GoKawiilMicrosoft 365 outage pushes Japanese firms back to fax machines
A Microsoft 365 outage lasting nearly 24 hours disrupted Outlook, Teams, Copilot and OneDrive, prompting some Japanese workers to revert to fax machines and phones to keep operations running, according to the Japan Times. Some employees were sent home while others improvised workarounds, with one company switching its usual PDF updates to faxed documents.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The incident highlights how deeply embedded Microsoft's cloud services are in everyday business operations, with roughly 78% of Japanese companies reportedly dependent on its infrastructure. Microsoft says recovery is progressing in Europe and the US, but the episode could renew scrutiny of single-vendor reliance for critical workplace tools across multiple sectors including healthcare and transport.
- Microsoft 365 outage lasted nearly 24 hours, disrupting Outlook, Teams, Copilot and OneDrive.
- Some Japanese workers resorted to fax machines and phones as analog workarounds.
- About 78% of Japanese firms rely on Microsoft for digital infrastructure, per the report.
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Published there as: “Japanese workers return to fax machines during ongoing Microsoft 365 outage”
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