Reliability in the Cloud: Lessons from Astroconf 2024

On December 17, 2024, I had the honor of speaking at the Astrokube event about a topic that resonates deeply with me: reliability in the cloud. As someone who’s spent years building and advising on technology infrastructure, I’ve seen firsthand how critical reliability is for success. Everyone talks about it; everyone wants it. Yet, so few organizations truly achieve it.

During my talk, we explored the essence of reliability, why it’s so difficult to deliver, and how companies can move beyond just aspiring to it. Today, I want to take you through the key ideas I shared—ideas that I believe can help businesses turn reliability from an elusive goal into a measurable reality.

AstroConf 2024

What Does It Mean to Be Reliable?

Reliability is one of those qualities everyone claims to value, but few truly understand. In the context of cloud services, it’s not a vague ideal; it’s measurable. A reliable system is one that’s highly available, scalable, and fault-tolerant.

Availability is the first and most obvious metric of reliability. Systems need to operate at least 99.99% of the time—a goal that translates to no more than 52 minutes of downtime in an entire year. But availability alone isn’t enough. Systems must also be scalable, able to handle spikes in traffic without faltering. And when failures inevitably occur, they need to be fault-tolerant, recovering quickly enough that users barely notice.

Carl Jung once said, “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” That idea captures the spirit of reliability. It’s about execution, not promises. Yet, despite its importance, most organizations struggle to deliver on this front.

The Cost of Falling Short

Why does reliability matter so much? Because downtime isn’t just a technical issue—it’s a business killer. Every minute of downtime costs an average of $6,750. For many companies, that adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per hour. Worse, the reputational damage and loss of customer trust can linger long after the systems are back online.

Achieving true reliability isn’t just about avoiding losses; it’s about unlocking savings. According to Forrester Consulting, businesses that reach 99.99% availability can save up to $1.3 million annually. Yet despite these stakes, 41% of businesses experience downtime on a monthly basis, and 20% suffer significant revenue or compliance impacts as a result.

Why Do So Many Businesses Fail?

So, if reliability is so critical, why do so many organizations fall short? The reasons are often systemic. Many companies lack proper incident management processes, relying on reactive rather than proactive measures. Others depend too heavily on third-party services without preparing for the inevitable failures in those dependencies.

Perhaps the most significant barrier is the lack of skilled operations staff. A staggering 64% of organizations report a shortage of experienced DevOps professionals. To make matters worse, only 23% of companies have the tools needed to spot issues before they escalate. Visibility is key to reliability, and too many businesses are essentially flying blind.

Building a Path to Reliability

During my talk, I outlined a clear path for businesses aiming to achieve reliability in their cloud systems. While every organization’s journey will look slightly different, there are some universal principles that can serve as a foundation.

First and foremost, reliability begins with solid architectural foundations. Most cloud providers offer a baseline of 99.95% availability. While this is a good starting point, achieving “four nines” or more requires additional investments in redundancy, failover systems, and other fault-tolerance measures. Multi-cloud strategies can also play a significant role. By distributing workloads across multiple providers, companies can reduce the risk of a single point of failure.

Speaking of single points of failure, eliminating them is critical. No single system or component should be able to bring down your entire operation. This requires careful planning, robust testing, and constant iteration to ensure resilience.

Another crucial step is investing in visibility tools. Reliability isn’t just about reacting to outages; it’s about preventing them before they occur. Tools that provide real-time insights into system health, identify anomalies, and predict potential failures are invaluable. Without visibility, you can’t fix what you can’t see.

Automation also plays a key role. Manual interventions are not only slow; they’re prone to human error. Automating processes like incident response and system updates can significantly reduce recovery times and improve consistency.

Finally, no amount of technology can replace the value of experienced people. Building a skilled DevOps team is perhaps the single most important investment a company can make in its reliability efforts. Look for professionals who have built and maintained reliable systems before—they’ll bring invaluable expertise to your operations.

The Road Ahead

Reliability isn’t a one-time achievement; it’s an ongoing process. It requires continuous improvement, constant monitoring, and a willingness to adapt. The stakes are high, but the rewards are even higher. Businesses that prioritize reliability gain not only financial benefits but also something even more valuable: the trust of their customers.