How businesses can avoid widespread harm from cloud outages

In the modern age, most companies rely on a web of interdependent cloud systems to function. From CRMs to emails to team messaging platforms, companies have embraced Software as a Service almost across the board. Even with AI making coding apps easier for larger companies, it's very unlikely this will change any time soon. Cloud services are too convenient, scalable and reliable to replace with in-house solutions. The inevitable problem with this growing reliance on cloud systems is that it exposes companies to greater damage from outages. Many have argued that as cloud has become a greater part of everyday business life, a significant proportion of companies have optimized for speed and scale at the price of resilience.

A clear example of this is cloud providers attempts to create 'walled gardens' - using both subtle and explicit methods to encourage users of their cloud programs to use the rest of their software suite. This creates an advantage for businesses of greater integration, which often leads to efficiencies, but makes them significantly more vulnerable to outages – if their cloud company suffers a technical malfunction or physical threat, the effects can cascade through their whole company.

In an environment where businesses are so reliant on cloud to do their business – managing internal communications, directing logistics and sales flow, storing critical data and contracts, it's easy to see how one cloud outage can affect not just one company, but the broader economy.

Even small outages, like the Microsoft 365 Exchange outage in August 2026 that lasted for a handful of hours, can do significant damage. A recent AWS outage in the Autumn of 2025 that lasted 15 hours led to estimated losses between $38 - $581 million in material damages.

What causes these outages?

The growth of AI has made many people more conscious of the massive physical footprint needed to house data centers – the key component of all cloud-based services. To run, this software requires huge warehouses of servers to function – requiring power, regular maintenance, and usually water for cooling.

A fairly common cause of localized outages comes from physical threats like power cuts. Even fires can be a significant threat, a 2021 fire at OVHCloud in Strasbourg took 3.6 million websites down. Data centers have also become targets during conflicts, with data centers being a frequent target during the recent Iran war.

Most times, however, outages come as the result of inadvertent coding error or unexpected failure in the underlying software itself, which can cause overloads in cloud servers – making them unable to provide the services needed. These threats can be especially dangerous, because they are significantly more difficult to contain across a single network, and sometimes require novel patches and hotfixes to restore functionality.

How businesses can avoid widespread harm

To avoid significant harms from outages like these, businesses need to move away from the single-cloud model to one that allows them to have the best benefits of cloud, like its efficiency and ease of use, while also maintaining security.

Connecting Software's Google Workspace for Business Continuity in Microsoft 365 allows companies to have this "best of both worlds" capability by keeping a fully operational standby in constant sync with a Microsoft 365 environment. When an outage hits, there's nothing to restore because everything is already there.

This solution works both between cloud solutions like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, but also between cloud and on-premises solutions – giving businesses the flexibility to opt for established solutions, or their own for maximum protection.

Because this solution's synchronization is continuous, all of a company's data is present on the new system, and fully synchronizes once the outage is resolved, achieving failback seamlessly. It's easily scalable for large systems and provides minimal disruption to user workflows.

Solutions like these can effectively protect businesses from cloud outages – insulating them from long term risks while enabling them to utilize powerful software to its fullest.

Companies that can have flexibility in their cloud usage are not only more protected from outages, but the host of problems that single-cloud dependency can result in. Companies that can instantly switch to a new provider or an on-prem solution rest easier knowing they are less beholden to hyperscalers that may decide to put exploitative charges on data usage, or indeed restrict access in line with regulations in other jurisdictions. This true sovereignty over their data is a significant advantage for companies acting in a world where data regulations are increasingly fractured.

When your company depends on cloud data for its most basic functions – business continuity in the face of cloud outages can't be seen as a nice to have, but as a basic necessity. Connecting Software's solutions allow businesses to have this key flexibility to operate in the modern cloud-dependent world.