Four-month-long software delays are costing UK enterprises hundreds of thousands of pounds each year, study finds.
According to a new report, 82% of UK IT teams report software delays as average deployment cycles slip far below industry benchmarks.
UK IT teams are performing below industry standards in terms of software deployments, says a study by Gearset – State of Salesforce DevOps Report 2025, the Salesforce DevOps platform. Data reveals deployments were 26% more likely to be delayed than delivered early, with delays affecting 82% of businesses and costing them an average of £107,000 per year.
The survey was conducted among 200 Enterprise IT decision makers involved or influential in the procurement of DevOps tools in organisations with 3,000-plus employees across the UK. Interviews were conducted online by Sapio Research in March 2025 using an email invitation and an online survey.
British businesses’ software deployments performance levels are poor compared against industry standards from Google’s most recent DORA report. The average organisation deploys relatively infrequently (once every 29 days on average), with delays holding these up by an average of 3.8 months. The average lead time for changes (17 days) and failed deployment recovery time (5 days) also ranked as low performing.
Under-resourced development teams (51%) were the most-cited reason for this sluggish national performance. In this case, lacking the people and tools to deploy more frequently and successfully is an issue that exacerbates itself. Skills shortages have impacted 87% of IT teams, making it harder to use applications that can ease already stretched teams. More than two-fifths (43%) cited implementing and maintaining automation tools as the top consequence of the skills shortage.
A misalignment between business leaders and IT departments is obscuring the route to a solution, with each telling different stories on the success of deployments and causes of delays. When asked about the success of delivering deployments on time, business leaders (10% delayed vs. 40% early) had a far more optimistic view than team leaders (52% delayed vs. 2% early). Business leaders were also alone in blaming the development of AI tools (54%) for delays, despite a lack of automation in software development pipelines being the second largest reason for delays (30%).
“IT teams in the UK are capable of performing at the elite level with the right people and tools, but misalignment and underinvestment is causing them to stall,” said Jack McCurdy, DevOps Advocate at Gearset.
“Breaking the cycle of delays requires businesses to close the gap between leadership and IT teams, to ensure that deployments are considered as a core part of a business’ wider strategy. IT teams know what needs fixing: better automation and more skilled staff. But unless IT teams and leadership can bridge the gap to align with those priorities, delays will continue to cost time, money and competitiveness.”
