A method is provided to generate a network risk heatmap. The method includes obtaining first data related to technical support and operations issues of a network that includes a plurality of network elements and second data related to updates and configurations of the network. The method involves analyzing the first data and the second to generate a device risk heatmap rule that determines a level of predictive failure risk as a function of network telemetry data indicative of real-time operations of the network. The method further includes applying the device risk heatmap rule to network telemetry data collected from the network to create a network heatmap representing a level of predictive failure risk for the plurality of network elements in the network. The method then includes instantiating a path or tunnel in the network based on the network heatmap.