The problem of alert fatigue for on-call, DevOps, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) teams isn't just persistent; it's growing. A constant stream of notifications leads to burnout, desensitization, and a much higher risk of missing genuinely critical alerts. In fact, many security teams receive over 500 alerts daily, and 55% admit they frequently overlook important ones because of the sheer volume [5]. The modern solution is a new class of tools: AI-driven alert escalation platforms. These platforms are designed to filter noise, provide context, and ensure the right issues reach the right responders at the right time.
This article will explore how to reduce alert fatigue on-call and review some of the best on-call management tools for 2025 that leverage artificial intelligence to create a healthier, more effective on-call culture. Dealing with alert fatigue is crucial for protecting your engineers and your systems.
The Crippling Cost of Alert Fatigue
Alert fatigue is a state of mental exhaustion caused by an overwhelming number of low-priority or false-positive notifications [4]. It's more than just an annoyance—it has severe consequences. When engineers are constantly bombarded with irrelevant alerts, they become conditioned to ignore them. This can lead to:
- Delayed incident response
- Increased Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR)
- Higher potential for security breaches and major outages
This issue is well-documented in other high-stakes fields, from nurses in intensive care units becoming desensitized to critical alarms [1] to cybersecurity analysts missing genuine threats hidden in a flood of notifications [3]. When your responders start to ignore or delay acknowledging alerts, the performance and reliability of your entire on-call process weakens.
What Are AI-Driven Alert Escalation Platforms?
AI-driven alert escalation platforms are a significant evolution from traditional on-call scheduling and paging tools. They are a key part of the broader AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations) category, which is transforming how organizations manage their complex tech environments [7].
Instead of simply forwarding every alert, these platforms use AI and machine learning to make the entire process more intelligent. Core capabilities that set them apart include:
- Intelligent Noise Reduction: They automatically filter out false positives and group related alerts from different systems into a single, actionable incident.
- Automated Root Cause Analysis: By analyzing patterns, they can help connect symptoms to the underlying problem, which drastically reduces diagnostic time.
- Context-Aware Recommendations: Based on historical data from similar incidents, they can suggest remediation steps or who to involve.
These AI-powered capabilities help teams cut down on manual work and focus on what matters most: fixing the problem.
Key Features of the Best On-Call Management Tools for 2025
When evaluating platforms to combat alert fatigue, focus on features that deliver intelligence and automation, not just notifications.
Intelligent Alert Grouping and Deduplication
This is the frontline defense against alert noise. Instead of paging an engineer for every single alert fired during an outage, intelligent grouping consolidates a "storm" of related alerts into one incident. This is achieved by defining rules based on content and time windows to identify and merge duplicate or related notifications. A platform that offers sophisticated Alert Grouping can turn dozens of noisy alerts into a single, clear signal.
Flexible and Automated Escalation Policies
Static call lists are a thing of the past. Modern escalation policies must be dynamic and context-aware. Essential features include:
- Multi-step escalations that notify more people over time if an alert isn't acknowledged.
- The ability to notify specific users, on-call schedules, or entire teams based on the service or alert severity.
- Repeat notifications for critical alerts to ensure they don't get missed.
Building effective escalation policies ensures that alerts always reach someone who can take action, without needlessly disturbing others.
Deep AI and Workflow Automation
The best platforms don't stop at alerting; they help automate the entire incident response lifecycle. This is where AI truly shines, reducing the cognitive load on responders. Look for features like:
- AI-generated incident titles that are clear and descriptive.
- Automatic incident summaries for keeping stakeholders informed without manual effort.
- Conversational AI that allows engineers to ask questions and get troubleshooting tips or data directly in their chat client.
A comprehensive suite of AI and intelligence features moves your team from a reactive to a proactive incident management posture.
Comparing the Top AI-Driven Alert Escalation Platforms of 2025
Here's a look at some of the leading platforms that are helping teams manage alerts more intelligently.
Rootly: The Leader in AI-Powered Incident Management
Rootly is a comprehensive, AI-native incident management platform built to reduce manual work and manage the entire incident lifecycle. It excels in the areas most critical for fighting alert fatigue.
- Advanced Alert Grouping: Rootly’s highly configurable noise reduction turns chaotic alert storms into a single source of truth, ensuring responders get clear, actionable information.
- Powerful AI-Assisted Workflows: Beyond alerts, Rootly automates tedious tasks like creating communication channels, pulling in the right teams, updating status pages, and generating post-incident analysis.
- Deep Integration: With over 100 integrations, Rootly fits seamlessly into your existing tech stack, pulling data from monitoring, logging, and communication tools to provide complete context.
Its focus on using AI to manage incidents from start to finish makes it a powerful tool for teams looking to drastically reduce toil.
PagerDuty: The Incumbent with AIOps Features
PagerDuty is a long-standing and respected leader in on-call management and alerting. The platform has evolved to include AIOps capabilities, such as its Event Intelligence feature for alert grouping and noise reduction [8]. It remains a reliable and mature choice for organizations that need robust on-call scheduling and have started their journey toward more intelligent alerting.
Dynatrace: The AIOps Observability Powerhouse
Dynatrace is a recognized leader in the broader AIOps and observability space [6]. Its primary strength lies in its AI-powered observability engine, Davis, which provides automated root cause analysis. This is critical for supplying the context needed for smart alerting. For teams looking for deep insights into application and infrastructure performance, Dynatrace offers a powerful foundation for intelligent alert escalation.
Step-by-Step: Building a Smarter Alerting Strategy
Adopting a new tool is only part of the solution. You also need a strategy to move from a noisy, reactive alerting culture to a smart, proactive one.
Phase 1: Audit Your Existing Alerts
Before you can fix the noise, you need to understand where it's coming from.
- Map all your alert sources (monitoring tools, log aggregators, etc.).
- Identify the noisiest monitors that generate the most alerts.
- Try to quantify your false-positive rate. How many alerts are non-actionable?
- Survey your on-call team to identify their biggest pain points.
Phase 2: Implement Grouping and Noise Reduction
This phase delivers the most immediate impact on alert fatigue.
- Implement smart alert grouping and deduplication rules to consolidate redundant notifications. It's often best to start with narrow rules and short time windows, then expand.
- Refine your routing rules to ensure alerts are sent only to the team directly responsible for that service.
Phase 3: Add Context, Automation, and Ownership
Once the noise is under control, you can mature your strategy.
- Link alerts directly to relevant runbooks or documentation so responders know what to do.
- Establish clear, automated escalation policies for every service.
- Use workflow automation to handle repetitive triage tasks, like creating tickets or notifying stakeholders.
This three-phase approach provides a clear framework for improving your on-call experience and reducing alert fatigue for good.
Conclusion: Restore Focus and Build a Sustainable On-Call Culture
The answer to how to reduce alert fatigue on-call lies in adopting intelligent, AI-powered tools. Platforms like Rootly do more than just manage schedules; they actively reduce noise, automate manual tasks, and provide the context needed for faster, more effective incident response.
By investing in one of the best on-call management tools for 2025, organizations can protect their engineers' most valuable resource—their attention. This leads not only to improved system reliability but also to a healthier, more sustainable on-call experience for the people who keep your services running.
Ready to reduce toil and improve reliability within your organization? Explore how Rootly’s AI-powered incident management platform can transform your on-call practice by booking a demo today.