What did the Microsoft Outlook outage teach us? – Editorial
If the Microsoft meltdown taught us anything, it was how dependent Kiwi businesses and government agencies are on a single piece of technology.
The global outage impacted 74 countries, but it seemingly crippled our corporate and public sector workday.
Offices emptied out ... even more than usual for a Friday afternoon.
For some it may have been a welcome relief, a brief time-machine jaunt back to when email was still a thing of the future.
But in 2026, we live in a world where an outage for such a technology can completely halt business.
It began at 6.30am NZT on Friday and caused widespread disruption, particularly in New Zealand’s legal sector, with property settlements and court appearances impacted.
Around the world, the loss of several Microsoft products disrupted healthcare services, delayed corporate earnings reports and left schools struggling to communicate.
Information Technology Users Association chief executive Craig Young said the Outlook outage showed “how reliant we can become on a single provider”.
It was, he said, a warning to have disruption plans.
Paul Spain, chief executive of Gorilla Technology, said much of New Zealand’s business sector relied on Microsoft’s infrastructure and services.
“When they break, they have a massive impact, not just on individual businesses but on the entire economy.”
He estimated the outage might have resulted in tens of millions of dollars’ worth of productivity being lost to New Zealand’s economy.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) warned businesses to stay vigilant about sensitive information.
Manager of business capability Glen McCloy said the disruption was a timely reminder to have a contingency plan for unexpected service outages.
There was an ironic situation during the outage when the Herald attempted to gain comment from MBIE about what businesses should do.
When a Heraldreporter called the ministry, two operators and a supervisor all said media queries needed to be submitted by email.
Clearly, a contingency plan was lacking there.
Microsoft has since apologised and ruled out any malicious “cyber or AI” activity as the cause of the outage.
We live in a world where tech now dominates our daily lives.
But perhaps a frightening Friday the 13th for some should serve as a reminder for businesses and individuals to be less reliant on the computer in your pocket.