Episode 701 Why You Need a Backup Plan For Your Online Business With Rob Cairns
Show Highlights
In this episode, Rob Cairns dives into recent major tech disruptions—including the European Google Cloud outage and the widespread PHP vulnerability fallout (“PHP Armageddon”)—to highlight a critical vulnerability facing businesses today: the absence of a proactive backup and contingency plan. Rob explains the real business costs when websites are taken offline or crash, how customer experience is immediately impacted, and why relying on ad-hoc reactions rather than established policies and procedures puts small and medium businesses at serious risk.
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Show Notes
Key Takeaways & Discussion Points
- Recent Wake-Up Calls:
- The Google Cloud outage in Europe and the widespread PHP security scare.
- Several government agencies and retail organizations chose to take their entire sites offline defensively.
- The High Cost of Downtime:
- When your site goes dark, customers and prospective buyers don’t investigate why—they simply bounce to a competitor.
- Broken web presence directly harms sales, customer support, and brand trust.
- Proactive Planning vs. Reactionary Scrambling:
- Contingency planning must happen well in advance, not while the emergency is unfolding.
- Large enterprises tend to excel here because backup processes are built into their standard operating policies; SMBs need to adopt the same mindset.
- Questions Every Business Owner Must Answer in Advance:
- What is your alternative workflow if your primary web property goes down?
- How will you handle an influx of calls or support requests?
- Can your team still take orders, communicate status, and service customers without a functioning site?
- Review & Maintain:
Business environments, tech stacks, and circumstances evolve—revisit and update your backup and disaster recovery plans regularly
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