I don’t think it is the first time that people have faced reality and realized that a massive proportion of their gas could be cut off. Despite a relatively mild winter in much of Europe, relatively high stocks plus the prospect of an alternative supply in the form of shale gas, there is no instant fix if the unthinkable happened. Whatever the complexities of the Ukraine situation, Russia supplies a massive amount of Europe’s gas.

Back on a day to day level, I suppose that the prospect, however remote, of being held to ransom is part of business. More often than not, you can go somewhere else given enough time or with the foresight to plan. If you have dual supply, you can often get round the problem from day one.

There are many cases where you should not wait until you are forced to go elsewhere as you may not find the move so easy. That is pretty good advice that applies to a lot of circumstances. Whether it is getting hold of tooling from a failing supplier or indeed changing banks, this problem comes up for every business. This is part of strategic planning. OK, you can’t plan for every eventuality, but can at least identify risks.

What is very uncomfortable is signing up to a deal where somebody has “got you”. Spares and maintenance spring to mind. Bad enough if you can physically see the part that is costing the earth but even worse if you don’t really know what you have bought. More often than not you are fully aware of the risks. The whole software industry is built upon moving on and making people upgrade. What really can you do other than maybe know that you are one of tens of thousands in the same boat? Maybe the alarm bells ring on any bespoke software where somebody can pull the plug for whatever reason and you don’t have a plan B.

I think the greatest challenge is being drawn into a mess of somebody else’s making. These sort of problems can really come from left of field. For example, somebody can’t supply you because their supplier is withholding tooling. Maybe something to do with money.  Maybe disaster like fire. Your Cloud server stops working because somewhere along the line they have not paid their fees or the cloud provider has gone bust.  Is it your problem? Well unfortunately, it is. You can end up paying way more than you should just to get back on track.

Anyway, however pessimistic your disaster planning might be, get on and think through a Plan B.