| Last month's global IT outage was a wake-up call for businesses worldwide. It showed just how frustrating and chaotic things can get when you rely on a single system for all your operations. This massive disruption hit airlines, banks, and healthcare providers hard, proving that a dedicated crisis communication system isn't just a luxury—it's a must-have. |
Here are three compelling reasons to keep your crisis communications separate from your regular website and marketing tools.
The Crowdstrike outage hit over 8.5 million devices, causing chaos across various industries.
Airlines were particularly hard-hit, with over 5,000 flights delayed or cancelled, leaving passengers stranded and desperate for information. The financial cost of this mess was over $1 billion (World Economic Forum) (Transcontinental Times). Imagine being one of those passengers, stuck at an airport with no updates - pure frustration.
By keeping your crisis communication software separate, you ensure a robust, independent system that stays up when everything else goes down. This means you can still get crucial information out, helping to manage the crisis better and keep everyone informed. As someone who spent over eight hours stranded at Bari airport on July 19th, I can't stress enough how comforting it was to get timely updates from Transavia’s dedicated brand newsroom amidst the chaos.
When disaster strikes, you need to get information out fast and clearly. Regular comms tools often can't handle the sudden surge in traffic and inquiries. During the outage, many banks and financial institutions went offline, leaving customers frustrated and frontline personnel in the firing line. Healthcare providers were also hit hard, struggling to communicate critical updates to patients and staff.
In a PR crisis, it’s not uncommon for frontline personnel to bear the brunt of customer queries, becoming a defacto one-to-one crisis control unit. This is usually due to a lack of strategic preparation and it doesn’t work. Not only does it not stop the flow of incoming questions, it can damage team morale and, if the employee in question doesn’t have the right answers, further aggravate your customers.
Companies like Transavia use scalable crisis communication tools that allow for a one-to-many communication approach during a crisis. In the case of the Crowdstrike crisis, one well-worded update can stop thousands of questions from affected customers or journalists AND give your team the answers they need to field any further queries
The right specialized PR software can manage high volumes of traffic and questions without breaking a sweat, letting your crisis team focus on fixing the problem and protecting your frontline team from being overwhelmed.
In a crisis, controlling the narrative is everything. Using one system for both regular customer comms and crisis communications can mix up your messages, confuse people, wreck your bottom line, or even make the situation worse.
Picture this: You’re in the middle of a serious PR crisis, facing a recall of a popular product that is making people sick. You’re getting a lot of negative media attention and you’re spinning plates to try and stay in control of the narrative. Right then, a blog (scheduled a week ago) touting recording year-end profits goes live and is sitting right at the top of your news feed for all to see - not a good look and certainly not the way to garner any media sympathy for your cause.
A dedicated crisis communication tool lets you send out clear, targeted messages that cut through the noise and keep everyone on the same page.
During the outage, countless companies struggled to get their messages out. Banks and airlines, in particular, faced an onslaught of inquiries and complaints. If they had a dedicated tool to handle this - customers would have been able to easily access timely, accurate updates, reducing panic and frustration.
The recent global IT outage showed us all just how important it is to have a dedicated crisis communication platform. Keeping these tools separate from your regular operations means you’ll stay consistent, respond quickly, and keep your message clear—essential for handling any crisis effectively.
Don’t wait for the next disaster. Equip your team with a dedicated crisis communication tool and be ready to tackle any crisis head-on, keeping everyone informed and your reputation intact.