New Relic report underscores rising observability in IT, telecoms

New Relic has published its State of Observability for IT and Telecommunications report, shedding light on the increasing importance of observability in these industries. The report indicates that 43% of respondents see the adoption of AI technologies driving the need for observability, while 56% prefer a single observability platform.

Based on insights from 423 technology professionals, the report highlights the significant trends influencing observability adoption. Key drivers include the development of cloud-native application architectures (48%), adoption of AI technologies (43%), migration to a multi-cloud environment (40%), and a heightened focus on customer experience management (39%). Furthermore, 55% of respondents noted that observability enhances collaboration and strategic decision-making.

Peter Pezaris, Chief Design and Strategy Officer at New Relic, emphasised the transformative phase the IT and telecommunications sectors are experiencing. "Organisations with legacy infrastructure must modernise quickly to keep pace with digital-native counterparts. Customers expect the benefits of new technologies like 6G, edge computing, and AI, while maintaining or exceeding current service levels. In such a high-stakes environment, full-stack observability is crucial for IT and telco providers to capitalise on these advancements," he said.

Kris Day, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Asia Pacific & Japan at New Relic, highlighted the specific demands in the APAC region. "The APAC region has some of the fastest-growing 5G markets globally, and consumer demand for data-heavy digital content is at an all-time high. IT and telco organisations are under constant pressure to innovate. Observability allows them to understand and analyse every aspect of their networks and applications, empowering effective AI use, robust infrastructure creation, and the development of innovative, revenue-driving services," he stated.

The report also pointed out the connection between AI technologies and observability. Nearly half (43%) of IT and telco respondents cited AI as a driving force behind observability adoption. Integrating observability with AI helps organisations manage sprawling data sets, improve operational efficiency, and enhance incident detection and resolution through automation.

Frequent outages remain a significant challenge, with IT and telco organisations experiencing higher outage frequencies than other industries. About 37% reported weekly outages compared to an industry average of 32%, resulting in a median annual outage cost of USD $12.71 million. This underscores the need for improved monitoring and rapid issue-resolution capabilities. The survey revealed that many organisations use multiple monitoring tools, with 69% utilizing four or more tools compared to the overall average of 63%. Consequently, there is a substantial preference (56%) for a consolidated platform, and 41% of respondents expect their organisation to consolidate tools within the next year.

System security and digital customer experience (DCX) are essential to the success of IT and telco organisations. An overwhelming 96% of respondents plan to use security monitoring by mid-2026, underscoring its importance. Additionally, DCX continues to be a priority, with providers leveraging digital experience monitoring (DEM) to improve customer engagement through performance and reliability optimisation. Close to half of the respondents (45%) anticipate deploying synthetic monitoring within the next one to three years, while others plan to implement mobile and browser monitoring.

Addressing the practical benefits of observability, Skyscanner Principal Software Engineer Daniel Gomez Blanco stated, "Our integration platform provides a clear view, enabling the identification and resolution of issues before they impact customers. That's what truly matters."