By Chao Cheng-Shorland
It starts with a ripple of confusion, then panic. Hospital systems freeze mid-procedure. Electronic medical records become inaccessible.
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In the ICU, alarms blare as doctors and nurses scramble to stabilize critical patients without access to real-time data.
Admissions come to a standstill. Emergency rooms overflow with patients whose histories are locked away in an inaccessible system, while providers are unable to perform essential clinical tasks online in real time.
This is not a dystopian scenario; it is reality. Last year, when a major incident disrupted hospitals, airlines, and financial institutions worldwide, the consequences were immediate and devastating. The CrowdStrike software failure alone led to thousands of canceled flights and financial institutions losing access to core systems.
When systems fail
Hospitals, already stretched thin, were plunged into chaos. Providers reverted to pen and paper, delaying urgent care, while administrators faced the daunting task of maintaining operations without digital support.
In today’s hyper-connected world, it is unthinkable that critical industries operate without a true, real-time disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity solution. Yet, this is precisely the reality we face. The cybersecurity landscape is built to protect systems but not the people on the front lines.
There is no infrastructure designed for the doctors stabilizing patients, for the airline personnel ensuring passengers get home, or for the bank employees verifying urgent transactions. When these systems fail—as they increasingly do due to cyberattacks and operational disruptions—the people who rely on them suffer the most.
Cheng-Shorland
The existing approach to cyber resilience and business continuity is fundamentally flawed. Traditional disaster recovery is reactive, slow, and focused on IT infrastructure rather than on real-world continuity. Organizations are left grappling with incident response protocols that take hours, if not days, to restore systems.
Rethinking recovery
But in a modern, digital-dependent world, this delay is unacceptable. Cyber incidents are not just technical failures; they are human crises. The gap between an outage and recovery can mean the difference between life and death, operational stability and financial ruin.
Imagine a different future—one where cyber and operational resilience are proactive and instantaneous. Where hospitals never lose access to patient data, and doctors and nurses can always update and access clinical records online in real time, with zero downtime, no matter how severe the attack. Where airlines maintain operational continuity even if their core systems go down. Where financial institutions can safeguard transactions despite cyber disruptions.
This future is possible. Next-generation business continuity must be designed for the real world, not just for IT administrators. A true solution ensures that the moment a system is compromised, operations seamlessly shift to a secure, live backup environment. No delays. No downtime.
Healthcare providers should be able to access and update patient records in real-time, regardless of an ongoing cyber incident or system outage. Financial institutions should continue processing transactions without interruption. Airlines should maintain operational command without stranding passengers.
This level of resilience requires a radical shift in approach. The answer lies in real-time, cloud-integrated disaster recovery systems that are always on, always live, and independent of compromised infrastructure. These systems must be designed with frontline workers in mind, enabling instant access through secure web portals and mobile devices. They must allow organizations to continue their work uninterrupted, automatically syncing data back to the primary system once restored. No more waiting for IT intervention. No more delayed responses. Business continuity should be as seamless as flipping a switch.
Built for resiliency
The technology exists to make this vision a reality. A new generation of solutions can ensure that no industry is left vulnerable to system failures while safeguarding mission-critical data and maintaining accessibility for those who need it most. Hospitals can keep treating patients. Airlines can keep flights moving. Banks can keep transactions secure.
It is time to move past the era of cyber crises defining the operational stability of entire industries. A world where hospitals, financial institutions, and essential services grind to a halt due to system failures is not an inevitability—it is a choice. We have the opportunity to create a solution that prioritizes resilience, ensuring that disruptions no longer equate to catastrophe. The organizations that adopt this new standard of continuity will not only safeguard their operations but redefine what it means to be truly cyber-resilient.
The days of delayed recovery and operational paralysis must become a thing of the past. Organizations must now embrace a future of business continuity—real-time, uninterrupted, and built for the people who need it most.
About the essayist: Chao Cheng-Shorland is the co-founder and CEO of ShelterZoom, which supplies a user-driven resilience and disaster recovery tool for healthcare organizations. She has been recognized as one of New York’s top 100 most influential executives and thought leaders, and an Exceptional Australian by the Australian government.