Technology downtime is an unavoidable reality. Globally, online downtime is estimated to cost companies $400 billion per year. Whether it stems from human error, software bugs, acts of nature, or scheduled maintenance, it happens. Regardless of the cause, the repercussions can be devastating. Operations can grind to a halt, productivity plummets, revenue streams slow down, and a brand’s reputation can suffer severe and lasting damage.
Unexpected failures are inevitable, even more so as our IT environments become more distributed, diverse, and complex. Organisations can, however, take back control and significantly minimise the risks they face by building resilience into the set-up of their technology operations. Achieving this becomes significantly more feasible when adopting a “Triple A” approach: Attitude, Ability, and Agility.
Attitude: Giving Resilience the Respect It Deserves
Organisations can approach resilience with confidence and purpose. This requires a solution-focused strategy, one where a clear downtime plan is agreed upon and applications are regularly tested so teams are ready to respond quickly. It also allows teams to better embrace a learning mindset – analysing past vulnerabilities and taking the time and resources to understand what went wrong during downtime. By making this a habit, organisations will not only prevent repeat issues but also foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Investing in analytics tools to monitor critical applications is also crucial to helping organisations stay one step ahead and anticipate challenges, stopping issues before they start.
With the right processes and technology in place, organisations can proactively prepare themselves. The key component is having the right attitude, which prioritises the need for investment and effective deployment.
Ability: Building Business-Critical Skills
True resilience also hinges on team ability. With technology evolving rapidly, regular upskilling and retraining at every level is essential. Research shows that 70% of workers in the UK feel they are not gaining digital skills fast enough to meet their career needs, and a global study from McKinsey shows that almost half of the workforce (48%) actively wants more digital training. The appetite from employees is there, and organisations need to ensure they have the right processes and protocols in place to deliver on this.
This is especially important given IT roles are shifting from manual backup management to a more automated, scalable approach to data resilience. IT administrators must be ready for this change. That means equipping teams to leverage immutable, encrypted, and automated backup solutions to prevent data loss and boost resilience. Staff should be trained on automated recovery processes to minimise downtime and respond quickly when issues arise. Robust security controls – such as encryption, anomaly detection, and role-based access – must be part of everyday practice to safeguard data and reduce cyber risk.
Resilience, security, and compliance are only possible if employees have the know-how to make it happen. By making training and skill-building central, organisations can ensure multiple team members are proficient in critical areas of IT and that they are always ready to adapt, protect, and recover– no matter what the future brings.
Agility: Being on the Front Foot When It Comes to Innovation
Having the agility to adapt quickly to evolving technology is also an imperative. This requires not only planning for the adoption of emerging technologies but also maintaining a proactive stance against potential threats. No more is this important than in cybersecurity, where threat actors are becoming increasingly sophisticated and persistent.
UK businesses, large and small, have experienced nearly 9 million cybercrimes in the past year alone. As tactics evolve – from social engineering to ransomware – organisations must remain vigilant and on the front foot.
This means no longer viewing cybersecurity as a one-time task or a state where they can declare themselves “fully secure.” It needs to be an “always-on” endeavor. It is vital for them to be agile in their approach, constantly prepared for new challenges, new methods of attack, and the ever-changing nature of the threats they face.
By embracing the “Triple A” approach – cultivating the right attitude, developing team ability, and fostering agility – organisations can not only mitigate the devastating financial impact of downtime but also transform their operations into robust, resilient infrastructure. In doing so, they will be best placed to maintain security and operational resiliency no matter what challenges and threats they face. Failing to do so can be a hugely costly mistake, and one that they cannot afford to risk.
Bhooshan Thakar is the VP & GM of Data Resilience at Arctera.
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