Microsoft outage forces UAE businesses to WhatsApp for urgent deals

Residents and businesses across the UAE faced difficulties sending emails, accessing mailboxes and retrieving documents after a global Microsoft outage disrupted Outlook and other services. The disruption affected businesses, government agencies, schools and educational institutions worldwide.

Microsoft services, including Outlook and Teams, began experiencing problems on Thursday as the company worked to resolve server-related issues. The disruption continued into Friday, forcing several UAE organisations to rely on alternative communication channels to maintain daily operations.

UAE Businesses Turn to WhatsApp Amid Microsoft Outage

Several UAE businesses started using WhatsApp and phone calls to manage internal communication, financial approvals and business transactions during the disruption.

Sangeeta Bora, head of public relations at Danube Group, said the outage had affected important business processes, particularly financial approvals involving multiple employees.

She explained that bulk sales had also been severely affected, prompting the company to create WhatsApp groups to coordinate certain transactions.

Describing the situation, Bora said it had been a difficult day as teams struggled to manage approvals and business activities without their regular email services.

Meanwhile, electronics retailer Eros Group confirmed that the disruption had affected only its email communication.

According to an Eros spokesperson, the company's core sales and logistics operations continued to function normally as they relied on SAP. Employees remained connected through WhatsApp and phone calls.

UAE Residents Face Delays in Emails and Daily Work

The Microsoft outage also affected individuals who depend on Outlook for professional and personal communication.

Yasser Ahmad, a long-time UAE resident, said he was unable to send emails or access his mailbox despite several attempts.

He explained that delayed business correspondence, important emails and follow-ups had affected his productivity and made it difficult to manage everyday responsibilities.

Communications executive Dheeraj Thakur said the disruption had created temporary communication challenges for businesses globally. However, he added that most operations continued as usual through alternative communication channels.

For Dubai-based administrative staff member S.G., the outage created additional pressure as she hoped Microsoft would restore its services before Monday so she could complete pending tasks in advance.

The 27-year-old Filipino expatriate said she wanted to catch up on her work before the start of the working week to avoid additional pressure on Monday.

The disruption extended to educational institutions across Dubai, affecting students, teachers and administrative communication.

Aiza Khan, an IT student in Dubai, said Microsoft Word stopped responding while she was editing a document during class on Friday morning.

The software repeatedly prompted her to reload the page, but the problem continued despite several attempts.

She also faced difficulties recovering her document through OneDrive, which repeatedly redirected her to an error page. The issue reportedly began around 10.30am. Although the service later started working again, its performance remained slow.

Schools Inform Parents About Email Disruptions

Al Sadiq Islamic English School notified parents that its email communication might be temporarily affected by the global Microsoft disruption.

The school advised parents with urgent queries to contact its landline if they were unable to reach the administration through email.

Middlesex University Dubai also informed students about communication challenges caused by the Outlook outage.

The university warned that students might experience delays in receiving email responses and replies to requests submitted to its Careers Office until services were fully restored.

Microsoft Outage Affects Users Worldwide

The disruption was not limited to the UAE, with organisations and individuals across several countries reporting problems accessing Microsoft services.

Downdetector recorded more than 130,000 reports of Outlook-related problems in the United States at the peak of the outage.

Microsoft said certain Microsoft 365 features relying on Exchange Online and email services had been affected, while services that did not depend on Exchange Online continued to function.

The outage also disrupted connectors used by OpenAI and Anthropic's artificial intelligence services.

Several organisations reported operational challenges, including:

Workhorse Group: Postponed the release of its third-quarter financial results from November 12 to November 16, citing business disruption caused by the outage.

Australia: The country's spy agency and federal police were among the organisations affected.

United States: The US House of Representatives confirmed that some of its users had also experienced disruptions.

These incidents highlighted how businesses and government organisations worldwide depend on Microsoft's cloud-based services for everyday operations.

Microsoft Works to Restore Outlook and Other Services

Microsoft said the servers it had restored remained stable as its technical teams continued working to bring the remaining servers back online.

The company was also shifting traffic to alternative routes wherever possible to improve service availability.

Microsoft cautioned that users might experience a gradual recovery as their email clients reconnected while additional server capacity was restored.

The company had also experienced a separate Azure cloud platform outage the previous month, which affected productivity software and various industries worldwide.

The latest Microsoft disruption highlighted the importance of having backup communication systems for businesses, educational institutions and government organisations.

While several UAE companies managed to continue their operations through WhatsApp, phone calls and other platforms, the outage demonstrated how disruptions to major cloud services can affect everyday business activities.

For residents, students and employees who rely on Outlook, Word and OneDrive, the restoration of normal services remains essential for managing professional responsibilities and accessing important documents.