KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 14): Malaysian manufacturers should take the ongoing Microsoft services disruption as a reminder to strengthen their digital resilience, said the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturing (FMM).

FMM president Jacob Lee Chor Kok said the disruption serves as a timely reminder as manufacturers accelerate their digital transformation, in turn increasing their dependence on digital platforms significantly.

“While digitalisation drives productivity, operational efficiency, and global competitiveness, it also exposes enterprise operations to unprecedented vulnerabilities that demand active, strategic risk management,” he said in a statement on Friday.

A digital service disruption for the manufacturing sector could potentially become a production, supply-chain and business continuity issue, Lee noted.

“A prolonged disruption to cloud-based communications and business systems could delay purchase orders, interrupt coordination with suppliers, affect shipment schedules, and compromise delivery commitments to customers,” he said, noting that digital connectivity is relied on for various aspects of operations.

With this in mind, Lee said manufacturers should review their dependence on individual technology platforms, establish alternative communication channels, maintain secure access to essential operational information, and develop practical contingency plans to ensure continuity during unexpected service disruptions.

“FMM urges manufacturing IT teams to conduct a thorough review of their legacy software and systems,” it added.

At the national level, Lee said FMM believes digital infrastructure resilience should become an integral part of Malaysia’s industrial transformation agenda under the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030).

“FMM calls for closer collaboration among government agencies, technology service providers, and industry associations to develop practical digital resilience guidelines, particularly for SMEs,” he said.

“Consideration should also be given to supporting manufacturers in strengthening cybersecurity, disaster recovery capabilities, and business continuity planning as part of their digitalisation journey,” he added.

The global Microsoft outage began on Thursday, affecting key services and cloud-based applications, such as email client Outlook, teleconferencing platform Teams and artificial intelligence assistant Copilot.  

Microsoft attributed the outage to a capacity issue, as several servers unexpectedly became unavailable leading to elevated loads on the remaining infrastructure.

Microsoft stated that services are being gradually restored, though a timeframe for full recovery has not been provided.