In an always-digital world where users expect reliable services, businesses must measure two critical metrics: reliability and availability. However, reliability and availability are terms often used interchangeably but understanding the difference is crucial when building systems that users can trust and depend on. Both metrics are vital, but depending on your use case, you might prioritize one over the other. Take the 2017 AWS S3 outage.

When something breaks, customers don’t wait. They expect fast solutions. In fact, 90% of customers expect a quick response when they reach out. If your team can’t handle high-severity tickets quickly, it’s trust lost, revenue impacted, and customers looking elsewhere. The good news? There’s a better way to stay ahead of critical issues. Before we jump to the solution, let’s deep dive into the major problems businesses face when incident response gets delayed.