“Share the load” is a good principle for large computer systems to subscribe to. As the services performed by computer systems get bigger, so do the chance of failure. Distributed systems introduce redundancy or backup, share the load and appear to provide continuous service to users.
For example…
Take the immensely popular Uber service. They maintain high availability and implement backup and recovery through the use of distributed systems. One interesting way Uber chooses to handle data centre failure is through the use of driver phones as an external system for storage and recovery.