Surface Ripples

What If…?

At the beginning of August 2024, I read an article about how everyday tasks considered “simple” suddenly became time-intensive and needed considerable effort.

 What happened?   Answer: the Internet went down. What were some of the consequences? 

One of the first was that paying utility bills required users to go to the relevant utility provider’s office with cash.

Another was that digital and online banking payments were no longer available.  Cash became inaccessible and everyday life became an issue.

People couldn’t pay their credit cards online and they couldn’t recharge their mobile phone accounts.

Streaming and other entertainment services ceased to be.  Instead, people had to revert to terrestrial TV or radio (that is, assuming that they had “old-fashioned” radios that could pick up air bands, rather than a radio that relied on an internet signal).

People couldn’t book transport, flights, trains, hotels, or other travel and hospitality. Communications on a corporate and operational level were completely overthrown.

Ride hailing and food delivery apps were no longer available.

Before you ask, this wasn’t in the UK, US or other “developed” country but a “developing” one…

The result: many people had to look at how they lived their lives with fresh eyes.  Should they keep a spare stock of cash at home?  For those who didn’t have “landlines” should they install a telephone landline for at least the basic communication needs of their household?  What about an “old-fashioned radio”?

All this shows how dependent modern society is on internet services and their continuing and reliable supply.  Modern life is, thanks to this phenomenon, more “fragile” and leaves us more dependent on the internet than in the past.

One of the good things, though, to come out of this was that people spent more time together, renewing friendships as opposed to staring at a screen. Some discovered former long forgotten pastimes and hobbies.

People were given a hard lesson in taking the internet for granted and making sure that in future, should it go down, they were not left as vulnerable as on this recent occasion.

There’s a reason that broadband internet is now known as “the fourth utility”.  It has become as necessary to daily life as water, electricity and gas.

How can we as business leaders ensure that not only our businesses, but also our workers and families are best equipped to deal with an internet outage? It’s almost like preparing for another pandemic that forces us to stay at home (hopefully with the convenience of internet!).

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. 

Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Risk, Strategy

posted by William Martin @ 19:00