The recent heatwave that brought record temperatures to the UK caused cooling systems to fail at a London data center resulting in downtime for Google and Oracle. According to Oracle, “Following unseasonably high temperatures in the UK south (London) region, two cooler units in the data centre experienced a failure when they were required to operate above their design limits.
The days in which a business could thrive by serving customers through brick-and-mortar stores alone are long gone. Almost all retailers now offer a variety of online and offline channels, often with some degree of integration to ensure a smooth customer journey across different touchpoints. However, even these multichannel and cross-channel strategies are increasingly falling short of modern expectations.
Consumers expect their personal information to be safe in your hands as they use your apps, services, and stores. Even in-person retailers collect customer data for loyalty programs, shopping history, and more. In addition, regulators and auditors — and while we’re at it, let’s add investors, board members, and partners to the list of people who expect all customer data to be secure at all times.