In what scenario is an incident categorized as critical?

An incident is categorized as critical when it has a high impact on business operations. This is because incidents deemed critical usually have the potential to significantly disrupt key services or processes that are vital to the organization. When such an incident occurs, it can lead to significant financial loss, affect customer satisfaction, or even damage the company’s reputation. For example, if a major application that supports business functions goes down, it would compromise the ability of employees or systems to perform essential tasks, necessitating immediate attention and resolution.

In contrast, the other scenarios do not meet the criteria for a critical categorization. An incident that affects only one user may be significant for that individual but typically does not have a broader impact on business operations. An incident reported outside of business hours doesn’t inherently indicate its severity; the impact of the incident, not the time of reporting, determines its critical nature. Lastly, an incident that can be resolved through self-service may indicate a low level of impact, as it suggests that the resolution is straightforward and does not necessitate urgent, high-priority intervention from the IT support team.