Not ‘If’ but ‘When’: 88% of Execs Expect a Major Incident in 2025 as Large as the July Global IT Outage

International Survey: 86% of Respondents Believe Companies Are Not Focused Enough on Service Disruptions, and Too Much on Security

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PagerDuty, Inc. (NYSE:PD), a global leader in digital operations management, today 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.

• 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 U.K., 84% in the U.S,, 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 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.

The survey was conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of PagerDuty. All survey findings and methodology are available here.

Additional Resources

• Blog Post: Survey: 88% of Execs Expect an Incident as Large as the July Global IT Outage Within the Next Year
• IDC Report: Transforming Incident Management – A Technology Executive Playbook
• Webinar: Learn from Incidents to Stay Prepared for the Next Outage
• Webinar: Resilient by Design: Preparing for IT Disruptions in a Complex World

About PagerDuty Inc.

PagerDuty, Inc. (NYSE:PD) is a global leader in digital operations management, enabling customers to achieve operational efficiency at scale with the PagerDuty Operations Cloud. The PagerDuty Operations Cloud combines AIOps, Automation, Customer Service Operations and Incident Management with a powerful generative AI assistant to create a flexible, resilient and scalable platform to increase innovation velocity, grow revenue, reduce cost, and mitigate the risk of operational failure. Half of the Fortune 500 and nearly 70% of the Fortune 100 rely on PagerDuty as essential infrastructure for the modern enterprise. To learn more and try PagerDuty for free, visit www.pagerduty.com.

The PagerDuty Operations Cloud

The PagerDuty Operations Cloud is the platform for mission-critical, time-critical operations work in the modern enterprise. Through the power of AI and automation, it detects and diagnoses disruptive events, mobilizes the right team members to respond, and streamlines infrastructure and workflows across your digital operations. The Operations Cloud is essential infrastructure for revolutionizing digital operations to compete and win as a modern digital business.