INTELLIGENT IT RESILIENCE

A new SolarWinds study reveals a growing gap between IT leaders’ confidence in their organisations’ ability to withstand disruption and the daily reality of service outages, inefficient workflows, and strained resources.

he 2025 IT Trends Report, Fragile to Agile: The State of

Operational Resilience, draws on responses from more than

600 IT professionals across nine countries, including over 200 in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa( EMEA) region. While 89 % of EMEA IT leaders describe their organisations as resilient, only a third report feeling“ very resilient” today. Nearly half admit to spending up to a quarter of their working week resolving critical issues and service disruptions.

The findings point to persistent operational weaknesses that technology investment alone has not solved. A significant proportion of respondents – 35 % – say cumbersome internal processes remain the most significant barrier to building stronger resilience. Another 38 % say they do not have enough skilled staff to prevent or respond to disruptions effectively.

Abdul Rehman Tariq Butt, Regional Director for SolarWinds in the Middle East, said the data reflected a wider challenge in the region.“ There has been tremendous investment in digital transformation and infrastructure modernisation. But resilience isn’ t about throwing money at the problem. Many IT teams are still firefighting because processes are too slow or fragmented, and there aren’ t enough people with the right expertise. Without fixing those fundamentals, resilience remains a promise on paper rather than something felt day-to-day.”

Budgets drained by incidents

The report also highlights the cost of this fragility. Across EMEA, a quarter of organisations dedicate between 21 % and 30 % of their IT budgets to preventing or managing disruptions. These costs are not only financial. Seventy-one per cent of respondents report a negative impact on customer experience when systems fail, 32 % cite revenue loss, and 28 % say repeated outages have damaged their organisation’ s reputation.

Despite widespread investment in tools and platforms designed to increase agility, many IT leaders acknowledge that fragmented systems and manual workflows are hampering progress. Those who

spend over half of their time fixing outages are more likely to report staffing shortages, higher operational costs, and lower morale among IT teams.

Building resilience requires more than tools

Cullen Childress, Chief Product Officer at SolarWinds, said resilience had become a strategic priority for organisations trying to stay competitive in fast-moving markets.“ Technology can only deliver value when it is supported by the right processes and people. Too often, teams are burdened with multiple tools that do not integrate well, and outdated workflows that slow them down. True resilience comes from creating environments where IT can be proactive, not just reactive.”

There has been tremendous investment in digital transformation and infrastructure modernisation. But resilience isn’ t about throwing money at the problem.

Respondents across sectors – including government, financial services, energy and healthcare – said they were focusing on streamlining processes, documenting recovery playbooks, upskilling staff, and consolidating technology stacks. Yet the report concludes that many are still operating in reactive mode, spending far more time managing crises than preventing them.

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