How data center skills gap causes cloud outages

Can’t get the staff

Recently we reported on a global Microsoft 365 outage that disrupted Teams and Exchange services. We said that aggressive traffic rerouting was blamed for service failures; with experts warning of architectural brittleness and rising cloud fragility.  

It was that fragility that caught the attention of Computerworld readers, who rushed to ask Smart Answers about one potential cause. We know that IT skills are in short supply even as lots of IT pros are being laid off. But the chat tends to focus on AI skills: we don’t often hear about how hard it is to get data center staff. But it’s a real factor, both in the public cloud sector, and maybe especially for those who are repatriating data back to their own data centers. We hear reports of understaffing in areas such as operations, electrical engineering, and cloud architecture.  

And it’s a problem. According to Smart Answers, being short staffed increases the risk of human error. It leads to maintenance being delayed, less effective remote monitoring, and longer response times when things do go wrong.  

Find out: How can insufficient data center staff contribute to cloud outages?  

Remind me…?

This week Computerworld broke the stunning news that – alongside all the generative-AI silliness – Google’s Gemini has some genuinely practical purposes on Android — if you know what to ask. Our readers latched on to one in particular. Now which one was it..?  

Oh yes: ‘Remember that’. 

‘Remember that’ is a genuinely useful feature, and Smart Answers has an outline of how to use it. Activation, Information Storage, Information Retrieval, and Note Creation. But you don’t need to remember that list – just ask our own useful AI assistant. 

Find out: How do I use Gemini’s “remember that” feature?  

Danger in the shadows

Recently we reported that SAP and IBM were slammed for their roles in a Quebec auto insurance board ERP overhaul fiasco. We said that a Quebec anti-corruption squad raided the organization that commissioned the over-budget ERP overhaul – (SAAQ) the provincial auto insurance board. Investigation into the project continues. 

Of interest to readers of CIO.com was one risk factor for all operators of large scale IT projects: shadow IT. They asked Smart Answers how shadow IT introduces risks such as vulnerabilities to be exploited by bad actors. There are more – but you’ll have to ask Smart Answers to find out.  

Find out: What risks does shadow IT pose to enterprise infrastructure?  

About Smart Answers 

Smart Answers is an AI-based chatbot tool designed to help you discover content, answer questions, and go deep on the topics that matter to you. Each week we send you the three most popular questions asked by our readers, and the answers Smart Answers provides.  

Developed in partnership with Miso.ai, Smart Answers draws only on editorial content from our network of trusted media brands—CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World—and was trained on questions that a savvy enterprise IT audience would ask. The result is a fast, efficient way for you to get more value from our content.