Every business owner dreads computer downtime. It negatively impacts productivity and, based on recent studies, can cost mid-sized businesses as much as $1 million per downtime event.
And because downtime is caused by a lot of different factors — network interruption, hard drive damage, corrupted software, power outages, and human error — business owners often find themselves spending an inordinate amount of resources looking for solutions to end them once and for all.
What’s even more troubling than downtime hindering operations is the fact that there’s a significant gap between what some businesses think a downtime event costs versus what it actually costs.
Let’s take a look at the things your business ends up paying for should it ever experience significant downtime.
Inability to access business-critical applications
Data centers host applications that your business needs for operations. When your applications are hosted in a data center that regularly fails, you’re basically paying for a service that doesn’t work well, and you aren’t getting your money’s worth.
Although data center outages can be caused by any of the factors mentioned above, UPS system failure is the leading cause of outages. Fortunately, all these causes of downtime can be avoided through preventative measures like efficient battery management, robust cybercrime protections, and comprehensive data center training — all of which can be implemented by a trusted Managed Services Provider like Sabio.
Wasted resources and reduced productivity
You probably feel at ease when systems are back up after a prolonged downtime. Although it’s not wrong to celebrate your systems’ return, don’t forget to account for the fact that the idle time did cost you a lot.
You spend money when your in-house IT team fixes problems, and you definitely spend a lot when you hire an outsourced break-fix IT provider who could charge you by the hour and cause your IT expenses to skyrocket.
Similarly, you pay a price when staff are unable to use computers, access the company network, or connect to your online database and systems. Their idle time translates to reduced productivity, ultimately resulting in lost profits. And since small businesses have fewer resources than large ones, they have much more to lose when dealing with downtime events.
Loss of customer confidence due to reputational damage
Regardless of the quality of your products and services, if your business is saddled with service issues caused by downtime, it won’t take long before customers switch to your competitors.
Customer loyalty, employee morale, and brand reputation are factors frequently overlooked when measuring the true cost of downtime, but they do incur costs in ways that may not be immediately obvious. For instance, you could gradually lose current and prospective clients if you earn a reputation as a company that’s prone to data breaches — even if you recover quickly from downtime-related data loss!
How MSPs can help
Downtime affects businesses regardless of size or industry, but the effects are different for every organization. To create a contingency plan that effectively minimizes disruption to your business, it’s essential to work with an IT support team that takes the time to know your technology infrastructure inside and out.
As South Florida’s leading Managed Services Provider, we’ve helped plenty of businesses that have experienced downtime for all the reasons we’ve noted here. Although there’s very little you can do about a hurricane that shuts down entire cities’ systems, investing in a stable IT infrastructure greatly reduces the impact of downtime caused by factors that are within your control.
Here at Sabio Information Technologies, we look at all possible causes of network shutdowns, data center outages, and other downtime events that can disrupt your business. Call us today if you want to eliminate these money-draining issues for good.