Alert noise
Default Datadog monitors are tuned for the median environment, not yours. The first week produces a cascade of alerts that engineers start ignoring. By month two, nobody trusts the monitors and real incidents get missed.
Adopt, HyperCare™
Post go-live Datadog support
that saves the first months from unravelling.
The first weeks after Datadog go-live are where adoption is won or lost. Noisy monitors that engineers start ignoring. Dashboards that don't reflect the system as it actually runs. Misconfigs that quietly skip key services. These problems are predictable and they're fixable, but only if they're addressed before they compound.
HyperCare is a two-week sprint, immediately after go-live, where Critical Cloud practitioners work inside your Datadog environment to fix what's wrong, not to advise on it, but to fix it.
2 weeks
Fixed-duration sprint
Post-go-live
After Datadog purchase
Adopt
Phase one of the journey
Delivery
Fixes, not recommendations
Quick facts
PhaseAdopt
DurationTwo weeks
AccessDatadog admin access, no cloud credentials required
Best whenYou've just gone live on Datadog and the setup isn't working the way it should
Related services
- Before purchase: FETCH™ for trial enablement
- Full rollout: LaunchPad™ prevents these problems at the source
- Deeper issues: HealthScan™ if problems persist beyond the sprint
The problem
Go-live is not the same as working
Every Datadog go-live produces the same set of issues. They're not signs that something went badly wrong, they're the predictable consequence of moving fast under real constraints. The question is whether they get fixed before they compound into organisational distrust of the platform.
Misconfiguration
Agents deployed in a hurry often have incorrect tags, missing integrations, or incorrect service boundaries. The telemetry looks like it's there but the data doesn't map to how the system actually works.
Dashboards that don't help
Generic dashboards show things that aren't relevant to the team's actual operational questions. After a few days of looking at metrics that don't help them do their job, engineers stop looking at Datadog.
What's included
Two weeks of hands-on fixes
HyperCare is a delivery engagement, not a consulting one. Critical Cloud practitioners work inside your environment and change things, alerts are tuned, dashboards are rebuilt, misconfigs are fixed. The output is a changed Datadog environment, not a report.
Misconfiguration identification and fix
Agent configuration review, integration validation, tag consistency audit, service boundary verification. Issues fixed directly, not flagged for someone else to fix later.
Alert tuning and noise reduction
Monitor-by-monitor review. Thresholds adjusted to environment reality. False positives suppressed. Alert fatigue addressed before it becomes an organisational habit.
Dashboard build
Operational dashboards built around your actual services, architecture, and on-call questions, replacing generic out-of-the-box views with ones engineers will actually use.
APM and log configuration
Distributed tracing verified, log pipelines confirmed, service maps checked for accuracy. The full-stack view, working correctly.
Tagging standards review
Tag consistency and naming standards reviewed and aligned, the foundation that makes filtering, ownership mapping, and cost attribution work correctly later.
Sprint close and handover
End-of-sprint documentation: what was done, what configuration choices were made, and what the team needs to know to maintain the standard that was set.
Outcomes
A team that trusts what Datadog is telling them
- Alerts that fire when they should and don't fire when they shouldn't. On-call engineers stop ignoring the signal.
- Dashboards that reflect the actual system, built around the architecture that exists, not the one that was planned
- Telemetry that's accurate, misconfigurations fixed, gaps identified, coverage that matches what the team actually operates
- A Datadog environment the team will actually use, early adopters build confidence rather than learning to work around the platform
- A clean foundation for the next phase, HealthScan, Managed Datadog, or Critical Support can build on what HyperCare establishes
FAQ
Questions about how HyperCare works.
When should HyperCare start?
Ideally within the first week after go-live. The sooner HyperCare begins, the less time engineers spend dealing with noisy monitors, broken dashboards, and misconfigurations that erode confidence. Problems fixed in week one don't compound into month-three habits.
What access does Critical Cloud need?
Datadog administrative access only, no cloud credentials required. Everything in HyperCare is delivered through Datadog itself: misconfigurations, alert tuning, dashboard builds, and telemetry validation are all accessible through the platform. HyperCare does not require access to AWS, Azure, or your source control.
Can HyperCare be extended beyond two weeks?
If the environment is larger or more complex than anticipated, scope can be adjusted. In most cases, two weeks addresses standard post-go-live issues. For environments with significant pre-existing debt, HealthScan followed by Catalyst is often a better path than extended HyperCare.
Does HyperCare work for teams migrating from another monitoring tool?
Yes. HyperCare works well for teams migrating from Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, or legacy APM tools. The post-migration state typically has instrumentation gaps and carry-over alert configurations that HyperCare resolves directly.
Related services
Where HyperCare fits in the wider journey.
LaunchPad™
If the goal is preventing post-go-live problems rather than fixing them, LaunchPad is the answer, a fully managed implementation that builds the right foundation from the start.
LaunchPad service detail →HealthScan™
If problems persist beyond HyperCare, or if the go-live happened months ago and debt has accumulated, HealthScan maps the full picture, independent, read-only, with a prioritised backlog.
HealthScan service detail →FETCH™
Still in the evaluation phase? FETCH is complimentary trial enablement, expert setup during the Datadog trial so the evaluation generates real signal, not default dashboards.
FETCH service detail →Recently gone live on Datadog?
HyperCare works best in the first two weeks. Get in touch and Critical Cloud will scope the sprint based on what your environment looks like right now.