How Does IT Downtime Affect Your Bottom Line?

As a modern business owner or IT leader, you depend on technology for so much of your work. That makes it all the more frustrating when something goes wrong and your system — whether it’s your internet, website, or servers — goes down.

At the risk of stating the obvious: Not only is IT downtime incredibly frustrating, but it’s also costly and affects your bottom line. Here’s how:

1. Revenue

When your system goes down, you immediately lose revenue. That revenue loss increases with every hour you’re down.

Recent studies show that 72% of retailers say sales were lost during network downtime. That loss in sales can lead to costly diagnostic work, mechanical repairs, discounted delivery fees, apology coupons, and more. In worst-case scenarios, outages can even lead to lengthy and expensive lawsuits from angry consumers.

2. Reputation

Beyond immediate financial damage, IT downtime can also hurt your office’s reputation and decrease customer loyalty — sometimes irreparably. If a client can’t get what they need or get in touch with you, they’re more likely to complain online and seek out one of your competitors.

That means you lose both current and future clients.

3. Productivity

IT downtime doesn’t just lead to a loss in money or future business; it also leads to lost productivity among your team. So much of today’s work relies on technology and the ability to immediately access data and files. When your team can’t do their job, they’re likely to become frustrated and lose steam, and a disheartened team can be hard to reinspire — even after the system comes back up.

4. Security

Finally, IT downtime can leave you and your business susceptible to hacks, malware, and more. A recent study found that most retailers can’t enable security systems while disconnected from the internet. That creates a vulnerability to data breaches, and if you store sensitive customer information, an uncomfortable conversation with clients.

And as we’ve seen in the news, security breaches can also lead to costly lawsuits.

5. So what can you do to reduce harm?

The best way to prevent IT downtime is to make sure you have a strong internet connection, your website is well-maintained, your servers are up-to-date, and your applications are well-managed.

That being said, IT downtime is not avoidable, according to research. The average business is likely to experience an outage once a year. If one does happen to you, you and your team should be prepared. Have a plan of action ready, one that includes an urgent IT request message and statement to send out to customers that include how you plan to get back online and how they can reach you in the meantime.

Aventis Systems can help you protect your revenue, productivity, and reputation. Whether you’re looking for new servers, used servers, or cloud-based technology, we can help set you up with office technology with IT support and care. Reach out and speak with one of our highly-trained engineers today.