The lessons from the BA system breakdown

Businesses are now so dependent on their IT systems that it can be a major catastrophe if it should fail.

This was vividly illustrated during the May bank holiday when thousands of travellers worldwide had flights delayed or cancelled following the complete breakdown of its IT system.

It caused chaos for several days and is likely to result in a huge compensation bill for the airline, not something a small business would want to have to face.

So it makes sense to protect IT systems, not only from hackers, malware and ransomware but also from breakdowns.

It has since been suggested that the cause of the BA system crash was “human error”, an engineer turning off the system then not following proper procedures when turning it back on again.

The lesson here, especially if your business relies on its IT system for logistical or booking activities, is to ensure that any maintenance and support is carried out by a reputable and trustworthy supplier and if there is in-house IT support that they are properly trained so that they understand your system properly.

It also reinforces the point that back-up is essential as is some kind of protection against such things as electricity supply failures or power surges caused by storms.

An emergency back-up generator may be useful but also making sure that PCs are connected to the power supply via surge protection equipment.

For advice on how to protect your IT system, please call us for advice.