IT downtime not just frustrating

Aug 28 2008 By Phil Renton

IT’S that time of year again. The summer is coming to an end. For months we all worked hard with thoughts of a two-week break in the sun as our reward.

However, when returning back to work, although refreshed and raring to go, I am sure many of us cannot help but feel a pang of post-holiday blues.

If we are brutally honest, it can sometimes take two or three days to really get back into the swing of things back at the office – by the time you get through your emails, remembered what you were doing before your break and begin to fully concentrate again, it is already Wednesday!

But how would you feel if your employees were taking a week to get back to work, literally doing nothing during their first week back? What many businesses don’t realise that this is happening in many workplaces across the region, costing time and money. But it isn’t employees at the heart of the problem …

It is no longer just workers suffering from post-holiday blues – it appears our IT systems can also experience a lull and struggle to concentrate on the job at hand.

Recent studies have shown that IT downtime is losing businesses 37.1 hours every year, costing an average of £7,122.94. The equivalent of someone sat at their desk, doing absolutely nothing for an entire week.

However, IT downtime has a much larger effect on the business as a whole. In the past few years, we have all invested in IT to some degree and our business culture has become extremely reliant upon it. We now need to ensure we can continue to support and maintain our investments.

We all know how frustrating it is when IT systems fail. As well as being unproductive and costly, other organisations may view your business as unreliable, especially if this is a regular occurrence, and business and loyalties can be lost.

There are a number of packages available which monitor your IT system on a daily basis so there is no excuse – North East businesses need to act now. It is more important than ever to understand the real impact of IT downtime.