One of the takeaways from 2025 is the realisation that when certain online services are disrupted then businesses will be affected until those services are running as normal again (think what happened with AWS and Cloudflare briefly over the autumn).
A news story from the past week is a real life example of something a lot of us in the tech world has previously feared which – if it was successful – can make that disruption more impactful for longer than just a few hours depending on where it happens (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62040np372o) .
Online services are great when they are working however have you got a contingency plan in place if they become unavailable? Backup Continuity Plans (or BCP for short) and Disaster Recovery (DR) planning can help with this if reviewed regularly. It won’t necessarily guarantee you’ll be back in a BAU (Business As Usual) state straight away however it’ll give you guidance on what steps are needed to keep vital services running while you are waiting for “normal service” to resume.
These exercises aren’t just recommended for online technology, they are also good for other dependencies you might have for the business to run. For example:
- Car/van troubles,
- Utility outages such as electricity or water availability
Running through these exercises can be done in various forms such as an online scenario or in-person table-top exercise for an hour every few months. Not only will this help with knowing what to do in case of a failure that’s out of your hands it can also help with insurance, compliance or tender requirements.
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