According to communication and cloud computing firm Qubic, there are lessons to be learnt from the case of the RBS IT failure.
Chris Papa, the Managing Director of Qubic, said, “For the average size business, the consequences and associated costs of such a total system failure may not be as enormous as that of RBS but the impact on customer service may be just as telling. Performing major system upgrades always comes with a risk; having the right contingency plan and backup solution in place is fundamental to ensure that any unforeseen eventuality can be managed. Even day to day patches and upgrades must be thoroughly evaluated and tested before being deployed. Switching to a hosted environment provides full, real time backup so should any situation arise business continuity is assured.
“In the case of RBS, it really is hard to believe that such a damaging failure with its huge implications for the business could be allowed to happen and I’m sure we will never get to the bottom of it. What it has done, however, is serve as a wake-up call to those businesses across all sectors where downtime isn’t an option.”