Grapevine

A global IT outage brought supply chains to their knees—we need to be better prepared next time

Friday's global IT outage—caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike—wrought havoc on business operations around the world.

Severe disruptions were reported in multiple countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, India, the United States and the United Kingdom. Many businesses were unable to access critical systems and data, leading to significant delays and financial losses.

As the crisis struck, many of us would have been preoccupied with its immediate consumer impacts—hospital systems going down, some supermarkets operating cash-only, flights getting delayed, and news anchors reading from printed notes.

But it's often forgotten that our supply chains—the complex networks that turn raw materials into finished products and get them where they're needed—have also become deeply integrated with technology. They were hit hard too.