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Pandemic Increased Pressure on Digital Services by 80%

More than 80% of organizations have experienced a significant increase in pressure on digital services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study conducted by PagerDuty.

These same companies cited a 47% increase in the number of daily incidents, resulting in 62% of IT and DevOps practitioners spending more than 10 extra hours per week resolving incidents, compared to six months ago.

The study also shows that 40% of organizations expect this digital pressure to get worse in the next six to 12 months.

"The pandemic has irreversibly changed the way we live, work, communicate, learn and shop. We now exist in a digital default world and the stakes are high. Downtime can mean millions in lost revenue and keeping digital services running perfectly is a complex job," said Rachel Obstler, VP of Product at PagerDuty.

"This research underscores the fact that every company is facing the challenge of accelerating their digital transformation to keep pace with customer expectations and needs, while grappling with increased digital complexity and strain. It also candidly points to the human cost of this dramatic change — an immense strain on the practitioners charged with keeping digital services running which can lead to massive burnout."

Since the pandemic began, 55% of respondents said they are asked to resolve incidents during their personal time five or more times a week, and 39% say they are firefighting or focused on unplanned work 100% of the time, which leaves no room for proactive, innovative work. As a result, organizations have had to cancel or delay an average of 7.6 projects in the last 3-6 months.

Other survey highlights include:

■ The top reason respondents stay at their jobs is because of the teams and the camaraderie in DevOps/IT (71%).

■ 58% said they are grateful for the opportunity to play an integral role in the digital economy.

■ 53% of survey respondents said the pressure to keep digital services running perfectly has reached unprecedented levels in the last 3-6 months.

■ 46% of practitioners feel overwhelmed when thinking about the next 12 months and feel the volume of work in the future will be significant.

■ 79% of DevOps and IT practitioners believe digital acceleration has to be their company's number one priority in 2021.

■ 51% cite intelligent data and insights that help prioritize where to spend time are critical.

■ 64% believe automation that removes manual processes will be critical to do more with less and meet increased demand on digital services.

■ 69% believe smart integrations are critical to doing their job better.

"As organizations strive to capitalize on the new norm of digital first, they must modernize and automate how they manage their digital operations, because the old approach doesn’t work anymore. You need AI and machine learning, and automation, in order to remove complexity and be proactive and predictive," Obstler continued. "Any company that fails to mature their approach, compromises customer experience, employee health, critical projects and risks significantly impacting cost structure."

Methodology: The global survey involved more than 700 DevOps and IT practitioners across North America, EMEA and APJ.

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Pandemic Increased Pressure on Digital Services by 80%

More than 80% of organizations have experienced a significant increase in pressure on digital services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study conducted by PagerDuty.

These same companies cited a 47% increase in the number of daily incidents, resulting in 62% of IT and DevOps practitioners spending more than 10 extra hours per week resolving incidents, compared to six months ago.

The study also shows that 40% of organizations expect this digital pressure to get worse in the next six to 12 months.

"The pandemic has irreversibly changed the way we live, work, communicate, learn and shop. We now exist in a digital default world and the stakes are high. Downtime can mean millions in lost revenue and keeping digital services running perfectly is a complex job," said Rachel Obstler, VP of Product at PagerDuty.

"This research underscores the fact that every company is facing the challenge of accelerating their digital transformation to keep pace with customer expectations and needs, while grappling with increased digital complexity and strain. It also candidly points to the human cost of this dramatic change — an immense strain on the practitioners charged with keeping digital services running which can lead to massive burnout."

Since the pandemic began, 55% of respondents said they are asked to resolve incidents during their personal time five or more times a week, and 39% say they are firefighting or focused on unplanned work 100% of the time, which leaves no room for proactive, innovative work. As a result, organizations have had to cancel or delay an average of 7.6 projects in the last 3-6 months.

Other survey highlights include:

■ The top reason respondents stay at their jobs is because of the teams and the camaraderie in DevOps/IT (71%).

■ 58% said they are grateful for the opportunity to play an integral role in the digital economy.

■ 53% of survey respondents said the pressure to keep digital services running perfectly has reached unprecedented levels in the last 3-6 months.

■ 46% of practitioners feel overwhelmed when thinking about the next 12 months and feel the volume of work in the future will be significant.

■ 79% of DevOps and IT practitioners believe digital acceleration has to be their company's number one priority in 2021.

■ 51% cite intelligent data and insights that help prioritize where to spend time are critical.

■ 64% believe automation that removes manual processes will be critical to do more with less and meet increased demand on digital services.

■ 69% believe smart integrations are critical to doing their job better.

"As organizations strive to capitalize on the new norm of digital first, they must modernize and automate how they manage their digital operations, because the old approach doesn’t work anymore. You need AI and machine learning, and automation, in order to remove complexity and be proactive and predictive," Obstler continued. "Any company that fails to mature their approach, compromises customer experience, employee health, critical projects and risks significantly impacting cost structure."

Methodology: The global survey involved more than 700 DevOps and IT practitioners across North America, EMEA and APJ.

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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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Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

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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From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...