4 ways IT downtime can financially impact your business

Time is money, as the old saying goes, and one of the quickest ways for modern-day businesses to fall into the red is an IT failure. Almost every company today relies on computers and internet infrastructure to complete their work, but such a heavy reliance isn’t without its pitfalls. Here are just a few of the ways that IT downtime can affect your business and some suggestions on what you can do to prevent it.

1 – Reputational damage

Reputation is key in the business world. Trade checkers and review sites make it easier than ever for would-be customers to see feedback from your former clients and customers. This is great – if they’ve had a positive experience with you, but bad online reviews (especially those ignored) can do a lot of harm. An IT failure that results in downtime for your customers, missed orders, delays, or a loss of data can easily spell trouble.

2 – Loss of income

Whether it’s losing access to your systems or means of communication, you will most likely be unable to carry on as normal if you don’t have a backup plan for IT-related downtime. A report from ITIC stated that 47% of SMBs say just one hour of downtime means £77,000 in lost revenue.

It’s easy to see why. An unplanned outage may mean that you’ll be unable to carry out your usual duties as well as field new enquiries and potential lines of business. What’s more, customers will be left frustrated and may likely take their business elsewhere.

3 – Staffing costs

One of the biggest stress points that accompanies a period of downtime is staffing costs. As an employer, you pay your employees to work hard and be productive. However, if your systems fail then you will still have to pay them for their time. This can dramatically increase the financial damage that’s been thrust upon you.

4 – Fines

Another hidden cost related to downtime can come in the form of fines. Data breaches by law are required to be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office and in no more than 72 hours after an incident occurs. GDPR rules mean that if you hold public data then you could potentially face fines of up to 4% of your revenues.

How to minimize the damage and protect your business

With all these points in mind, it should be clear to you that it pays to prepare for the worst. Putting the right IT solutions in place can help prevent downtime and avoid spiralling financial losses.

The first step in building your defences should be to speak to an experienced IT provider about arranging a business continuity plan. Here at ECL, we provide businesses with a whole suite of services such as tools like VMware and HyperV that mitigate the risks of downtime. A sophisticated plan that includes backups, building replicas of key files, and infrastructure and hosting on securely located platforms can provide peace of mind to you and your clients and ultimately protect you in the event of an unplanned service interruption. To learn more about our Disaster Recovery Services, make sure to contact our team of IT experts.