Which term describes the successful functioning of a system even when failures occur?

The term that describes the successful functioning of a system even when failures occur is resilience. Resilience refers to the capability of a system to endure disruptions, manage challenges, and recover from failures without significant loss of service or performance. In the context of systems, particularly in Internet of Things (IoT) environments, resilience is crucial because it ensures that even when specific components fail or encounter issues, the overall system continues to operate effectively.

This characteristic allows organizations to maintain operational continuity and minimize downtime, which is vital for critical applications and services that rely on constant availability. Resilient systems often incorporate redundancy, real-time monitoring, and self-healing capabilities to mitigate the impact of failures.

In contrast, flexibility refers to the adaptability of a system to changes or variations, scalability pertains to a system's ability to handle increasing loads, and efficiency measures the system's performance relative to resource utilization. While all these qualities are important in system design, they do not directly address the ability to maintain functionality amid failures like resilience does.