Global Microsoft 365 Outage: What Greater Manchester SMEs Need to Know

If your team has struggled to send emails, join a video call, or access shared files over the past 24 hours, you are certainly not alone. A major global outage affecting Microsoft 365 services began on Thursday, 12 November, disrupting operations for businesses, public bodies, and millions of users across more than 70 countries.For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Greater Manchester, sudden downtime like this can bring daily operations to a standstill. Here is a quick breakdown of what is happening, what it means for local businesses, and how we can help you stay connected.

In the short video above, our Head of Client Services, Iain Kingston, explains how the outage is affecting local businesses and shares practical tips on keeping your team communicating while Microsoft restores normal service.

What Services Are Affected?

The global disruption has primarily impacted core everyday workplace tools, including:

• Outlook and Exchange Online: Many teams have been unable to load inboxes, send client emails, or view calendar schedules.
• Microsoft Teams: Instant messaging, external calls, and scheduled meetings have faced widespread connectivity drops.
• Microsoft 365 Apps & Copilot: Access to Word, Excel, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Copilot has been intermittent, with knock-on effects even reaching third-party AI tools.

What Caused the Outage?

Microsoft has confirmed there is no sign of a cyberattack or security breach. Instead, the tech giant traced the issue to a server configuration fault that caused a large number of servers to drop offline unexpectedly, putting heavy strain on the remaining network. As of Friday morning, Microsoft reported positive progress in stabilising its servers and is gradually restoring capacity across the UK and other affected regions.Advice for Greater Manchester Businesses

While Microsoft works to bring systems back to 100%, here are three quick steps your team can take today:

• Use Alternative Channels: Switch urgent internal chats to mobile messaging or phone calls, and let key clients know if your email responses are delayed.
• Avoid Repeated Logouts: Signing out of desktop apps during a server outage can sometimes make it harder to get back in once systems recover.
• Save Work Locally: If you are working on important documents, save a temporary backup directly to your desktop until OneDrive and SharePoint sync reliably again.

How to Reach Our Team Today

Like many businesses across the North West, we use Microsoft tools in our day-to-day work. While our core operations are running smoothly, you might notice a slight delay in email replies while Exchange finishes recovering.

If you need urgent support or want to check in on your business systems, please call our local team directly on 0161 233 0099 or reach us via our Raise a Ticket web form.

We are keeping a close eye on the Microsoft Service Health Status portal and will post further updates as needed. Thank you for bearing with us!