Why We Need to Talk About Cloud ‘Rainy Days’
Hi everyone, John here! I want to share a little story with you. A while back, I was invited to speak at a big tech conference hosted by one of the major cloud companies. I was excited to talk about all the amazing things you can do with the cloud, but also about the importance of being prepared for when things don’t go as planned. You know, having a Plan B.
Just before my talk, I got an email. The organizers told me I had to remove a few slides. The slides in question? They talked about times when cloud services went down, and the risks of relying too much on one company. They said mentioning failures didn’t fit their story of being perfectly reliable. I was a bit frustrated, but I did as they asked. During my talk, I still emphasized the need to prepare for disruptions. The audience had a mixed reaction—some people were nodding along, while the organizers at the back looked pretty uncomfortable. I guess it’s no surprise I haven’t been invited back!
But that experience just proves a point I strongly believe in: Talking about risks isn’t about being negative. It’s about being smart and resilient. It’s our job to make sure our businesses can keep running, no matter what happens. And if that makes some people uncomfortable, then I know I’m doing my job right.
Who’s Responsible When the Cloud Fails? (Hint: It’s You, Too!)
Here’s a common misunderstanding a lot of beginners have. They think that when they move their business to the “cloud,” they’re handing over all responsibility to the cloud company. That’s not quite right. It’s more of a partnership, what the industry calls a “shared responsibility model.”
Think of it like renting an apartment. The landlord is responsible for the building itself—the plumbing, the electricity, the roof. They make sure the building is safe and functional. But you, the tenant, are responsible for what’s inside your apartment. You have to lock your door, you can’t leave the water running and flood the place, and you’re responsible for your own furniture and belongings.
The cloud is very similar. The cloud provider (like Amazon, Microsoft, or Google) is responsible for their massive data centers—the physical computers, the cooling systems, the security of the building. That’s their “infrastructure.” But you are responsible for how you use their service—the applications you run, the data you store, and who you give access to. You’re responsible for having a backup plan if a service you rely on suddenly goes offline.
Lila: “Hey John, you mentioned ‘infrastructure.’ Can you explain what that is in simple terms?”
John: “Of course, Lila! Great question. Think of infrastructure as all the heavy-duty, physical stuff that makes the cloud work. It includes the huge warehouses full of powerful computers, called servers. It’s also the network cables, the power supplies, the air conditioning to keep them from overheating, and the physical security like guards and cameras. It’s the ‘building’ in our apartment analogy that the cloud company owns and maintains for you.”
It’s Not Just a ‘What If’ — It Really Happens
Even the biggest and best companies have bad days. It’s important to remember that cloud providers, despite their amazing technology, are not perfect. Outages happen, and when they do, they can cause major headaches for everyone who relies on them.
You’ve probably even experienced the effects of a cloud outage without realizing it! Here are a few big examples:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2021: One of the world’s biggest cloud providers had a major outage right during the busy holiday season. Many online stores couldn’t process orders, and delivery companies that relied on the cloud had their logistics systems go down.
- Microsoft Azure in 2022: A failure in Microsoft’s cloud platform caused disruptions for all sorts of businesses, from banking to online apps. It showed that even huge global companies can be brought to a standstill.
- Google Cloud in 2020: An issue with Google’s cloud took down some of their own hugely popular services, like Gmail and YouTube, along with countless other businesses that use their platform. Companies without a backup plan lost money and customer trust.
These incidents aren’t meant to scare you, but to show that preparing for a “rainy day” is a very real and necessary part of using the cloud.
The Ripple Effect: When One Cloud Stumbles, Many Businesses Fall
When a major cloud provider has a problem, it’s like throwing a huge rock into a pond. The ripples spread far and wide, affecting thousands of businesses and millions of people. This is because the cloud is the foundation for so much of our digital world today.
Here’s what those ripples can look like for a business:
- Work Grinds to a Halt: If your essential tools and services are in the cloud, an outage means your team can’t work. In critical fields like healthcare or finance, this can have serious consequences.
- Serious Financial Losses: Every hour your business is offline can mean lost sales and angry customers. For some companies, downtime can cost millions of dollars per hour.
- Breaking Rules and Regulations: Many industries have strict rules about data availability and security. An outage could cause a company to fail a compliance audit, leading to heavy fines.
- Damage to Your Reputation: Even if the outage is the cloud provider’s fault, your customers will blame you for the poor service. Rebuilding that trust can take a long time and a lot of money.
- The Danger of a Single Basket: Relying too heavily on one single cloud provider creates a massive risk. If that provider goes down, your entire operation could come to a complete halt.
–
Lila: “Wait, John, the article mentioned ‘concentration risk.’ Is that what you mean by putting all your eggs in one basket?”
John: “Exactly, Lila! That’s the perfect way to put it. ‘Concentration risk’ is the official term for relying too much on a single thing. In this case, a single cloud provider. If that one provider has a problem, you have a problem. That’s why being prepared is so important.”
How to Build Your ‘Cloud Umbrella’ — A Simple Checklist
So, what can a business do? You can’t control the cloud provider, but you can control how prepared you are. It’s all about building a strong risk management plan—your “cloud umbrella” to protect you when it rains. Here’s a simple checklist to get started:
- Choose Your Partners Wisely: Don’t just pick the cheapest option. Look into a provider’s history. How do they handle outages? What are their security practices? Think of it as vetting a business partner, not just buying a utility.
- Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket: This is a big one. Many smart companies now use a multicloud or hybrid cloud strategy to spread their risk.
- Develop a “Fire Drill” Plan: What will your team do, step-by-step, if your main cloud service goes down? A good business continuity plan outlines exactly how to switch to backups and keep things running. Practice this plan, just like a fire drill!
- Keep an Eye on Things: Use monitoring tools that can watch your cloud services for you. Often, these tools can spot signs of trouble before a major outage occurs, giving you time to react.
- Read the Fine Print: Your contract with your cloud provider should be very clear about their responsibilities. It should define how quickly they need to resolve issues and what happens if they don’t meet their promises.
- Always, Always Have a Copy: This might be the most important tip. Make sure you have backups of your critical data and applications stored somewhere completely separate from your primary cloud provider. If one system goes down, you can switch to your copy.
Lila: “Okay, John, you mentioned ‘multicloud’ and ‘hybrid cloud.’ They sound a bit complicated. What’s the difference?”
John: “Not complicated at all when you break it down! Multicloud simply means using services from more than one public cloud provider, like using both AWS and Google. It’s like having accounts at two different banks. If one has an issue, you can still use the other. Hybrid cloud means you mix a public cloud service with your own private, in-house computers. Both are fantastic strategies to avoid having a single point of failure and to stay flexible.”
Our Final Thoughts
John’s View: Moving to the cloud gives businesses incredible power, flexibility, and efficiency. But it’s not a magic wand that makes all responsibility disappear. Being proactive about managing risk isn’t about fearing the cloud; it’s about using it wisely and ensuring your business is built to last, come rain or shine.
Lila’s View: I get it now! At first, all this talk of outages and risks sounded a bit scary. But the apartment rental analogy really helped. It’s not that the cloud is bad or untrustworthy. It’s just that you can’t just rent the space and forget about it. You’re still in charge of your own ‘stuff’ and need a plan for when things go wrong. It’s about being a responsible tenant in the digital world!
This article is based on the following original source, summarized from the author’s perspective:
Risk management in the public cloud is your job