The past several weeks have delivered record-breaking natural disasters, technology failures and systemic issues arising from the U.S. federal government shutdown. Amazon Web Services (AWS) was hit with widespread outages October 20, disrupting operations for a variety of online services. The following week an Azure Cloud outage affected airline booking systems, leaving travelers stuck. No technology is immune from outages that can impact millions of customers and users.
Hurricane Melissa broke records for a Category 5 storm, devastating Jamaica and causing widespread damage to Cuba and the island of Hispaniola. The storm broke records both in wind velocity and timing, the latest in the season we’ve recorded an Atlantic storm this powerful.
The prolonged government shutdown also is causing disruption and crises for people and organizations across the U.S. These unlikely but highly impactful crises remind us of the importance of crisis planning and preparedness, for yourself, your family, your organization, and your stakeholders. Crisis planning is no longer optional. Every organization needs to be ready for the inevitable. It will happen.
