When your software powers productivity for millions of users, trust becomes your ultimate currency. Trust is earned through transparency, clear communication, and unwavering reliability—especially when disruptions occur. Microsoft learned this lesson recently during a significant outage that took down two of its flagship services: Outlook and Teams.

Dubbed 'the most important election ever,' it was expected that online traffic would skyrocket across traditional broadcasters, online streaming platforms, and digital publishers on November 5, 2024. As the initial results rolled in, Internet traffic surged nationwide by up to 15%, both at national and state levels. Surprisingly, though, this surge in traffic didn’t happen where you might expect—not on TV.

Every week, we hear about critical applications failing, leaving users frustrated and businesses scrambling. IT teams are fighting too many fires, dealing with too many disruptions, and spending too much time guessing instead of fixing. A 2023 study by Forrester Consulting found that in the month before the study, 37% of companies estimated they lost between $100,000-$499,000, and 39% lost $500,000-$999,999 due to internet disruptions. The costs are real, and they’re massive.

The CrowdStrike outage was a reminder of how quickly the dominoes can fall—especially when the foundation is shaky. Delta Airlines was hit harder than its competitors. While United and American Airlines were able to recover within days, Delta faced ongoing struggles, leading to the cancellation of 7,000 flights over five days.