A new study of global tech leaders conducted by PagerDuty found that 78% of senior technical leaders face extra pressure around a growing number of incidents, with 40% reporting that their organizations have lost revenue as a result. The survey found that 72% are accelerating their digital transformation strategies. However, an overwhelming 91% say that traditional IT operations (ITOps) are no longer fit for purpose in the digital era.

The pressure on tech leaders to deliver on digital has never been higher. Keeping services available 24/7 and providing digital, hybrid, and omnichannel experiences to match customer expectations is at the forefront of C-level conversations. Leaders need a more sustainable approach to ITOps that enables them to unlock better digital operations, enable faster remediation, and keep their businesses always on.

The report found that these rising digital pressures are having a big impact on human performance and retention. Thirty-nine percent of organizations report an increase in employee turnover on technical teams at their companies, and 38% of organizations report seeing an increase in employee burnout on technical teams. This survey brings strong evidence to light that shows it is not just the bottom line that suffers from an increased burden of managing digital incidents. There is a clear human impact as well, as workloads threaten to hurt morale. Against the backdrop of “The Great Resignation,” leaders know that keeping teams happy and minimizing burnout and attrition is critical for retention.

In addition, the report found that the complexity of digital operations is impacting how efficient technical teams can be. Sixty-one percent of survey respondents feel that cloud adoption has resulted in increased complexity, and 62% of respondents say a traditional, ticket-based approach to IT operations means IT teams waste time figuring out how to respond to digital incidents. A lack of service ownership (65%) also increases the time to resolve digital incidents.

Organizations now have a deeper understanding about how real-time operations can improve their ability to keep services on and protect the team’s wellbeing. Investing in AIOps tools and automation helps free up technical teams’ time, boost collaboration, and empower organizations to become more proactive. Maturing digital operations will be the key to getting ahead.

PagerDuty surveyed 700 senior IT and development decision-makers for this report.

Read the full report by PagerDuty.