British Airways IT glitch and the lessons to be learned

World Thursday 08/August/2019 15:46 PM
By: Times News Service
British Airways IT glitch and the lessons to be learned

London: Due to a technical glitch, at least 117 flights had been cancelled at Heathrow Airport, with 10 cancelled at Gatwick Airport on 7 August.

The problem had caused British Airways (BA) to revert to using manual systems for check-in at airports, causing long queues.

BA had apologised for the disruption and said customers on short-haul services from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City could rebook another day.

Commenting on the technical glitch, Senior Global Technologist, Veeam, Michael Cade said: "Our reliance on technology has hit a point where it has an overwhelming influence on consumer’s trust in a business – and this IT failure is testament to the fact that businesses are now expected to provide uninterrupted access, protect consumer data and recover quickly should the worst happen.

"British Airways is not alone, this is affecting businesses of all shapes and sizes. Our recent Cloud Data Management report showed that nearly three-quarters (73%) of businesses recognise that they still are still unable to meet users’ demands for uninterrupted access to applications and data. This gap is causing business-critical challenges, from damage to customer confidence and brand integrity, right through to losses of hundreds of thousands of pounds an hour.

"It doesn’t matter if loss or lack of access to data is caused by hardware failure, a cyber-attack, or even an employee gone rogue. Customers will not care about what caused an issue; they only want to know if their data is protected and that they’re still able to use services and applications as normal, without interruption, and that requires data availability."