Splunk State of Observability 2026: Avoiding the Hidden Costs of AI Agents
PR Newswire•20/10/2026•08:00 ET
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Key Highlights
- ➤Cisco released the Splunk State of Observability 2026 report, surveying 2,050 professionals across 10 countries
- ➤87% prioritize AI monitoring, but 54% lack clear business outcomes tied to it
- ➤55% cannot control AI costs, while 60% say unexpected billing spikes cause greater operational strain
- ➤57% report telemetry costs eclipsed the infrastructure costs being monitored
- ➤81% say AI workload monitoring increased collaboration between observability and security teams
Expert Statements
Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer at Cisco
“Most companies will soon have far more agents at work than people”
Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer at Cisco
“Managing agents at scale requires reimagining both security and observability. Have our agents been compromised? Are they doing their job well? In the world of agentic AI, these questions are inseparable, and they're moving at machine speed. This report shows that observability and security data are converging, and that teams need to collaborate more than ever. Common data platforms that help us detect and respond to issues in real-time are the key to deploying agents we can trust at scale.”
Kamal Hathi, SVP and GM, Splunk at Cisco
“For today's enterprises, the excitement of AI is clashing with the reality of the bill”
Kamal Hathi, SVP and GM, Splunk at Cisco
“We believe observability is the essential bridge to restoring predictability and confidence to the agentic AI era. By providing the necessary guardrails and incorporating observability into an AI tokenomics framework, leaders can transform AI from an unpredictable expense into a measurable and strategic long-term business investment.”
Splunk State of Observability 2026: Avoiding the Hidden Costs of AI Agents PR Newswire
New research reveals how observability restores financial predictability as enterprises navigate rising telemetry costs and unpredictable AI bills
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