IT outages – what’s the real cost to your business?
The outage threats no one considers
We all agree that Monday mornings are hard enough – the last thing anyone wants is to walk into a total IT outage before you’ve even had your morning coffee! Nobody needs to deal with a total IT infrastructure meltdown first thing, but that could easily be the result if you don’t have systems in place to prevent IT outages.
Besides the obvious inconvenience of having an outage with no clear IT support in place, there are also many hidden financial consequences. This article lays out the key ways an IT outage can impact your business and – more importantly – how to prevent them.
The impacts of an IT outage:
The loss of productivity
If your IT infrastructure is down, your staff are unable to work. This means your business grinds to a halt until IT support can be reached. With work for clients not being done and services not being carried out, every second your systems are down translates to a loss of money.
The loss of reputation
Having a good relationship with your customers is essential for any business. Customers being unable to use your services or access your products affects their business too! Halting another company’s productivity due to poor IT planning is a bad look, and has the potential to turn working relationships sour.
This in turn tarnishes your brand image and makes customers less likely refer you to other companies, or even use your business again in the future! Poor IT support should never be the reason to lose out on clients.
The hidden impacts of an IT outage:
There are other ways an IT outage can impact your business – it goes further than client dissatisfaction and downtime. We’ve listed the less considered impacts below.
Employee Demoralization
Lack of stability in your IT infrastructure can be frustrating for your members of staff. Unable to get work done or meet their professional goals, employee motivation can be severely impacted depending on the length and impact of an IT outage, especially if IT support isn’t immediately available to fix the problem.
Emergency Repairs
If you don’t have any form of IT support set up, finding a company to take care of your IT outage on short notice can be pricey. As opposed to having constant IT support in which prevention methods are heavily utilised, last minute IT support is time-consuming and costly. Finding a managed IT service company is something you should do to prevent disaster from striking – not when you’re in the middle of the chaos!
Data Loss or Corruption
If your IT issue is severe, data can be lost or corrupted. Recovering your lost data can be an expensive process – and even then, there’s no guarantee everything will be restored. The time it takes to rebuild that lost information can impact your business, and significantly slow down recovery.
Compliance Issues
There are certain procedures and regulations different industries must be compliant with. If the failure to comply with these results to the loss of your IT infrastructure, you may also have to deal with consequences such as fines and penalties.
How much does all of this cost?
The cost of an IT outage can depend on your industry, your company’s size, and how extensive your IT infrastructure is. However, studies show that the loss can be thousands per hour, and even more for larger companies!
Proactive measures to prevent an IT outage
On the bright side, there are a few simple processes you can put in place to prevent IT outages and minimise the impact!
Invest in Reliable IT Infrastructure: focus on high-quality hardware and software, preferably backed up by past success and reputable reviews.
- Regular System Maintenance: schedule regular maintenance with your IT support provider to pinpoint potential vulnerabilities and manage them quickly.
- Data Backup and Recovery: consistently backing up your data can help minimise the impact an outage can have.
- Disaster Recovery Plan: having steps in lace to recover from an IT outage will enable you to recover quickly. Consult with an IT services company to piece this plan together.
- Employee Training: educate your employees on the signs of scams and the best cyber-security practices they can take part in. Minimising the impact of human error is a great way to protect your IT infrastructure!
Having unnecessary downtime in your business is a nightmare to deal with! By educating yourself on the consequences of not protecting your infrastructure, and the IT support you need to protect it, you’re a step closer to reducing the risk. Downtime can impact your business significantly, and without the proper processes in place, can cause a huge detriment to you financially.
When it comes to IT outages, every measure you put in place can minimise the affect, and help create a smoother return to the running of your business.
Do you need guidance with building protection?
Our 18 years of experience has made us adept at handling IT outages. We can pinpoint the vulnerabilities in your IT infrastructure and provide preventative support to keep your company running smoothly.
Give us a call today to find out more!
