Today’s society is more dependent on technology than ever before. Virtually every aspect of our daily lives is intertwined with IT infrastructure, from the way we communicate and work to how we access essential services like banking and healthcare. This deep integration means that even the smallest error in a system can have profound consequences, affecting millions of people and causing significant disruptions.
This was starkly illustrated by the recent IT outage caused by an update to CrowdStrike's cybersecurity software, which impacted 8.5 million Windows PCs globally. The disruption affected a wide range of critical services, from airlines and online transactions to cash machines and card payments for major retailers. It even led to the cancellation of NHS appointments and operations. Incidents like this highlight the vulnerabilities within our technological infrastructure and underscore the urgent need for organizations to take proactive steps to prevent such failures in the future.
Unfortunately, the CrowdStrike incident is not an isolated case but rather a symptom of a broader issue within our technology. In recent months, we’ve seen similar widespread outages affecting major companies like McDonald's, Greggs, Deliveroo, Tesco, and several organizations within the banking and finance sector. These outages left many people unable to access their online banking or send and receive payments. The impact on consumers is significant, leading to frustration, worry and a loss of trust in the systems they rely on. A recent survey conducted by Roq revealed that a third of Brits experienced a technology failure in the banking sector within the past year. This clearly indicates an urgent need for greater investment in ensuring that the technologies and systems we rely on every day are robust, reliable, and future-proof.
Founder and CEO of Quality Engineering consultancy at Roq.
Quality engineering
As the CEO and founder of Roq, I have witnessed firsthand the repercussions of prioritizing speed and cost-cutting over Quality Engineering. Technology outages are becoming more frequent, more disruptive, and more damaging to both businesses and consumers. The current economic climate, with its emphasis on efficiency, has led many organizations to underinvest in quality—a short-sighted approach that is ultimately counterproductive. While cutting corners may save money in the short term, the long-term costs of repeated technology failures, in terms of financial loss and damage to reputation, can be far greater.
Unfortunately, these costs are usually borne by consumers, who are left dealing with the fallout—whether it’s being unable to access their bank accounts, missing out on critical healthcare services, or facing delays in essential transactions, the impact on consumers is both significant and unacceptable. Moreover, poor-quality technology today will still need fixing tomorrow, and by postponing necessary investments, organisations are merely kicking the can down the road. Eventually, they will have to spend even more to correct these issues. Organizations must do more to ensure the reliability of their systems by making a robust commitment to Quality Engineering, which is essential for avoiding repeated failures and protecting consumers in the long run.
Resilient systems
To prevent future incidents and build more resilient systems, I believe there are several key steps that organizations must take:
Understand business risks fully: Key stakeholders must invest time upfront to clearly define the quality standards required for each deployment and ensure these are met. Quality cannot be an afterthought.
Foster a culture of quality at speed: Shift the organizational mindset to align quality with rapid deployment, reducing the likelihood of costly errors and outages. Quality and speed should go hand in hand.
Commit to long-term quality investment: Ensure that sufficient resources are allocated for the ongoing maintenance and upgrades of core technology, preventing the consequences of underinvestment.
Encourage cross-functional collaboration: Promote collaboration between development, QA, security, and operations teams to build a unified approach to Quality Engineering and system robustness.
Implement rigorous change management processes: Thoroughly review, test, and document all changes to minimize the risk of introducing new issues into the system.
Increase delivery flow through continuous testing: Utilize extensive test automation to facilitate faster deployments without compromising on quality.
Strong commitment to quality
Ultimately, a strong commitment to quality must come from the top of the organization. Executives play a pivotal role in fostering a culture that values Quality Engineering and upholds the principles necessary to deliver high-quality, reliable technology. By acknowledging the importance of robust Quality Engineering processes and investing in the necessary tools, training, and resources, organizations can mitigate the risks associated with technology failures and potentially avoid them altogether. Until the quality of technology is seen as a serious risk factor at board level, we will continue to encounter these outages.
These failures should serve as a wake-up call for organizations worldwide. It’s time to build quality technology solutions at pace to deliver long-term resilience rather than short-term savings. Embracing Quality Engineering is not just about counting defects and preventing outages; it’s about building a resilient technological foundation that supports innovation, growth, and a commitment to consumer experience. As technology becomes increasingly critical to consumer trust, companies that invest in quality will enjoy stronger brand reputations and greater consumer confidence over time. The time to act is now. We must move from merely reacting to outages to proactively preventing them. By fortifying our systems and technology today, we can ensure that they remain robust and reliable for the consumers of tomorrow.
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