving observability, using technologies like OpenTelemetry and AI to streamline architecture management and cut through complexity. For architecture to truly serve as a lever for growth and security guardrails, organizations must embrace real-time insights and intelligent tools that make architectural complexity manageable and actionable in daily operations."

Read more on DEVOPSdigest: The Disconnect Between Perception and Reality in Software Architecture Management

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Misaligned Architecture Causes Service Disruptions, High Operational Costs and Security Challenges

While nearly two in three organizations (63%) claim architecture is integrated throughout development (from design to deployment and beyond), more than half (56%) have documentation that doesn't match the architecture in production, according to the 2025 Architecture in Software Development study from vFunction.

The Business Impact of Architectural Misalignment

Misaligned architecture can lead to business consequences, with 93% of respondents reporting negative outcomes such as service disruptions, high operational costs and security challenges.

The financial services sector is particularly vulnerable, with 50% citing security and compliance issues as the top misalignment concern, highlighting increased risk in heavily regulated industries.

These issues extend beyond delivery schedules to affect core business functionality, with nearly a third (32%) of organizations reporting service disruptions tied to architectural inconsistencies, showing the cascading effect of documentation and architecture alignment problems on customer-facing issues.

The Future: Observability and AI

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents believe that AI-accelerated software development will simplify their current application architecture. This optimism suggests organizations view AI not merely as a new technology to accommodate, but as a potential solution to existing architectural challenges.

"As organizations aggressively adopt AI to automate processes and generate code, they're introducing new layers of complexity into their architecture. AI currently lacks the system-wide view which could lead to code duplication and microservices sprawl, escalating risks in security, scalability, and compliance," Rafalin adds. "Effective governance and continuous observability are essential for controlling the consequences of AI-generated code complexity, enforcing clear architectural boundaries and preventing system failures."

In fact, an overwhelming 90% of respondents agree that integrating architecture insights into observability capabilities would benefit their organization's software development practices.

OpenTelemetry adoption, which continues to grow with 59% of organizations using it either as their primary observability method (27%) or alongside proprietary solutions (32%), is a key example of how businesses are taking steps to gain visibility and streamline architecture management.

"The strategic importance of architecture is clear, but without visibility, integration, and continuous management, architecture cannot support business growth," Rafalin concluded. "Businesses should be focused on improving observability, using technologies like OpenTelemetry and AI to streamline architecture management and cut through complexity. For architecture to truly serve as a lever for growth and security guardrails, organizations must embrace real-time insights and intelligent tools that make architectural complexity manageable and actionable in daily operations."

Read more on DEVOPSdigest: The Disconnect Between Perception and Reality in Software Architecture Management

The Latest

From smart factories and autonomous vehicles to real-time analytics and intelligent building systems, the demand for instant, local data processing is exploding. To meet these needs, organizations are leaning into edge computing. The promise? Faster performance, reduced latency and less strain on centralized infrastructure. But there's a catch: Not every network is ready to support edge deployments ...

Every digital customer interaction, every cloud deployment, and every AI model depends on the same foundation: the ability to see, understand, and act on data in real time ... Recent data from Splunk confirms that 74% of the business leaders believe observability is essential to monitoring critical business processes, and 66% feel it's key to understanding user journeys. Because while the unknown is inevitable, observability makes it manageable. Let's explore why ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...