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The Cost of Unexpected Network Downtime

The Cost of Unexpected Network Downtime

Your infrastructure is the backbone of your network. When your applications or network go down unexpectedly, it can impact you where it hurts worst: your bottom line. An unplanned network outage can have a permanent impact on your business and cause your customers to lose trust in your services. Here are the actual costs of unexpected network downtime and how to mitigate this disaster.

The financial impact of an outage

The cost of unexpected network downtime depends on multiple factors such as your industry, the time of the outage, and how long the downtime lasts. As a result, it can be challenging to predict the cost of network downtime, but according to Gartner, the average cost of IT downtime is $5,600 per minute. That translates to $336,000 an hour. These costs can really start to stack up if you suffer a crippling outage that lasts multiple hours or even days.

The costs of your network downtime can be exacerbated depending on the timing. If your network crashes during peak business hours, the costs of a potential outage can skyrocket. Or, if your business handles sensitive or high-level data transactions like a banking institution, the damages can be crippling.

Other costs inflicted by network downtime

There are other costs unexpected network outages generate besides those to your bottom line – costs that can be more treacherous and even force your business to close their doors. Some of these non-direct financial costs include your brand image, losing faithful customers, and employee turnover.

Let’s use British Airways as an example of non-direct financial costs as a result of an outage. British Airways suffered from a global IT crash on one of the busiest travel weekends in the UK. In short, a fundamental power supply was accidentally turned off at a critical data center, resulting in server damage from the power surge. The result? Thousands of global passengers missed their flights with their entire fleet of planes grounded. Such an outage cost British Airways millions of dollars, their customers’ trust, and a massive hit to their reputation.

This example is one of many notable network outages that inflicted steep non-direct financial costs.

What can you do to prevent network outages?

So, what can your company do to avoid costly network downtime? You can prepare contingency plans in the event of an outage to restore your network and applications as efficiently as possible. First, your IT team should identify the services that are most critical to your network and business. Once you have your key services identified, you can start to draft contingency plans to prevent outages; these plans will also help your team safely restore your network if they go down unexpectedly. Once you have plans developed, review them with your team often, monitor your network frequently, and run regular tests.

If your team wants to protect your network further or are too understaffed to alleviate these risks, it may be time to partner with an IT consulting firm. JSG’s IT Consulting Services offer robust support to mitigate and resolve network outages. We provide network solutions that increase productivity, reduce downtime, and have immediate, automated remediation. We also offer 24/7/365 monitoring and can help identify issues before they become costly network outages. If your team is looking to keep your network safe and secure, reach out to our IT consulting professionals today!

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