Downtime refers to a period of time when a system, device, or application's core services are unavailable due to updates, maintenance, safety precautions, or unexpected outages. As digital services become increasingly reliant on technology, preventing and efficiently managing downtime has become a strategic initiative to ensure customer experience priorities are met. Planned downtime can be mitigated by communicating with customers across various channels, while unplanned downtime requires timely and effective responses to address the situation. Availability is measured as the percentage of time a software or service is available for use, aiming for 99.99% uptime through methods like multiple availability zones and data backups. Best practices for responding to downtimes include being transparent, acknowledging issues, empathizing with customer experiences, setting expectations, offering alternatives, and communicating effectively across channels.