Technology drives virtually every business and government operation. But what happens when the very technology we depend on goes down?
Recent mass outage incidents have underscored the critical importance of having a robust contingency plan in place in case of a technical emergency. It’s not enough to have robust cybersecurity measures: Organizations must be prepared to communicate outside their own network and coordinate a response in case of a total system failure.
When Communications Go Dark: The Dynamic Risk of IT Outages
Dynamic risk, when a single incident leads to a chain of unexpected events, is equally as dangerous in the digital realm as it is in the physical world. Many technology outages only last hours before service is restored, but an inability to communicate in the meantime can make a bad situation worse.
In 2024 alone, there have been several disruptive outages with long-lasting impacts:
- AT&T Outages, February 22 and June 4: During the 12-hour outage in February, a faulty process caused nearly two million AT&T customers in the U.S. to lose access to internet and other services. A second outage in June caused connection issues with other carriers and disrupted calls to 911.
- CrowdStrike Outage, July 19: A malfunction experienced by cyber security company CrowdStrike caused computers running Microsoft Windows to crash. Organizations around the world were unable to function, leading to what experts predict will be billions of dollars in loss.
In the case of the CloudStrike outage, “blue screens of doom” meant Microsoft users who relied on desktop applications couldn’t access their systems – including computer-based communications channels like email and chat. For organizations without alternate methods of mass communication, that meant they couldn’t even contact employees or vendors to let them know their operations were down.
While rebooting computers fixed the problem, those organizations with no alternate means of communication lost at least half a day of work. And their problems didn’t just end when systems came back online – supply chains were disrupted, travel was grounded and vital processes were paused.
At the very least, an inability to communicate during an emergency creates confusion. At worst, a halt in critical operations means people in need can’t reach or receive emergency services, leading to dire outcomes.
How It Works: OnSolve Mass Notification
Discover exactly how our mass notification capabilities help organizations keep their people safe and informed. Learn about key features, answers to the most common communications questions and see how fast and easy it is to send an alert.
Take A Proactive Approach to Technology Outages
In the case of a technology outage, many companies might not even have a way to communicate with their employees or coordinate a response in real time. That’s why it’s important to plan ahead and establish a communications procedure that doesn’t rely on access to a computer or your internal network. Here are three tips to ensure your organization is prepared to reach people quickly and effectively in the event of a mass outage.
1. Evaluate your existing technology.
One way to minimize the impacts of an outage on your organization is to make sure you have ways to communicate “out of band” – that is, outside the company’s primary network. Look for software hosted on its own cloud infrastructure, which will remain secure even if local servers go down.
When it comes to IT emergencies, the more channels, the better. A robust multi-modal system that lets you send alerts via email, SMS, app-based push notifications, desktop alerts and voice makes it possible to keep your people informed and protected – even if some channels aren’t available.
Multilingual alerts and the ability to target people’s personal devices further increases your reach, while access to a secure conference bridge enables leadership and response teams to collaborate in real time.
2. Define your communications strategy.
Make an emergency communications plan now so you’re not scrambling to find the right contact list or craft emergency messages when systems are down.
Prioritize what technologies should be used and in what order so communications won’t be completely halted if one system or platform is affected. Practice using different channels to make sure you know how they work if your primary system is unavailable. Create alerts for different crises and recipients in advance to save time and reduce stress during an outage.
And don’t forget third-party relationships. In a mass outage event, third-party vendor contacts may also be affected, so make sure you have an out-of-band way to communicate with them. Even during a limited outage, it’s critical to business continuity to notify vendors or employees of disruptions to operations and provide guidance on what actions they should take.
3. Review and improve.
Always conduct a postmortem after any critical event. Discuss your response plans, how you acted in the moment and ways you can improve for the future. This is especially important when advocating for IT security investments with leadership.
A robust critical event management platform with reporting and analytics can help you determine the success of your emergency communications by answering questions like:
- Who were you able to reach, and how?
- Which channels were most affected?
- How quickly were systems restored?
- Were there any problems sending or receiving messages?
Records of communications on all channels proves how effective your response was, while providing evidence of areas that need improvement.
Technology outages can be crippling, but you can safeguard operations and minimize disruptions with proactive planning and a system that keeps the lines of communication open, even when your network is down. To learn more, download How It Works: OnSolve Mass Notification.
