PagerDuty, Inc. released a
study
that reveals 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. PagerDuty surveyed
1,000 IT and business executives who were director level and above, from
the U.S., U.K., Australia and Japan. 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.
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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.
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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 U.K., 84% in the U.S,, 80% in Japan and 77% in
Australia admit to being surprised by the disruptions.
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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:
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A strong majority of executives surveyed in the U.K. (91%), U.S. (89%),
Australia (88%) and Japan (78%) believe that it's not a matter of "if"
but "when" these service disruptions happen.
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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.
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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.
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Nearly half in the U.S. (48%), Australia (48%), and the U.K. (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.
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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.