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March 16, 2018

Cloud Outage – who is responsible?

Despite the number of organisations adopting cloud computing, only a few know the responsibility and cost implications when things go wrong.

By April Slattery

Majority of organisations are unaware of the costs and responsibilities for a cloud outage, according to new research.

Veritas Technologies carried out a survey on IT leaders to discover their knowledge on cloud outages. Most companies are unaware about the costs associated with a cloud outage and who is responsible for getting systems back online.

Over three quarters (77%) of organisations are unaware of the financial implications a cloud outage can bring to their business. Furthermore, there is also a lack of awareness around who is responsible for restoring files after a cloud outage.

In response to holds the responsibility 66% of respondents said the obligation lies with the supplier primarily, with just over three quarters (76%) suggesting it falls on them to put workloads back online.

Cloud Outage – who is responsible?

Individuals are just as responsible as suppliers.

“Organisations are clearly lacking understanding of the anatomy of a cloud outage,” Mike Palmer, Executive VP and Chief Product Officer at Veritas, said. “Recovery is a joint responsibility between the cloud service provider and the business. Immediate recovery from a cloud outage is absolutely within an organisation’s control and responsibility to perform if they take a proactive stance on application uptime in the cloud.”

The survey also revealed that almost all (96%) of IT leaders will be moving to the cloud within the next one to two years, therefore the understanding of responsibility for cloud outages is crucial. Veritas’ survey revealed that workers need re-educating about cloud outages, as 38% of respondents believed they lasted less than 15 minutes per month when in fact they were over this at 16 minutes.

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Another survey from Lloyd’s of London demonstrated the impact a cloud outage can have on a business, reiterating the importance of knowing who holds responsibility and how to prevent cloud outages. The survey found that if Amazon, Google and Microsoft’s Cloud went offline for up to six days, it could mean customers lose up to $14.7bn in business.

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The survey from Veritas spoke to 1,200 IT business leaders from around the world.

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