The thought of experiencing downtime is worrying for any business of any size. Even a short-lived period of downtime can be enough to cause significant disruption to day-to-day operations, which could lead to revenue loss for businesses that rely on their IT infrastructure to operate commercially.
Beyond the ability to operate and fulfil customer demand, interruptions to technology can have a profound negative impact on customer trust, brand credibility, and overall organisational reputation. Think about it: a lot of the time, customers want to self-serve and if they’re unable to do so due to technical issues, they may take their custom elsewhere.
And that’s why incident management becomes critically important and deserves thorough consideration.
What do we mean by incident management?
‘Incident management’ is the name given to the process of identifying, assessing and dealing with unexpected disruptions or declines in IT service performance.
Its central purpose is to return IT and business operations to standard functionality in the shortest possible timeframe while minimising organisational disruption. The aim of incident management is not just returning to normal operating levels but also ensuring that business continuity is always upheld.
The types of incidents that require management can vary widely and include things such as server failures, network breakdowns, or breaches of cybersecurity. In each case, having a clearly defined and organised procedure is critical to effectively managing these situations and reducing potential damage.
Example incidents
IT-related incidents can differ considerably in scale, complexity, and impact. Common categories of incidents include:
- System Failures such as malfunctioning servers, software crashes, and unresponsive applications.
- Security Incidents, including malware intrusions, data breaches, and unauthorised access attempts.
- Performance issues, which deal with problems like slow system responsiveness, reduced operational efficiency, or service degradation, fall under this category.
- Service Outages, including interruptions such as cloud service unavailability, inaccessible databases, or network downtime.
Each category demands a tailored approach for resolution, but all share the need for a consistent and reliable management strategy to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
The incident lifecycle
The incident management process is not a random sequence of actions but rather a well-structured methodology.
It typically follows these key stages:
- Detection – identifying and recognising that an issue or disruption has occurred.
- Logging – recording all relevant information about the incident into a tracking or reporting system for reference and analysis.
- Categorisation & prioritisation – assessing the nature of the incident and determining its level of urgency to ensure appropriate allocation of resources.
- Response & Escalation – assigning the appropriate resources or specialists to resolve the issue and escalating the matter when additional expertise or authority is required.
- Resolution – taking the necessary steps to rectify the problem and bring systems back to their standard state of functionality.
- Closure – confirming that the issue has been successfully resolved and documenting the outcome for future reference and improvement.
The importance of incident management
Having a robust incident management system in place is incredibly important for any business, irrespective of size. Here’s why:
- It minimises downtime – rapidly identifying and resolving incidents ensures that disruptions are kept to a minimum. In the ideal scenario, a business would identify and react to an incident in real-time, so that customers are none the wiser.
- It enhances customer trust – when an incident happens that affects customers, clear and timely communication can build confidence and trust in the organisation.
- It ensures Compliance – many industries place a regulatory obligation on businesses and organisations to have a detailed process in place for managing incidents.
- It aids continuous improvement – carrying out detailed reviews after an incident can help to identify weaknesses in your infrastructure or processes, highlighting ways you could implement preventative measures to avoid recurrence.
Establishing a comprehensive incident management framework is more than just a proactive measure; it is a must-have measure for ensuring business continuity, safeguarding reputation, and building customer trust in a world that increasingly depends on technology to fuel what it does. Those businesses that prioritise incident management are more likely to bounce back from an issue in the fastest possible way.
