Have you ever found yourself stuck in the middle of a trip with nothing to hold on to and no one to confirm if the trip had been canceled or were you just waiting for the next ride? That is exactly what happened to plane passengers last 19 July, a memorable day for every passenger who had to wait more than five hours for their next flight, and, yes, speaking from experience, I was one of those passengers.

In case you were in a cave and are wondering why trips were delayed or canceled, bank transactions put on hold, and hospital operations disrupted worldwide, there was an IT outage last Friday after cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike updated software that malfunctioned, affecting Microsoft systems worldwide.

Imagine people’s private information being vulnerable to technological attack and their precious time lost and at the mercy of tech companies that profit in the millions, and to what extent? Your guess is as good as mine.

The lack of business contingency plans that would have allowed operations, even with some delays, in the event of IT problems, was astounding. Airlines, trains, health care systems, and businesses of many types should be able to continue to do their work and serve customers while restoring access to their computer systems. The lack of such planning is a serious flaw in our current global economy.

We’ve become so attached to the digital age but where is Plan B when we need it the most? Do we freeze our time and just let the tech companies take control of our lives because we are entirely dependent on their systems? We should be moving forward instead of going backward manually when digital systems fail.

Going back to my experience on 19 July as an airline passenger, it was what I can call the worst flight of them all. People were screaming at the airline counters. Of course, we could not blame them as some of them had strict schedules and life events put on hold. On the other hand, we also could not blame the airline counter staff who were just doing their jobs.

The airline companies could have at least provided meals, even water, to the stranded passengers who did not want to be in that situation, who could do nothing but wait.

On another note, CrowdStrike was not solely to blame. The big companies and giant corporations offering their services to the public should have backup plans in cases like this. None of this had to happen.

At the Philippine Ports Authority, shipping operations were not affected by the glitch as Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) has a different system and the Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), the country’s largest, busiest, and most advanced container terminal, was able to provide solutions immediately.

PPA General Manager Jay Santiago was on top of all the operations and was quick to respond in behalf of the ports.

I’d like to quote Jason Schmitt, the general manager of another giant tech company who said in a media interview: “This is a reminder that we live in an increasingly digital world in which software underpins nearly every facet of our lives — from transportation and emergency services to banking, retail and food service.”

Yes, you and I are affected either way, be it in transportation, even a simple bank transaction, because we are all in the same boat (hopefully not a fully automatic digital boat; hey we need a backup boat!