Blog Post

There are few things that a worse on a Monday morning than rolling into work and experiencing an IT outage where all your technical systems are completely unresponsive. In those initial moments of panic, you have no idea how long your business will be at a standstill. What you may not consider, though, is all the implications of such a disaster. IT downtime, for any extended period of time, can have significant hidden costs and unexpected problems that will bite you later. What would an IT outage look like for your bottom line?

1. Loss of productivity is the most immediate and obvious impact on your business. Your employees are limited in their ability to perform their duties and you can only do so much for your customers without your technology. Sales are hindered, communications go unanswered, deadlines missed. These issues pile up to cut into your revenue.

2. Because your business technology is vital to all functions of your company, it reaches beyond just being an internal frustration. Your customers are unable to effectively communicate with you, or access their accounts, or receive the services they need. This can lead to a loss of future business. Your customers expect and trust that your business will run smoothly and rely on you for your services. When you experience one or multiple IT downtimes, your customers will see an inefficient and unprofessional company. And with so much competition in the marketplace, it doesn’t take much to drive customers into the arms of your competitors.

3. A more hidden expense of a tech downtime is the frustration it causes in your employees. It’s demoralizing for people to feel that they are stuck at work and are inefficient in their roles. The more often this occurs, the greater risk you have of employees leaving to work elsewhere.

4. IT outages often require emergency repairs to your systems, which will cost you time and money. Your out of pocket expense to fix the problem can be even more costly if you don’t have an IT team managing your services for you. A schmuck in a truck might hurt you even more in the end. You should never start looking for an IT service provider when you are in the middle of an IT emergency. Though this isn’t uncommon, it’s important that you do your due diligence in finding the right provider for you and your team. In an emergency, you’re much more likely to make a hasty decision.

5. Depending on both the severity of the outage and your industry, you could be facing data loss, corruption, or even issues with your regulatory compliance. A data compromise could lead to extensive financial loss, including penalties and fines.

Calculating your financial risk ahead of time is one major key to being prepared. Though many factors will determine the exact cost, such as your company size, your industry, and the length and extent of downtime you have, there are some averages you can learn from. Some estimates project that a small business should expect to lose around $427/minute of downtime, whereas medium to large businesses should expect a loss of around $9,000/minute.

There is good news! Most IT downtime can be avoided. You can prevent this in several ways. First, you want to make sure that you’re investing in high quality hardware and software. Second, make sure you are scheduling regular maintenance on your systems to address any risk factors you might have. Third, be sure you have a robust data backup and recovery system in place. Fourth, develop a good disaster recovery plan and make sure that your managers and employees are all familiar with your process. Finally, implementing regular employee cybersecurity training and best practices can greatly reduce your risk of IT downtime cause by human error.

If you’d like to protect your business now, before an emergency happens, Tech Eagles is happy to talk with you about your IT needs. Give us a call today to learn more about how we can serve you.