The Splunk State of Observability 2025 report revealed significant insights into how observability impacts modern businesses. Conducted by Cisco, this comprehensive survey involved 1,855 IT professionals from various countries. The findings highlighted the strategic importance of observability in enhancing customer experience, productivity, and guiding key business decisions.
Observability is becoming a cornerstone for decision-making at the boardroom level. The ability to monitor and derive insights from digital experiences is pivotal for businesses seeking to improve customer interactions, optimize product development, and increase service reliability. Observability’s influence extends to revenue growth and employee productivity, with 74% of surveyed professionals noting its positive impact.
The intersection of observability with Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents both opportunities and challenges. While AI enhances incident response capabilities, it also introduces complexity in managing diverse workloads. Interestingly, 76% of respondents are already incorporating AI into their observability practices, which allows more time for product innovation and improves security threat detection. However, some professionals are finding AI workload monitoring challenging, with 47% expressing the increased difficulty in their roles.
One significant advantage of observability in the AI era is its connection to OpenTelemetry. This open-source project provides organizations with a technical edge by facilitating comprehensive data collection, benefiting broader technology ecosystems. Businesses employing OpenTelemetry report improvements in revenue, operating margins, and brand perception. It also enhances employee productivity, customer experience, and resilience during incidents.
Observability leaders stand out by adopting advanced techniques like code profiling and collaboration between observability and security teams. These practices allow more precise problem identification and faster incident resolution. Performance improvements like these contribute to higher Return on Investment (ROI) for observability leaders, who see a 125% higher ROI compared to typical practices.
Shannon Kalvar, Research Director at IDC, emphasized the importance of observability, stating it’s not merely about resolving errors but making impactful business decisions swiftly and at scale. Observability is poised to be a business game-changer, enabling agile decision-making and fostering innovation in a data-centric world.
As the reliance on digital infrastructure and AI grows, observability will likely become even more essential for organizations striving for competitive advantage and operational excellence.
