A report shows declining data center power outage figures, but human errors remain responsible for most major incidents.
The reliability of data centers is improving, but human errors remain one of the most challenging problems. According to the annual Outage Analysis Report by the American Uptime Institute, humans play a direct or indirect role in 66 to 80 percent of serious incidents.
Fewer Incidents, but Greater Consequences
The number of reported outages has decreased: 53 percent of respondents reported an outage in the past three years, compared to 60 percent in 2022 and 78 percent in 2020. Only 9 percent of outages in 2024 were severe or very severe, the lowest percentage ever measured.
However, the costs and impact of outages are increasing. Power-related issues, in particular, remain the primary cause of major outages, accounting for more than half of all cases. The failure of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) is cited as the most common problem.
Human Factor Remains the Largest
Human errors caused a major outage in 40 percent of organizations in the past three years. In 58 percent of those cases, a procedure was not followed; in 45 percent, the procedure itself was inadequate. Moreover, the share of procedural errors increased by 10 percentage points compared to last year, possibly due to rapid growth and staff shortages.
According to Uptime, training and real-time support can be more effective than better documentation alone. Four out of five organizations believe that improved management practices could have prevented their last outage.
While the figures are declining, Uptime warns of increasing risks due to AI, automation, and more complex integration with IT and OT systems. These are causes for more operational errors and cyberattacks.