Riverbed Global Survey 2026: The State of Autonomous IT Operations explores the path towards autonomous IT operations and the new capabilities required across visibility, data quality, infrastructure simplicity, governance and human oversight to help enterprises operationalize at scale
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – October 6, 2026 – Riverbed, the leader in AIOps for observability, today announced the results of the Riverbed Global Survey on ‘The State of Autonomous IT Operations’ which reveals that 90% of organizations want to use agentic AI to drive autonomous IT operations. However, while 76% say that agentic AI is central to their future IT strategy, and 91% agree that AI investments have met or exceeded their expectations, 77% state that their organization is hesitant to allow AI to make operational decisions without human approval. As organizations seek AI they can understand, trust and govern, 92% agree that AI observability and governance will become a critical new IT domain to manage.*
AI has crossed the threshold from experimentation into the IT operating model, as organizations accelerate efforts to operationalize AI and move toward autonomous IT. The research found that every organization surveyed views agentic AI as important to its future IT strategy, including 76% who consider it critical or very important. As AI delivers tangible business value, 63% have increased AI investment and 91% say AI has met or exceeded ROI expectations. With 90% expecting to achieve human-supervised or highly autonomous IT operations within the next two years, the challenge has shifted from AI adoption to AI execution at scale.
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The race to autonomous IT operations has begun
The path to Autonomous IT Operations is accelerating. While organizations expect fully autonomous IT operations to become a reality within the next three years, progress remains in its early stages, with only 19% of IT operations automated today. At the same time, 69% of respondents favor human-supervised AI, highlighting the need for trust, governance, and oversight as enterprises accelerate toward autonomy. The destination is increasingly clear; the question is how organizations will get there.
The survey included 1,200 business decision-makers, IT leaders, and technical specialists across seven countries and a range of industries, providing insight into the current state of autonomous IT operations. It explores how business leaders and technical specialists see the potential of agentic, and the progress companies have made with AI over the past 12 months. The research also identifies the differences between executive ambition and technical reality; the gaps and barriers holding back autonomous IT operations; and the need for visibility and governance, as the vast majority of respondents agree that AI observability and governance will become a critical new IT domain in the future.
“The journey to autonomous IT is well underway. Organizations increasingly see AI as the path to more resilient, efficient and proactive IT, but our research shows significant gaps between ambition and readiness,” said Jim Gargan, Chief Marketing Officer, at Riverbed. “While 96% say multi-domain visibility is important for AI-driven IT operations, only 17% have fully unified visibility across networks, applications, endpoints and cloud. At the same time, 92% believe AI observability and governance will become a critical new IT domain, yet 77% remain hesitant to allow AI to make operational decisions without human approval. The next phase of AI is not simply more automation, but AI that enterprises can understand, trust and govern. Riverbed is helping customers close these gaps with unified observability, trusted data, AI governance and intelligent automation, accelerating toward zero-disruption autonomous IT operations.”
Autonomous IT ambitions outpace enterprise readiness
While enthusiasm for AI-driven IT operations is high, the research reveals a significant gap between ambition and operational readiness. Only 41% of organizations say their environments are fully prepared for AI, while, on average, just 19% of IT operations are currently automated. Adoption at scale remains limited, with only 8% reporting enterprise-wide AI-enabled operations and just 9% of AI initiatives fully deployed across their organizations. These findings suggest that despite aggressive AI ambitions, most organizations remain in the early stages of operationalizing AI and have substantial work ahead to achieve autonomous IT operations.
Data Quality and Complete Visibility are Foundational to Autonomous IT
The research identifies three routes to success with AI-driven IT operations – high-quality data, multi-domain visibility, and tool consolidation – yet significant gaps remain. While 96% of organizations recognize that multi-domain visibility is critical, only 17% have achieved fully unified visibility across networks, applications, and endpoints, revealing a 79-point reality gap. At the same time, just 23% rate their data granularity as excellent and only 21% say the same of data quality. Tool sprawl further slows progress, with 91% agreeing tool consolidation reduces friction and 90% say a unified platform simplifies problem identification and resolution. The findings highlight that complete visibility and high-quality data are the foundations of AI.
The impact of autonomous IT on the Service Desk and DEX
The research points to a major shift in the role of the service desk and digital employee experience (DEX) in the age of AI. Nearly all respondents (93%) expect AI-powered operational intelligence to transform frontline IT and service desk capabilities within two years. By 2028, 27% predict autonomous operations will significantly reduce service desk activity, while 22% believe agentic AI will enable teams to focus on more complex issues; and 35% expect service desk roles to evolve from reactive support to proactive prevention. Yet today, only 34% say their IT operations teams are extremely effective at using AI to identify and resolve issues before employees notice a disruption.
Security, trust, and oversight must be addressed to get ahead
The research found that organizations are struggling to get ahead of the curve with agentic due to several clear challenges. Companies name security and compliance concerns (55%), the risk of operational disruption (45%), and lack of trust in AI decisions (39%) as their top three obstacles. Many believe that AI usage requires more oversight, including 51% who are concerned about agentic performance and reliability.
Trust and Governance Become the New AI Imperative
As AI becomes a core part of the IT operating model, the need for stronger governance is becoming increasingly clear. Just 42% of respondents, and only 36% of technical specialists, are highly confident in their organization’s AI governance, while 77% remain hesitant to allow AI to make operational decisions without human approval and only 24% extensively trust AI recommendations with limited human review. As a result, 92% of respondents believe AI observability and governance will become a critical new IT domain, reinforcing that successful AI adoption depends on AI that organizations can govern and trust.
The Riverbed Global Survey on ‘The State of Autonomous IT Operations’ polled 1,200 business decision-makers, IT leaders, and technical specialists across seven countries, with an average of $2.3 billion in annual revenue. Key industries included manufacturing, financial services, government and public sector, energy and healthcare providers, among others. The survey was conducted by Coleman Parkes Research in July 2026.
To view the complete findings, download the full report here: riverbed.com/autonomousIT-
* Note: Unless otherwise noted, all data and percentages referenced in the press release is based on responses from the Riverbed Global Survey 2026: The State of Autonomous IT Operations. Survey respondents included IT, business, and public-sector decision makers across seven countries and six industries.
About Riverbed
Riverbed, the leader in AIOps for observability, helps organizations optimize their users’ experiences by leveraging AI automation for the prevention, identification, and resolution of IT issues. With over 20 years of experience in data collection and AI and machine learning, Riverbed’s open and AI-powered observability platform and solutions optimize digital experiences and greatly improve IT efficiency. Riverbed also offers industry-leading Acceleration solutions that provide fast, agile, secure acceleration of any app, over any network, to users anywhere. Together with our thousands of market-leading customers globally – including 95% of the FORTUNE 100 – we are empowering next-generation digital experiences. Learn more at riverbed.com
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