IT teams overconfident in resilience as outages still consume a quarter of their time

SolarWinds has released its 2025 IT Trends Report. While the findings show rising confidence in operational resilience, they also highlight that day-to-day issues continue to drain time and resources.

Based on a survey of over 200 IT professionals across Europe, including the UK, the report shows that over half (55%) of European IT leaders consider their organisation resilient, though just one in three (34%) feel it’s ‘very resilient’. In the UK, 44% describe their organisation as resilient, while more than half (52%) feel ‘very resilient.’

Despite this optimism, the data suggests that much of this confidence could be superficial. In the UK, 44% of IT leaders spend a quarter of their working month resolving critical issues and service disruptions. Alarmingly, nearly a third (32%) report spending even more time, with an unlucky few saying up to 90% of their month is consumed by such problems. This highlights a clear disconnect between perceived confidence and the day-to-day reality of managing IT disruptions.

Crucially, nearly half of participants point to cumbersome processes, rather than technology, as the biggest hurdle to stronger resilience. Almost half of UK IT pros (49%) blame internal processes during periods of disruption, while 39% state insufficient staffing as a key barrier to resilience.

Commenting on these internal gaps between confidence and capability, Sascha Giese, tech evangelist at SolarWinds, said “This report confirms what we hear from our community and customers across the globe. Teams are dedicating real budget and effort to resilience, but many remain trapped in reactive mode. Technology alone cannot solve problems – it needs people with the knowledge and expertise, plus investment, to be able to succeed. Organisations must adopt new ways of working, in order to shift from firefighting to innovation, without compromising reliability.”

Despite these hurdles, UK IT teams are taking a proactive approach and investing heavily in operational resilience. The majority (63%) report that up to 30% of their IT budget is now devoted to disruption prevention. Across Europe, more than two thirds (69%) are upgrading tools, training and playbooks to improve internal recovery and response processes for when disruptions occur.

“In today’s competitive environment, operational resilience is no longer a nice-to-have but rather a strategic imperative,” added Cullen Childress, Chief Product Officer at SolarWinds. “Achieving it requires more than just adopting new technology. Organisations must equip their IT teams with the right tools, workflows, and talent to stay agile and responsive. When obstacles are removed and resilience is built into daily operations, IT becomes a true driver of competitive