Scaling Observability and Reliability in the Era of Cloud-Native Delivery

Scaling Observability and Reliability in the Era of Cloud-Native Delivery

Overview

As cloud-native environments scale, operations teams are under growing pressure to maintain reliability, manage exploding telemetry volumes, and connect platform performance directly to business outcomes. theCUBE Research’s Day 2 Operations Survey Research Report examines how enterprises are evolving their observability practices, reliability strategies, and AI-powered operations. The findings point to strong momentum: monitoring and observability are now top priorities for nearly all organizations, SLO tracking is nearly universal, and AIOps is rapidly shifting from experimental capability to operational necessity.

At the same time, execution challenges remain. Cost, tool complexity, cultural resistance, and inconsistent visibility across containerized and serverless workloads continue to limit effectiveness. High-performing organizations are differentiating themselves by tying observability to business metrics, embedding operational intelligence into daily workflows, and investing in proactive, AI-enhanced operations rather than reactive monitoring. This report highlights where the industry is making progress, where friction persists, and how leaders can scale reliability and resilience as cloud-native delivery becomes the enterprise default.

Key Takeaways

  • Observability is now a strategic priority, not a tactical tool: Nearly all organizations prioritize cloud and application monitoring, with SLO tracking applied to the vast majority of internally developed applications.
  • AIOps is becoming table stakes: Most teams now view AI-powered operations as essential or a key differentiator for managing complexity, reducing noise, and accelerating root cause analysis.
  • Visibility gaps still limit effectiveness: Many organizations report less than 50% coverage across containerized and serverless workloads, highlighting ongoing challenges with instrumentation and tooling sprawl.
  • Investment momentum is strong: Over 85% of organizations plan near- or mid-term investment in observability and AI-driven operations, signaling a clear shift toward proactive, intelligence-driven reliability practices.

Authors

  • Efficiently Connected
  • Paul Nashawaty

    Paul Nashawaty, Practice Leader and Lead Principal Analyst, specializes in application modernization across build, release and operations. With a wealth of expertise in digital transformation initiatives spanning front-end and back-end systems, he also possesses comprehensive knowledge of the underlying infrastructure ecosystem crucial for supporting modernization endeavors. With over 25 years of experience, Paul has a proven track record in implementing effective go-to-market strategies, including the identification of new market channels, the growth and cultivation of partner ecosystems, and the successful execution of strategic plans resulting in positive business outcomes for his clients.

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  • With over 15 years of hands-on experience in operations roles across legal, financial, and technology sectors, Sam Weston brings deep expertise in the systems that power modern enterprises such as ERP, CRM, HCM, CX, and beyond. Her career has spanned the full spectrum of enterprise applications, from optimizing business processes and managing platforms to leading digital transformation initiatives.

    Sam has transitioned her expertise into the analyst arena, focusing on enterprise applications and the evolving role they play in business productivity and transformation. She provides independent insights that bridge technology capabilities with business outcomes, helping organizations and vendors alike navigate a changing enterprise software landscape.

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