One of the great things about technology is the ability to integrate other systems.  This means that you don't have to develop everything yourself, and you can rely on the specialization of others.  

Unfortunately, this also means that you've hobbled together a system that's only as strong as it's weakest link.  When our storage system temporarily went down, it was a reminder of the fragility of our platform.  Luckily, users could still interact with other parts of the community since the storage system is isolated (you couldn't upload attachments, but you could still browse and make posts).  We rely on multiple third party integrations. When any one of them goes down, we're probably at risk.