A recent study by Splunk reveals that three-quarters (75%) of UK IT teams experienced outages in 2025 due to missed alerts, highlighting a growing crisis in operational resilience driven by alert fatigue.
The global “State of Observability 2025” report, which surveyed 1,855 IT operations and engineering professionals—including 300 in the UK—uncovers the mounting pressures faced by IT teams amid an overwhelming volume of alerts and tool sprawl.
Alert fatigue has become a particularly acute issue in the UK, with over half (54%) of respondents reporting that false alerts are damaging morale, and 15% admitting to ignoring or suppressing alerts—a figure higher than the global average of 13%. The survey identifies tool sprawl, false alerts, and the sheer volume of notifications as the main contributors to this stress, creating a challenging environment where critical security alerts may be overlooked.
The problem is compounded by unclear incident ownership, with only 21% of UK respondents stating they regularly assign incidents to specific teams—an indicator of mature incident response practices. Meanwhile, 36% rarely isolate incidents at all. This ambiguity increases the likelihood that vital security alerts go unaddressed, exposing organizations to potential attacks, breaches, and costly downtime.
Experts argue that addressing these issues requires breaking down silos across teams and adopting more effective observability practices. Better collaboration and clearer ownership can help organizations enhance resilience, safeguard their systems, and support their staff more effectively.
“IT teams are drowning in noise. Every day, they’re confronted with alerts, but without proper context or designated ownership, it’s nearly impossible to determine which alerts matter most,” said Petra Jenner, SVP & General Manager for EMEA at Splunk. “This lack of clarity puts immense pressure on teams, slows response times, and increases the risk of critical issues slipping through the cracks.”
She emphasized that when vital alerts are lost amid the chaos, organizations risk experiencing downtime and customer disruptions that can lead to revenue losses and damage to reputation. To combat alert fatigue, Jenner recommends that organizations focus on supporting their IT staff’s psychological wellbeing by deploying observability tools capable of accurately triaging alerts, providing context, suggesting remediation steps, and reducing the number of interfaces teams must navigate.
The report also highlights the importance of stronger collaboration between observability and security teams. When these functions work more closely, ownership becomes clearer, and fewer alerts are missed. Globally, 64% of respondents noted that enhanced cooperation reduces customer-impacting incidents. Combining mature observability practices with cross-departmental collaboration can significantly bolster operational resilience and protect organizations from both technical threats and reputational harm.
In an environment where alert overload threatens to undermine security and efficiency, fostering better integration and smarter tools is vital for future-proofing IT operations.
