Ihre Stakeholder tappen bei einer Unterbrechung des Cloud-Dienstes im Dunkeln. Wie bringen Sie Licht ins Dunkel?

Before communicating, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of the disruption: Root Cause: What is the underlying issue causing the outage? Scope: How widespread is the disruption? Is it affecting specific services, regions, or customers? Timeline: When did the disruption begin, and what is the estimated resolution time? Impact: What are the consequences for customers and the business?

During a cloud service disruption, it’s crucial to keep stakeholders informed. Start by promptly acknowledging the issue and providing regular updates on the status and expected resolution time. Use clear, non-technical language to explain the cause and impact. Offer a timeline for resolution and any interim solutions. Transparency and consistent communication help maintain trust and manage expectations, ensuring stakeholders feel informed and reassured throughout the disruption.

AWS has Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service) which can be used to trigger notification related to AWS Health. In addition to it CloudWatch also widely used for Alarms and Events. Similarly, Azure has Azure Service Health and Azure Monitor. Key is to maintain a distribution group with all the stakeholders which includes Support Manager, Support Lead, Product Manager, Solution Architect etc. Instead of individual personnel Good Practice would be configure notifications to functional email ids just so respective teams can take necessary action.

* Acknowledge the issue immediately * Provide an initial assessment with simple language * Set realistic update expectations and stick to it * Use reliable communication channels for real-time updates * Be transparent to build trust and reassure stakeholders * Share the RCA (Root Cause Analysis) with customers afterward to demonstrate your team's capability in handling disruptions and learning from the incident

Here is how we can have a clear line of communication with the stakeholders during a cloud outage: 1. Prompt response: Acknowledge the issue immediately and provide initial details. 2. Regular updates: Keep stakeholders informed about progress and ETAs. 3. Transparency: Be honest about challenges and avoid speculation. 4. Proactive measures: Discuss mitigation strategies and potential compensation. 5. Customer support: Ensure adequate support resources and accessibility. 6. Post-incident analysis: Learn from the incident and improve future communication.