The July 19, 2024 CrowdStrike outage caused by a faulty software update from a third party software provider, affected Windows computers globally, disrupting various sectors, including businesses, airports, and healthcare. The incident highlights the everyday reliance on third-party IT providers and the need for built-in resiliency when such systems fail.
It also highlighted the critical importance of having local IT providers for several reasons:
- Immediate Physical Assistance: Local IT providers can offer swift, on-site support during outages, preventing scenarios where non-technical staff or untrained individuals are forced to handle complex IT tasks, which can lead to panic and further complications.
- Being Prepared: Having an IT partner offering a full suite of technology solutions, strategy, and consultation can ensure that your organization has a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan in place. A good IT partner will complete a Risk Assessment that is unique to your organization. Based on their findings, they will then create a robust backup plan with a disaster recovery scenario that includes continuing operations without technology.
- Technical Expertise: The technical nature of recovery procedures, such as BitLocker recovery, requires knowledgeable personnel. Local IT providers have the expertise to handle such situations, which cannot be easily managed over the phone or by non-technical employees.
- Endpoint Management: A local IT provider can implement solutions like Autopilot deployments, making endpoints disposable and configurations exist as code. This approach can significantly reduce recovery times during outages by helping eliminate reliance on a first or third party to fix before resuming normal business operations.
- Ongoing Support and Monitoring: Though many of the immediate outages have already been addressed, one by-product and an outage is the likely increase in phishing attempts on all organizations. During times like these, malicious actors are expected to strike, knowing that teams are under pressure and may overlook their cybersecurity training and best judgment. Having a local IT provider provides your team with thorough training for recognizing potential threats and is also a resource to call upon should questions or concerns arise.
GadellNet has three offices across the Midwest. We provide complete managed services, cybersecurity, and strategic IT consulting to the Greater St. Louis, Western Illinois, Indianapolis, and Denver regions. We also employ a network of individuals who can be deployed across the country for remote offices. Our company structure and commitment to our local partners make us an invaluable resource for successful technology implementation, maintenance, and execution.
The CrowdStrike outage serves as a powerful reminder of the value that local IT providers bring to the organizations they serve. They can offer immediate assistance and the knowledge, expertise, and efficiency tailored specifically to your organization. Strong local partnerships are crucial for minimizing the impact of such incidents on your business operations.
If you have questions or are struggling with recovering from a technology outing, contact GadellNet to see how our team of experts can help your organization.
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