Europe
Europe continues to strengthen its data strategy to comply with new regulations such as the European Union Data Act and the Data Governance Act (DGA). So, it’s no surprise that respondents from the European countries represented in the survey indicated that security, governance, risk, and compliance are driving their need for observability (48%). Other drivers included integrating business apps into workflows (39%), migrating to a multi-cloud environment (37%), adopting artificial intelligence (AI) technologies (37%), and developing cloud-native application architectures (37%).
While they expected to invest more in observability by deploying more capabilities, European organizations struggle with tool sprawl. Half were using five or more tools, even though 59% preferred a single, consolidated platform. They’re also more likely to have siloed telemetry data (43%). About a quarter said too many monitoring tools is a top challenge, as well as cost and lack of budget.
Downtime is less YoY but still expensive
Respondents surveyed in Europe were 43% less likely to experience high-business-impact outages at least once a week in 2023 (32%) compared to 2022 (56%). They were also 23% less likely to take at least 30 minutes to detect these outages in 2023 (41%) compared to 2022 (53%), although 58% took at least 30 minutes to resolve them, which is about the same year-over-year (YoY) and as the 2023 overall average.
However, these outages are more expensive than average. More than a third (35%) said they cost at least $500,000 per hour, and 25% said they cost at least $1 million per hour. That works out to a median annual outage cost of $8.42 million compared to $7.75 million overall.
Deployment is lagging, but that’s about to change
Europe had the lowest observability deployment of any region. They were the least likely to have 10 or more capabilities deployed (38% compared to 42% overall and 32% last year), to have achieved full-stack observability (28% compared to 33% overall), and to have a mature observability practice (3% compared to 5% overall).
But that’s changing. Most (89%) planned to add at least one capability in the next year, more than any other region, and nearly half (47%) planned to add five or more capabilities, which is above average. The top capabilities planned for the next one to three years include machine learning (ML) model performance monitoring (50%), AIOps (48%), distributed tracing (48%), serverless monitoring (47%), and Kubernetes (K8s) monitoring (45%).
To maximize the value of their observability investment in the next year, 47% planned to train staff on how to best use the observability tools they have, and 43% planned to consolidate tools.
Observability is driving business value
European respondents were more likely than average to say that they receive at least $500,000 (55%) and $1 million (43%) in total value from their observability investment per year, and the most likely to say they receive $5 million or more (24%). They experienced a 2x median annual return on investment (ROI).
They were also the most likely to say their mean time to resolution (MTTR) has improved to some degree since adopting an observability solution (68%). Their top primary observability benefits were improved system uptime and reliability (42%) and increased operational efficiency (36%).
When we looked at the results for each country, we found that:
France 🇫🇷
French organizations are considered a technology hub and tend to invest heavily in AI, sustainability, and digitalization. They also tend to be early observability adopters and prioritize tool consolidation. The data show that respondents surveyed in France have a strong interest in emerging technologies and an appreciation for how observability improves collaboration across teams.
The top technology strategies or trends driving the need for observability in France were an increased focus on security, governance, risk, and compliance (43%), adopting AI (43%) and the Internet of Things or IoT (35%) technologies, integrating business apps into workflows (35%), and migrating to a multi-cloud environment (34%).
Let’s take a look at some other key findings for France.
in France preferred a single, consolidated observability platform
Reduced downtime YoY, but frequent downtime and high outage costs are still a challenge
Respondents surveyed in France were more likely than average to experience high-business-impact outages at least once a week (34%), which is 33% less than last year. Two in five took at least 30 minutes to detect those outages (compared to 62% in 2022), and 63% took at least 30 minutes to resolve them (compared to 66% in 2022). This adds up to considerable downtime.
They were also more likely to have a higher outage cost for critical business app outages than average, with 40% spending at least $500,000 per hour of downtime, the third highest of any country, and 30% spending at least $1 million per hour, the second highest of any country. This downtime and hourly outage cost translates to a median annual outage cost of $12.04 million, which is well above the $7.75 million average.
Observing more of their tech stack and implementing additional best practices could help French organizations improve their uptime and reliability, thereby reducing the amount spent on costly outages.
Full-stack observability is lagging, but they’re working on it
Despite increasing deployment YoY and spending more than average on observability—49% spent at least $500,000 and 30% spent at least $1 million per year—French organizations had the lowest deployment. They were much less likely to have 10 or more capabilities deployed (30% compared to 42% overall, but twice as likely as last year) and the least likely to have achieved full-stack observability (20% compared to 33% overall, but 11% more than last year).
However, most (92%) planned to deploy at least one new capability in the next year, including 55% who planned to deploy five or more—the third highest of any country. Top capability deployment plans for the next one to three years include ML model performance monitoring (56% compared to 48% overall), distributed tracing (49% compared to 44% overall), AIOps (46% compared to 41% overall), mobile monitoring (46% compared to 39% overall), and application performance monitoring or APM (44% compared to 36% overall).
Tool consolidation is a priority
Nearly two-thirds (63%) preferred a single, consolidated platform, which is well above the average of 54% overall and fourth highest of any country. This preference was reflected in the 4x increase YoY of those using a single tool (from 1.5% in 2022 to 6% in 2023). In addition, the average number of tools used for their observability capabilities decreased by 12% YoY (from 5.6 in 2022 to 4.9 in 2023). And fewer were using five or more tools than average (44% compared to 52% overall).
However, nearly a quarter still said too many monitoring tools are a challenge (24%), as well as cost (25%) and lack of budget (23%). They were much more likely than average to indicate plans for reducing spend across the board in the next year (44% compared to 31% overall). So tool consolidation will likely be key to balance their reduced spending and ambitious deployment plans. In fact, they were more likely than most to say consolidated tools is a primary observability benefit (28% compared to 17% overall). And 46% planned to consolidate tools in the next year compared to 41% overall.
Observability is driving business value, but uptime and reliability has room for improvement
While 41% noted that their organization receives at least $1 million and 23% $5 million per year in total value from their observability investment, their median annual ROI was the fourth lowest of any country at 50% (compared to 100% overall).
They were less likely to say improved system uptime and reliability is a primary benefit of observability (28% compared to 40% overall), their MTTR has improved to some degree since adopting observability (59% compared to 65% overall), and observability mitigates service disruptions and business risk (31% compared to 33% overall).
However, nearly half (46%) of practitioners indicated that observability increases their productivity so they can find and resolve issues faster. And 40% of both practitioners and ITDMs said observability makes their job easier, more than those from most other countries. Their business value will likely increase as they start observing more of their tech stack and consolidating tools.
Germany 🇩🇪
German organizations have a well-established reputation for engineering excellence. They tend to value innovation and invest heavily in education for a skilled workforce. The data show that they see observability as an essential practice to maintain their reputation. They’re investing in tool consolidation and achieving full-stack observability—and are seeing a decrease in outage frequency and outage cost as a result.
Like most other countries, the top technology strategy or trend driving the need for observability in Germany was an increased focus on security, governance, risk, and compliance (49%). Their observability adoption was also more likely than average to be driven by migrating to a multi-cloud environment (47% compared to 37% overall, the second highest of any country), adopting AI technologies (47% compared to 38% overall), integrating business apps into workflows (43% compared to 38% overall), and developing cloud-native application architectures (39% compared to 38% overall).
Let’s take a look at some other key findings for Germany.
in Germany said adopting AI technologies like GPT is a top strategy driving their need for observability
Outage frequency and MTTD decreased YoY and outage costs were relatively low
German organizations reported the lowest high-business-impact outage frequency in Europe for 2023 and considerably lower than in 2022. Less than a quarter (24%) said they experience these outages once a week or more, compared to 32% overall and 64% in 2022.
They also detected those outages faster than average and faster than last year. Two in five took at least 30 minutes to detect them compared to 44% overall and 50% in 2022. It took them longer to resolve them than average and longer than last year, though. Nearly two-thirds (64%) took at least 30 minutes to resolve them compared to 60% overall and 51% in 2022.
However, 64% said their MTTR improved to some degree since adopting observability, 55% said observability improves system uptime and reliability (compared to 40% overall—the highest of any country), and 36% said it mitigates service disruptions and business risk. Plus, 43% of practitioners said it increases their productivity so they can find and resolve issues faster.
Their cost for critical business app outages was lower than average, with 29% spending at least $500,000 per hour of downtime and 20% spending at least $1 million. This downtime and hourly outage cost translates to a median annual outage cost of $3.82 million, which is about half of the $7.75 million average.
Deployment and full-stack observability are lower than average, but increasing
Two in five respondents surveyed in Germany deployed 10 or more observability capabilities compared to 18% in 2022 and 42% overall. Fewer than a third (29%) of German organizations had achieved full-stack observability compared to 20% in 2022 and 33% overall, despite spending more than average on observability per year—49% spend at least $500,000 (compared to 45% overall) and 35% spend at least $1 million (compared to 29% overall). Plus, only 29% said they capture telemetry across the full tech stack.
Their top challenges to achieving full-stack observability included a disparate tech stack (24%), not instrumenting enough of their systems (22%), and cost (22%).
However, most (92%) planned to deploy at least one new observability capability in the next year, including 44% who planned to deploy five or more. Top capability deployment plans for the next one to three years include K8s monitoring (54% compared to 42% overall), serverless monitoring (54% compared to 44% overall), ML model performance monitoring (50% compared to 48% overall), distributed tracing (47% compared to 44% overall), APM (45% compared to 36% overall), and AIOps (45% compared to 41% overall).
Tool consolidation and unified telemetry data are top of mind
German respondents were more likely than average to prefer a single, consolidated platform (57% compared to 54%). This preference was reflected in the 2.5x increase YoY of those using a single tool (from 2% in 2022 to 5% in 2023). They were also more likely to learn about software and system interruptions primarily with one observability platform (28% compared to 15% overall).
In addition, the average number of tools used for their observability capabilities decreased by more than one tool (23%) YoY (from 5.9 in 2022 to 4.6 in 2023). And fewer were using five or more tools than average (42% compared to 52% overall).
They’re also the most likely to have more unified telemetry data. More than half (54%) said it’s more unified compared to 37% overall. However, just 28% said it’s unified in a single pane for consumption across teams (compared to 31% overall), and only 33% said users broadly have access to telemetry data and visualizations (compared to 27% overall).
While they’re using fewer tools, 23% still noted too many monitoring tools are a challenge, and 34% planned to consolidate tools in the next year.
Observability is driving business value and higher ROI
German organizations experienced the third-highest median annual ROI of any country (124% compared to 100% overall). They also reported higher total annual value from their observability investment: 60% received at least $500,000 (compared to 43% overall), 48% received at least $1 million (compared to 41% overall), and 29% received at least $5 million (compared to 20% overall—the second highest of any other country).
German ITDMs were more likely to say observability helps achieve business KPIs (54% compared to 31% overall), achieve technical KPIs (37% compared to 35% overall), and translate technology strategy into tactical execution (37% compared to 30% overall).
In addition, 43% of all German respondents said observability increases operational efficiency (compared to 38% overall), and 36% said it improves revenue retention by deepening understanding of customer behaviors (compared to 34% overall).
To maximize the value from their observability investment in the next year, 57% planned to train staff on how to best use the observability tools they have (compared to 47% overall).
The United Kingdom and Ireland 🇬🇧 🇮🇪
Respondents surveyed in the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland see massive value in observability. The data show that cost is a challenge because they’re buying point solutions, which is an inefficient and expensive observability strategy. This multiple-point-solution strategy is causing data silos, which in turn leads to frequent outages. But they’re getting a handle on these challenges with plans to deploy more capabilities, and they continue to mature their observability practices and consolidate tools to manage costs.
More than half (51%) indicated that the top technology strategy or trend driving the need for observability in the UK and Ireland is an increased focus on security, governance, risk, and compliance (compared to 49% overall). Other top drivers included integrating business apps into workflows (40% compared to 38% overall), developing cloud-native application architectures (38%, same as overall), an increased focus on customer experience management (38% compared to 35% overall), migrating to a multi-cloud environment (34% compared to 37% overall), and prioritizing faster software release cycles (34% compared to 32% overall).
They were notably less likely than average to say adopting AI (29% compared to 38% overall) or IoT (27% compared to 33% overall) technologies are top drivers.
Let’s take a look at some other key findings for the UK and Ireland.
in the UK and Ireland said their MTTR improved to some degree since adopting observability
Downtime decreased YoY, but outages are still frequent and costly
More than a third (35%) of respondents surveyed in the UK and Ireland experienced high-business-impact outages once a week or more compared to 32% overall and 49% in 2022. However, the time it took to detect and resolve those outages improved YoY and was faster than average. Roughly two in five (42%) took at least 30 minutes to detect them (compared to 44% overall and 47% in 2022), and 52% took at least 30 minutes to resolve them (compared to 60% overall and 62% in 2022).
The cost of critical business application outages was also higher than average. More than a third (35%) said their organization spends $500,000 or more per hour of downtime (compared to 32% overall), including 24% who said their organization spends $1 million or more (compared to 21% overall). That adds up to a median annual outage cost of $10.62 million, which is almost $3 million per year more than the average.
But observability is helping. About three-quarters (74%) said their MTTR improved to some degree since adopting observability compared to 65% overall. In addition, 42% said it improved system uptime and reliability, and 32% said it mitigates service disruptions and business risk. Plus, 40% of practitioners said it improves their life the most by increasing productivity so they can find and resolve issues faster.
Observability deployment increased YoY, but full-stack observability is lagging
Two in five (40%) said they deploy 10 or more observability capabilities compared to 42% overall and 30% in 2022. The proportion that had achieved full-stack observability increased from 27% in 2022 to 32% in 2023, which is slightly below the average of 33%. In addition, only 26% said they capture telemetry data across the full tech stack, and just 3% had a mature observability practice.
About a quarter said their primary challenges to achieving full-stack observability are a lack of budget (27%) and cost (24% said it’s too expensive). Although their annual observability spend was average, with 45% saying they spend $500,000 or more and 29% saying they spend $1 million or more.
However, most (83%) planned to deploy at least one new capability in the next year, including 44% who planned to deploy five or more. The top capabilities they planned to deploy in the next one to three years include AIOps (50% compared to 41% overall), distributed tracing (47% compared to 44%), serverless monitoring (47% compared to 44% overall), ML model performance monitoring (47% compared to 48% overall), and synthetic monitoring (45% compared to 44% overall).
Tool sprawl and siloed telemetry data are challenges
More than half (58%) preferred a single, consolidated observability platform (compared to 54% overall), which was reflected in the 2.4x increase YoY in the number using one tool for observability. In general, they’re using fewer tools: the average number of tools decreased by 8% YoY and the number using five or more tools decreased by 14% (from 66% in 2022 to 57% in 2023). However, they were still more likely to use five or more tools (57% compared to 52%). About three-quarters (74%) primarily used monitoring tools to learn about software and system interruptions (compared to 58% overall), including 17% with a single tool (compared to 15% overall).
About a quarter (24%) said too many monitoring tools is a primary challenge preventing their organization from achieving full-stack observability. But 46% planned to consolidate tools in the next year to get the most value from their observability investment (compared to 41% overall).
They were also more likely to have siloed telemetry data (49% compared to 41% overall), less likely to say that users broadly have access to telemetry data and visualizations (23% compared to 27% overall), and more likely to say telemetry is unified in a single pane for consumption across teams (38% compared to 31% overall).
Observability delivers business value and an above-average ROI
More than half (53%) said their organization receives at least $500,000 per year in total value from its observability investment, including 41% who said at least $1 million and 22% who said at least $5 million per year. Their median annual ROI was above average at 114% (compared to 100% overall).
Nearly half (47%) said observability improved collaboration across teams to make decisions related to the software stack. As far as the primary benefits enabled by their observability solution, 35% said security vulnerability management and 34% said increased operational efficiency.
ITDMs were more likely than average to say observability improves their life the most by helping them achieve technical (40% compared to 35% overall) and business (37% compared to 31% overall) KPIs and drive business strategy (33% compared to 30% overall). While practitioners were more likely to say it enables less guesswork when managing complicated and distributed tech stacks (39% compared to 32% overall) and frees up time to work on other projects (35% compared to 28% overall).
To get the most value from their observability investment in the next year, 45% planned to train staff on how to best use the observability tools they have.