‘Optus didn’t just fail to control the narrative, they ignored it completely’: The outage aftermath
Times of crisis tend to bring us together. Whether it’s a war, a pandemic, or the collapse of the communications system we rely upon — quite literally, to stay alive, in many cases — a common enemy is a bonding agent.
However, when 10 million Australians woke up yesterday morning and found they had no phone or internet service, it was less crisis, and more chaos. But we did have a common enemy – and we’ve been here before, haven’t we?
Put simply: Optus dropped the ball. Again. They waited half a day to properly acknowledge the massive outage issue, and when they did, CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin was curt and light on details and the government has now launched a federal investigation into the matter. So, what should she have done?
“Bad news should travel fast” is how we run our business. Corporate giants are no different. Trust comes from effective comms. Optus has yet to learn that lesson and maybe customer loss is the only way to get cut through at board level Competition like Aussie BB have got the mix right with regular updates and no excuses. Optus needs some PR help and certainly a logo change. Ditch the “Yes” and start at the basics while you still have customers.
In any crisis, the priorities must be people, reputation, and cost. Always in that order. This simple approach should guide every CEO who is leading the response to a crisis. It simplifies decision-making and helps eliminate missteps.
For a CEO not one iota of people skills shown. A complete disregard for the millions that were affected.