On Monday last week while I was enjoying a peaceful break in the Lanzarote sun, parts of the internet ground to a halt. Amazon Web Services (AWS) one of the largest cloud providers in the world suffered a major outage. For hours, businesses couldn’t access their data, websites went offline, and productivity stopped dead in its tracks.
It was a powerful reminder that even the biggest, most trusted cloud systems can (and do) fail. The question is: what happens to your business when they do?
The illusion of cloud invincibility
Many business owners assume that using “the cloud” means everything is automatically backed up, protected, and recoverable. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.
Cloud providers like AWS, Microsoft, or Google offer availability but they don’t take full responsibility for your data. Their uptime targets and shared responsibility models make one thing clear: the safety, recovery, and continuity of your business is still your job.
When an outage hits, you’re left waiting powerless to fix it, unable to serve customers, and hemorrhaging time and money.
Outages happen, resilience is optional
This isn’t the first time a major outage has caused chaos, and it won’t be the last. The AWS incident just proves how fragile our digital infrastructure really is.
Systems fail. Connections drop. Power goes out. Cyber attacks strike when you least expect them.
If your business doesn’t have a disaster recovery plan, offsite backups, and a clear continuity process, then you’re betting your future on luck. And luck doesn’t keep businesses running.
The hidden cost of downtime
Downtime isn’t just an inconvenience it’s expensive. Lost sales, missed opportunities, damaged reputation, and frustrated clients all add up.
A single day without access to systems or files can cost thousands in productivity alone. For smaller businesses, that kind of hit can set growth back months or even end a company completely.
That’s why proactive disaster recovery planning isn’t an IT luxury. It’s a business survival strategy.
How to stay protected when the cloud fails
The businesses that came out of Monday’s outage unscathed all had one thing in common: resilience.
They weren’t just relying on AWS or Microsoft 365. They had structure, planning, and layered protection.
At Jeccl, we help companies build that resilience through:
- Automated offsite backups stored across multiple locations.
- Disaster recovery plans tailored to your infrastructure.
- 24/7 remote monitoring to detect issues before they become disasters.
- Cybersecurity defenses that protect against attacks and data loss.
When things go wrong whether it’s an outage, a breach, or a power failure we make sure your business keeps running.
The bigger picture: resilience by law
With the upcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, the UK is moving towards making resilience a legal expectation, not just good practice. Businesses will soon be expected to prove they have recovery strategies in place.
This shift isn’t about bureaucracy it’s about protecting livelihoods. Because when systems go down, it’s not just files and data at risk; it’s people, customers, and reputations.
Final thought: hope isn’t a strategy
If Monday’s AWS outage proved anything, it’s that no provider, no system, and no cloud platform is untouchable.
You can’t stop outages but you can control how well you respond to them.
Disaster recovery, backups, and cyber resilience aren’t optional extras. They’re the difference between a business that panics and a business that carries on.
Stay resilient. Stay operational. Stay Jeccl.
If your business doesn’t have a clear disaster recovery and backup strategy, now’s the time to fix that.
Talk to our team at Jeccl we’ll help you build a resilient, stress-free IT environment that keeps your business moving, no matter what happens.
Call 0333 050 6886 Email su*****@******co.uk Visit www.jeccl.co.uk