In recent months, many customers of IBM Cloud have expressed concerns over repeated authentication failures, which have affected many users, services and control panels. One high-profile incident lasted over two hours and 23 minutes, impacting 27 services across 10 global regions, where users were unable to log in.
This kind of event disrupts operations but also raises questions as to whether effective IBM systems are following such service failures.
IBM’s Feedback Mechanisms
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Customer Incident Reports (CIR) & Status Pages
When events disrupt services, IBM issues a Customer Incident Report (CIR). These reports explain how services have been impacted, the issues involved and what steps need to be taken towards a resolution, as well as including a Root Cause Analysis (RCA). Customers can request this if they believe they have been affected by an event which offers implications.
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Software Support Feedback Surveys
IBM now provides a short survey at the closure of support cases. This helps IBM to look into customer satisfaction and how they can improve their business operations with effective feedback provided.
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Service Request Tool & Feedback via Tickets
This system, known as the Service Request (SR) tool, focuses on allowing customers to log and track issues and follow their cases in real time. With these tickets, feedback is provided on what worked and what didn't work, especially regarding response times and resolution quality.
What Customers Are Saying
Let's take a look at what customers are saying:
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Trust: Many outages, especially those affecting login and authentication systems, have eroded confidence. When customers can't access their environment, they report feeling stranded.
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Transparency: Many users requested detailed RCAs but complained that IBM’s reports are too cursory. For example, customers want specific timelines, what service is degraded and when recovery will begin to understand what systems are failing.
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Feedback Loops: After surveys or reports, customers expect to see meaningful change, such as better communication, controls and policies, which is why feedback is essential.
How Independent Review Platforms Tie In
The best reviews guides often highlight that products or services can score higher for features and pricing, yet may fall short when it comes to support experience. Customer feedback following an event is a strong predictor of whether a customer will remain loyal or work with another competitor.
In addition, when an IBM product or service such as IBM Cloud is praised, its infrastructure is a signal that support and feedback reliability matter within technical capabilities.
What IBM Could Do Better
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Faster Reports: IBM offers faster reports and updates before the complete RCA is ready. Some feedback indicates customers feel left in the dark during extended outages.
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Communication: When anomalies occur, they ensure to warn users to reduce any long-term or higher risks
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Survey Design: IBM developers operate surveys post-incident to target the right users with questions regarding their feedback and whether they were resolved effectively.
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Improvement Logs: Maintaining a public log of changes made in response to customer feedback helps reinforce trust.
By placing communication, transparency and feedback loops at the front, IBM can turn outages and issues into opportunities to develop customer trust. These improvements not only enhance user confidence but also place IBM as a reliable business.
Case Study: The June 2, 2025 Incident
On June 2, 2025, IBM Cloud experienced a login failure that resulted in disruptions across multiple regions. The chain of events began with delayed login responses in a single area, which triggered a health check. Eventually, token expiry compounded the issue, leaving many users locked out when services at the data layer were still up.
After the event, IBM published a CIR on introducing global rate limiting and monitoring to reduce and prevent any risks. However, many customers felt measures should have been in place to mitigate any risks or impact.
Bottom Line
Technical robustness is essential, but when it fails, how a company responds, especially to feedback, can make or break customer loyalty. IBM has established many mechanisms to enhance its customer trust. But according to customer feedback, there is still room for improvement, speed and clarity.
For users of IBM services and products, it’s worth looking beyond metrics and into seeing how the provider handles incidents, bug reports and customer impact. This is often where the real value lies.