ICT service provider responsible for lost data?
Posted on August 17, 2017 • 2 min read • 358 words
On July 7, 2017, there was an interesting article on Tweakers: ICT service provider responsible for lost data. The article was about a court ruling in a case between a general practitioner and an IT service provider. The IT service provider had failed to make a backup before installing an update. The IT service provider was responsible for part of the infrastructure, based on verbal agreements.
The article on Tweakers contains interesting things. Things that can help you as a company to avoid this mistake yourself. In this case there was a certain backup procedure. I think this was error-prone.
Quote from the statement:
The judge finds that the IT service provider, as an expert, could not rely on the usability of the backup in the GP’s own system. According to the judge, the GP has clearly suffered damage as a result of this shortcoming.
Shared responsibility
Well, I’m not a judge, but I wonder whether the question of guilt is really that simple. I believe that there is certainly some form of shared responsibility. Yes, you can expect your IT supplier to have everything in order. You can assume that he will do everything he has agreed.
Yes, you should have expected the service provider to make a proper backup before starting work, or at least to ensure that a proper backup was made. Perhaps the supplier should have dwelled a little longer on his action and ensured that he could always go back.
On the other hand, I don’t think it absolves you as a company from thinking for yourself. If you have a backup solution, you will also have to test it yourself every now and then. You can of course rely blindly on your supplier, but aren’t you a bit naive?
Ultimately, I agree with the statement. Creating a backup may have taken just a few minutes. It could have been prevented so easily.
##Lessons learned
What have we learned?
Agreements are NEVER a substitute for logical thinking.
Check, check, think before you leap and there is a reason for sayings like that. Cleaning up your street is no excuse for thinking logically.