Early communications lessons from the largest ever IT outage

If you’re reading this, presumably you are not one of the thousands of workers still unable to log onto their computers due to the large scale IT outage affecting myriad private and public organisations across the globe – from financial services to healthcare.

News organizations are calling this the largest IT outage in history.

It is also probably the most high-profile in history, due to the scale but also the breadth and nature of the industries affected. These include, crucially, essential national infrastructure and public services like transportation and emergency services, where disruption of any kind is felt most acutely and inevitably raises questions about the role of, and reliance on, IT infrastructure and suppliers for the basic functioning of the state and economy.

This latest incident serves to reinforce some fundamental communications lessons that tech users, and providers, of any variety should heed to ensure the possibility of outages does not present a reputational risk for brand and business.

You’re only as strong as your weakest link…

Things going according to plan or functioning as normal do not command public and media attention. It’s a different matter when things go wrong – and when they do, even the most impressive record of uninterrupted service cannot shield a company entirely from the backlash.

Reputations can rise or fall on the back of the weakest link. So, make that weakest link as strong as possible. This means responding effectively and proportionately when an issue arises, but also taking precautions beforehand to minimise the impact when a problem does occur. In respect to tech companies, this may include having back-up infrastructure in place to ensure temporary service can be provided while the issue is addressed, and back-up communications systems established to manage the understandable concern and panic that ensues from customers and stakeholders.

And you are only one link in a chain…

It is never more obvious than during a crisis just how reliant a business is with others in its network, supply chain, and/or software families. Consequently, a problem for one is inevitably a problem for others and most likely for all. As the media has already reported, questions are being asked of Microsoft about what more it could have done to prevent the outage.

And while one provider may have a solution and the communications needed to deploy it effectively, others may not.

Mid-crisis, coordinate as much as possible and manage supply chain stakeholders as a priority. In times when it’s business as usual, constantly assess network vulnerabilities to mitigate future risk.

When it comes to a crisis the whole country is a customer…

Despite its considerable size in the industry, how many people globally had heard of CrowdStrike before today? That’s all changed.

In a crisis, brands may need to communicate with audiences they have never needed to engage before. In this instance that group includes some very angry holidaymakers stuck in airports across the globe. Adjust communication accordingly. This includes…

Give the problem a name and a face…

Especially when ‘ordinary people’ have ultimately been impacted by a technical issue, such as patients in hospitals or travellers in airports, having a ‘real person’, with a face and name, who speaks on behalf of the affected company to address their concerns becomes even more important. The public in these situations want accountability. They want to know the buck stops with someone who will not rest until the issue is resolved. Statements attributed to the company overall will rarely hit the mark.

Be clear but not evasive when it comes to responsibility…

There was immediate public and media scrutiny around the CEO of CrowdStrike’s decision not to apologise for the outage in the initial statement issued on his personal social media accounts. Though the statement did accept the problem stems from a defect in one of its content updates, it did not go so far as to address the widespread impacts of the outage for customers and others, which many will have been waiting for (the apology came as a follow up much later in the day). Effective communication in these situations often means being clear about the company’s responsibility without appearing evasive. Upfront acknowledgement shows audiences you are taking this seriously and are invested in finding a fix – getting the tone and content of your comms right first time also saves painful backtracking later down the line.

Conclusion

What makes the CrowdStrike outage particularly interesting from a media perspective is that many news outlets themselves fell victim. This puts CrowdStrike in an especially unenviable position – being both the source of the story and an obstacle in the way of reporting it. This noticeably changed the tone of certain reports.

As business becomes ever more dependent on technology, both tech companies and their customers face new risks, not least including cyber attack – making communications preparations, and incident response efficacy, essential. Crises happen, but often it is how the incident is handled, including through communications, that can make or break reputation – or at least go a long way to repairing it.