Beyond Eskom: Digital Resilience for the Next Decade

South African businesses have spent a decade reacting to power instability. We invested in generators, inverters, and backup batteries. We built business continuity plans. We adapted. But reacting to load shedding is one thing. Preparing for a new reality of distributed, complex systems is another.

The conversation has shifted. It is no longer about uptime. The real measure is resilience.

Uptime simply measures if a system is available. Resilience asks if it can adapt, recover, and continue delivering value when disruption hits. This is the difference between a system that is “on” and a business that is always operating.

So, how do you build a business that is truly resilient?

1. Shift from Power to Continuity

For many, “continuity” meant a generator or a backup power source. That was the easy fix. It got us through an outage. But a resilient business knows a single power source is a single point of failure.

• Go beyond the generator. The load shedding crisis proved that relying on one backup power source is a gamble. A prolonged grid failure scenario presents a much deeper problem. Consider solar, wind, or advanced battery storage solutions. Diversify your energy portfolio.
• Embrace cloud-based solutions. Cloud migration is not a trend. It is a fundamental shift. It allows your staff to work from anywhere with an internet connection. It removes the dependence on a single physical location. Your data and critical applications are accessible as long as the internet is running.
• Diversify your connections. A business cannot function without connectivity. Relying on one network provider is a risk. Have multiple internet connections from different providers. Consider a mix of fibre, LTE, and even satellite for truly critical services.
• Think about the entire ecosystem. Continuity is not only about power and data. It includes your payment systems, communication channels, and supply chain. Plan for what happens when a payment terminal is down or a supply chain is disrupted.

Real continuity is not about keeping the lights on at one office. It is about enabling your business to deliver from anywhere, at any time.

2. A Plan is Not a Plan Until You Test It

I have seen countless businesses with a continuity plan that sits on a shelf. Research shows that many companies, even those with a plan, do not test or rehearse it. That plan is just a document. It is not an asset.

• Conduct a risk assessment. This is where you identify what really matters. What are your critical business functions? What systems would cripple your business if they went down? This goes beyond hardware. It involves data, people, and processes.
• Build an incident response plan. Define who does what. Establish clear communication protocols for staff and customers. What happens the moment a system fails? Who is responsible for what action? A good plan removes the guesswork from a crisis.
• Run regular drills. A drill reveals the weak points in your plan. Test your backups. Can you actually restore your data? Can you restore it quickly and completely? Make sure your team knows how to use the backup solutions. Find the gaps in your plan and fix them before a real crisis hits.
• Secure your data. Regular data backups are a must. This protects against both power outages and sophisticated cyber threats like ransomware. Without a tested, restorable backup, you have no business continuity. Compliance frameworks like POPIA demand demonstrable recovery capabilities.

Your people are your first line of defense and a major risk. Train your teams on security and response. A plan only works if everyone knows their role.

3. Move from Reaction to Strategy

The Eskom crisis forced a reactive approach. Now is the time to be proactive. A resilient business does not wait for a problem. It anticipates one.

Digital resilience is a strategic imperative. It is not a technical project. It aligns technology with business value, not tech for tech’s sake. This means you must:

• Align your technology to your business goals. Your technology strategy should directly support your business strategy. It should be a tool to achieve tangible outcomes, not a source of complexity.
• Prioritise outcomes over activity. Your business should be judged on its ability to deliver, not on how many new systems you bought or how many hours a project took. Focus on what gets done, not what gets deployed.
• Use lived experience. Do not let junior overreach or untested theory guide your strategy. My own career has shown me that real solutions come from time in the trenches and time in the boardroom. A person who has lived through both can offer the most practical advice.

The next decade will bring new challenges beyond power supply. Cyber threats, data regulation, and geopolitical shifts will all test your business. The ability to manage these risks and continue operating will define who succeeds.

Curious how to build a practical digital resilience plan for your business? Let us connect.

Reach out or book a consultation. Visit: www.m-konsult.com/contact or connect with me on LinkedIn

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