Microsoft outages seem to be a regularly occurring event, and that’s a real problem for all of us as we grow even more dependent on technology. The bad news is that the problem won’t get any better. Here’s a look at the industry’s metrics.

From my old help desk days, we followed the “rule of five-nines.” This meant our goal was to be “up” 99.999 percent of the time. Is it attainable? It sounds like a great marketing goal, but the reality is that no global company with the size and scope of Microsoft – or Google or Amazon or anyone else – can be perfect. It doesn’t matter which company you use; their service depends on the reliability of satellites and cables for connections and the power grid to keep them online. As we use online services more extensively, we can strain the capacities of those resources.

According to ThousandEyes Internet and Cloud Intelligence from Cisco, more than 90 percent of the world’s data centers experience outages. Local ISPs (internet service providers) experience the most outages, trailed by CSPs (cloud service providers). Outages increases are attributed to more demand on their infrastructures.

You’re not going to get any better service by switching the companies you use; they all face the same challenges. And they share some challenges with you, and those will be hard to plan for based on the world’s political and economic environment. This is not a political statement; it’s just a clear-eyed look at potential problems. For example, will there be a rush to order new equipment before possible tariffs go into place? Supply and demand issues ahead of any tariff issues will undoubtedly affect prices and inventories.

What can you do? We’ve discussed many of the steps you can take, so let’s put them in perspective.

• Be backup savvy. Make sure all the data you and your employees use is backed up frequently in multiple places. In addition to backing up data, have battery backup capability so you can save data and close applications. This is more critical for desktop computers; laptops and phones have batteries.
• Keep all your software up to date. It’s all related. Up-to-date operating systems and apps perform better, and that performance may be the difference in finishing and saving critical data or losing something that will take a long time to recreate or that might be lost forever.
• Think about replacing computers and other hardware that’s approaching five years of service time. It’s nearly five years since the COVID-19 pandemic, when a lot of companies and individuals bought new hardware to be able to work effectively from remote locations. Five years is about the effective service life of most equipment, and your equipment may be on the same timeline as many other users. Our vendors and distributors have told us to expect shortages just for this reason.

We can help you set up a plan to replace your aging hardware and make sure all the systems you keep have the best prospects of making it through the next year or so. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to discuss your needs.