Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Cloud: Why Diversifying Your Tech Stack is a Life Insurance Policy for Your Business
Hey there, industry! (or more specifically, BGAs, IMOs, Carriers, and life insurance agents.) I’m writing this from a hidden bunker several floors beneath the basement at Apis Productions, in a self-designed faraday cage made from several Costco rolls of aluminum foil. Please say hi to my wife, kids, and dog if you see them. At this point I assume you know about the massive AWS outage on October 20, 2025. It hit hard, knocking out services for countless businesses worldwide, including some of our technology partners here at Apis. One minute, everything’s humming along smoothly; the next, it’s like the digital equivalent of a power outage during a thunderstorm—except this storm was in the cloud, and it left a lot of us scrambling for flashlights.
As consultants who integrate everything from quoting engines to CRM systems, we’ve seen firsthand how these disruptions can ripple through the industry. But hey, outages happen—it’s not like AWS is run by infallible robots (I mean, at least not yet.). The real lesson here? Relying too heavily on a single provider is like betting your entire retirement on one stock: exciting until it’s not. So while I’m stuck down here, let’s chat about why diversifying your tech stack is crucial, peek at some historical “oops” moments in cloud history, and share a practical strategy to mitigate risks without ditching the best tools out there.
A Quick Trip Down Outage Memory Lane: It’s Not Just AWS
If you think the recent AWS hiccup was a one-off, think again. Cloud outages are like that one relative who shows up unannounced at family gatherings—unpredictable, disruptive, and they’ve been happening for years. Here’s a humorous (yet sobering) roundup of some major ones from the past decade:
- The Great AWS Meltdown of 2021: On December 7, 2021, AWS’s US-East-1 region went down for hours, affecting everything from streaming services to delivery apps. It was dubbed the biggest AWS outage in history, exposing how over-reliance on one region can turn your day into a nightmare. Even giants stub their toes.
- Multi-Cloud Mayhem in 2025: Fast-forward to June 12, 2025, when not just AWS, but Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure all experienced significant disruptions on the same day. It was not a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
- Azure’s Global Glitch: Just this year, Azure had a major outage where their CDN broke worldwide, reminding us that no provider is immune.
These aren’t ancient history; they’re recurring plot twists in the tech world. Back in 2009, AWS even got zapped by a lightning strike—proving that sometimes, Mother Nature joins the outage party too. The point? Outages aren’t rare; they’re part of the game. But in the life insurance industry, where downtime can mean lost leads, delayed quotes, or frustrated agents, we can’t afford to play Russian roulette with our tech.
Why Diversify? Because Monoculture is Boring (and Risky)
Diversifying spreads out your dependencies, so one outage doesn’t bring the whole house down.
In our space, we’re integrating vendors like iPipeline for quoting and illustrations, Hexure for electronic applications, and SureLC for licensing and contracting. These are fantastic tools, but if they’re all funneled through a single cloud provider without backups, you’re one glitch away from chaos. Diversification isn’t about abandoning AWS or Azure—it’s about building resilience. Recent analyses show that tech stack uniformity has become a systemic vulnerability, making widespread failures more likely when a single point fails. By mixing it up, you’re both mitigating risks and future-proofing your operations.
A Solid Strategy: Mitigate Without Compromise
You don’t have to sacrifice cutting-edge tech to build in safeguards. Here’s a straightforward, consultative strategy for the Eagle Scout in all of us.
- Go Multi-Cloud or Hybrid: Don’t pledge allegiance to one provider. Use AWS for your core websites, but integrate Microsoft Azure for backups or Google Cloud for analytics. This way, if one goes down, you can failover seamlessly.
- Build Redundancy into Your Stack: Duplicate critical components. For example, use content delivery networks (CDNs) from multiple vendors and set up automated failover systems. Pro tip: Start with a risk assessment—map out your dependencies and prioritize adding backups where it hurts most.
- Monitor and Automate Like a Pro: Invest in real-time monitoring tools (Apis handles this for clients on our Pro hosting plan) to spot issues before they escalate. Automate responses, like switching to a secondary provider during an outage. In the life insurance space, this means your quoting engines stay up, keeping agents productive and clients happy.
- Diversify Vendors Thoughtfully: Lean on the ecosystem. Pair iPipeline with alternatives or complements from other providers to avoid single-vendor lock-in. Create a roadmap: Identify high-risk areas, test integrations, and roll out changes incrementally.
- Test, Test, and Test Again: Run regular drills for outages. It’s like a fire drill, but for your operations. This ensures your diversified setup actually works when it counts.
The beauty? This approach enhances resilience without ditching the best-in-class tech.
Taking Off My Tinfoil Hat: Sometimes You Can’t Hide
In the end, the AWS outage was a wake-up call, but it’s one we’ve heard before. By diversifying your tech stack, you’re not just avoiding risks—you’re building a more robust, flexible operation that can weather any storm. Whether you’re a BGA juggling policies or an IMO streamlining underwriting for your BGAs, think of it as applying the same principles we use in insurance: spread the risk, cover your bases, and sleep better at night.
As always, Apis is here to help you turn potential disasters into “no big deal” moments. Stay resilient out there—and remember, in tech as in life, variety isn’t just the spice; it’s the survival kit. All right, I’m heading back upstairs. I think I heard the power come back on.
