• The president of CrowdStrike just received an award for “biggest failure” following a massive IT outage.

• The outage, caused by a faulty software update, disrupted thousands of Microsoft systems.

• Experts praised the company’s transparency and accountability and viewed it as a PR success.

The president of CrowdStrike himself received an award for the “biggest failure” just following the company’s massive IT outage.

The cybersecurity company’s president, Michael Sentonas, said he wanted to accept the award in person because the company wanted to admit its mistake.

“I want every CrowdStriker that comes to work to see this,” Sentonas said as he accepted the trophy. “Because, you know, our goal is to protect people, and we got that wrong, and I want to make sure everyone understands that this can’t happen.”

The award was presented on Saturday evening at Pwnie. Awardsan annual awards ceremony for cybersecurity professionals.

The ignominious award follows an outage last month in which CrowdStrike disrupted business operations worldwide after a defect in a software update from the cybersecurity company led to the shutdown of many thousands of Microsoft computer systems.

Sentonas’ short speech drew applause and laughter from the audience, and communications experts told Business Insider that accepting the award with dignity was the right decision.

A crisis communications expert said that by appearing in person, the company signaled that it remained committed to transparency and accountability.

“Sentonas’ decision to accept the award in person is a PR success and a masterpiece of crisis management,” said Jeremy Foo, CEO of PR firm Elliot & Co.

“What might have been remembered as a PR nightmare is now being told in the right narrative,” he said.

The award shows “that even technology giants are not immune to missteps and that you can earn a brand’s love if you approach them with humility and integrity and the right touch of humor,” he added.

Admitting a mistake is usually the first step in dealing with a crisis. That admission should convey authentic remorse to those affected by your actions, said Nathan Miller, a Los Angeles-based communications strategist.

The humor of the moment also served as an opportunity to illustrate how seriously CrowdStrike took its mistake, Miller said.

While the awards ceremony may temporarily boost the company’s image, customers will be paying attention to what CrowdStrike does in the long run.

“Customers and partners, who are CrowdStrike’s key stakeholders, want to see that the outage is taken seriously,” Foo said. “The key here is consistency.”

Read the original article on Business Insider