In today’s business landscape, trust and reputation are the foundation upon which organizations are built. A single service outage or poor customer experience can severely damage both revenue and brand reputation. When customers or businesses encounter obstacles with their preferred vendor, they often turn to competitors – and these temporary shifts frequently become permanent changes in loyalty.

This reality has elevated operational resilience to a top priority in C-suites and boardrooms worldwide. As the saying goes, trust is lost in buckets but gained only in drops, making robust operational resilience more crucial than ever.

But what does operational resilience truly mean in practice, and why has it become such a pressing concern for enterprises?

Our interconnected nature magnifies issues

The global IT outage of July 19 last year exemplifies how the interconnected nature of modern enterprises can amplify the impact of technical failures.

Looking back at history, similar incidents involving corrupt files have occurred before. However, there’s a crucial difference: digital infrastructure wasn’t nearly as interconnected then as it is today, which meant the ripple effects were far more contained.

These recent major outages serve as a stark reminder of why resilience is critical and why swift problem identification and resolution are essential. Every second counts – not just in terms of immediate financial impact, but also in managing operational costs and protecting brand reputation. This has become even more crucial as technology stacks have grown increasingly complex since last July, with organizations now incorporating AI agents and Large Language Models (LLMs).

One thing remains certain: while digital incidents have always carried significant consequences, they will continue to occur – whether tomorrow, next week, or next year. The question isn’t if, but when.

Defining operational resilience

Building operational resilience is crucial in combating system incidents, but it requires more than just technological solutions – it demands fostering a culture of resilience throughout the organization.

While companies invest substantially in monitoring technologies and incident response systems, these tools alone cannot prevent all outages. True operational resilience emerges from the combination of three key elements: rigorous processes, a proactive mindset, and an unwavering commitment to continuous improvement.

Organizations that excel in operational resilience acknowledge a fundamental truth: even the most comprehensive monitoring systems won’t catch every problem. In fact, customers often detect issues before internal operations teams do. This reality underscores the importance of developing robust signal-capture mechanisms across all channels. For instance, organizations must establish clear pathways for customer service teams to escalate client-reported issues directly to ITOps or DevOps teams.

The bottom line? While having the right technology is important, it’s the human element that makes the difference. Success in operational resilience hinges on developing processes and cultivating a culture that empowers teams to swiftly identify and effectively address issues – regardless of whether they’re detected by machines or people.

Building a culture of continuous learning

Even with sophisticated monitoring systems and well-designed processes, unexpected issues inevitably arise. Whether it’s a hardware failure, a code change affecting specific customers, or a missed alert signal, these scenarios remind us that true resilience depends on our ability to learn, adapt, and prepare for the unexpected.

A resilient organizational culture must prioritize continuous learning. While most teams have the necessary tools to learn from incidents, the key challenge lies in effectively tapping into subject matter experts’ knowledge. These insights must be systematically captured and shared to strengthen processes and foster team-wide growth.

Currently, many organizations rely on a small group of experts who routinely handle incident remediation. These specialists instinctively know what actions to take and whom to involve. However, when these experts find themselves repeatedly addressing similar incidents, it signals a gap in the organization’s ability to translate incident learnings into lasting improvements.

Building true resilience requires breaking this cycle. Expert knowledge must be democratized to enable faster, more efficient problem-solving across the organization. This means:

• Understanding each incident’s full context and impact
• Assessing how processes and systems can be enhanced to prevent recurrence
• Identifying opportunities for automation to reduce dependency on expert intervention

At PagerDuty, we view every incident as a learning opportunity – a chance to refine response strategies, minimize recurrence risks, and evolve our operational processes. For more detailed guidance on this approach, we invite you to explore our Post-Incident HOWIE guide.

The role of AI and automation

AI and automation will play a central role in creating reliable experiences and facilitating organizational learning. The industry recognizes this shift: a striking 86% of ITOps and DevOps leaders report their organizations are progressing toward fully automated incident response processes. A further 51% say they have already deployed AI agents, with another 35% planning to deploy them within the next two years.

While digital incidents will inevitably increase in frequency, duration, and cost, organizations aren’t powerless against this trend. The path to strong operational resilience lies in combining three key elements:

• Robust processes that adapt to changing conditions
• A culture of continuous learning and improvement
• Strategic adoption of AI and automation technologies

When these elements work in harmony, organizations can create the reliable experiences that build, maintain, and strengthen customer trust in an increasingly digital world.