Critical IT operations at risk: The blame game and siloed tools take a toll

IT operations teams continue to operate in silos, which perpetuates the blame game, Dynatrace research finds.

For organizations to operate efficiently in the digital age, it’s vital that IT operations for applications, infrastructure, customer support, security, and compliance run smoothly.

There are many moving parts, such as evolving budgets or business objectives, that affect the strategy and effectiveness of these critical operations. However, arguably the most important ingredient is IT teams that are committed, motivated, and happy in their role.

Worryingly, retaining skilled IT talent and delivering a positive workplace environment are becoming more challenging, according to a survey of 368 respondents carried out at a Dynatrace cloud innovation event in Europe. Organizations are creating environments that put them in danger of losing skilled IT talent given burnout or stress. Siloed tools are among the chief complaints that lead to IT operations problems and job dissatisfaction.

Ultimately, if these issues are left unsolved, critical operations will be put at risk given a lack of talent being able to deliver digital services and accelerate innovation.

Siloed tools and other problems can lead to a “blame game” merry-go-round

According to the survey, one of the driving factors behind these issues is the continuation of a “blame game” culture among teams, with 91% of organizations blaming IT service providers when problems occur.

This leads to an overreliance on war-room-style meetings to find and resolve the cause of problems, ultimately prolonging the duration of incidents. In turn, this creates tense work environments and can push IT talent out the door.

To put this into context, the survey found 49% of IT teams feel burned out by war rooms, 46% have missed personal time during evenings and weekends, and 21% have considered a change in job role or career due to added stress.

Clearly, this is an unsustainable approach, and organizations jeopardize their critical operations if they contend with a shortage of skilled developers and operations professionals.

Combatting an excessive reliance on siloed tools

Relying on siloed monitoring tools and manual processes is compounding the situation even further, according to the survey. Specifically, less than a third (29%) of organizations say teams use a single platform and the same data to monitor and manage digital services.

In practice, this means individual teams work with their own version of the truth, which further ignites the cycle of blame. As a result, teams are more reluctant to take ownership of problems, which increases the likelihood of longer time to resolution, or the risk of teams ignoring issues entirely.

Unifying observability signals is paramount for IT operations

Ultimately, organizations must enhance communication both internally and with third-party service providers so IT operations teams can work more collaboratively and take greater satisfaction from their role.

To create this culture of collaboration, organizations should adopt a unified observability strategy. This will deliver a single source of truth to assist with decision making and enable teams to work cross-functionally to resolve incidents faster.

Organizations can strengthen this culture even further by implementing advanced AI and automation capabilities. In this way, they can streamline critical IT operations processes, by eliminating manual triaging and equipping teams with solutions to diagnose and resolve problems before they arise.

This more proactive approach to IT operations management significantly reduces stress from siloed tools, eliminates wasted spending, and boosts productivity, as teams spend less time in tense incident response meetings and more time innovating.