Has your business experienced a network outage? Whether it’s your business’s internet or internal network connection, outages can have disastrous consequences. If your business relies on an information technology (IT) infrastructure to perform its operations, just a single outage will likely interfere with its ability to produce and/or sell its products. With that said, you might be surprised to learn just how much damage downtime can cause.
The High Cost of Downtime
According to a study conducted by Gartner, downtime costs businesses an average of $5,600 per minute. If your business’s IT infrastructure is down for just an hour, that’s $336,000 in damages. With that said, the cost of downtime often varies from business to business. Some businesses may incur costs of $10,000 per hour, whereas other may incur costs of over $500,000 per hour.
Just last year, the popular social media network Facebook was down for 14 hours. With Facebook ranking as one of the world’s most popular websites, this outage had a serious impact on the company’s finances. Experts estimate that the 14-hour outage cost Facebook over $90 million.
Loss of Revenue
The biggest cost associated with downtime is loss of revenue. In the case of Facebook, the social media network was unable to sell ad inventory during its 14-hour outage in 2019. Other businesses that experience outages are unable to sell their products or services. Regardless, downtime can — and typically does — cause a loss of revenue for businesses. Some businesses will lose revenue as a direct result of downtime, whereas others will lose revenue indirectly from downtime. Either way, downtime can cost your business revenue.
Loss of Productivity
Downtime doesn’t just cause a loss of revenue; it causes a loss of productivity as well. Workers who would normally perform tasks associated with your business’s operations may be forced to direct their time and attention to fixing your business’s IT infrastructure. As a result, downtime can affect your business’s productivity.
Reputation
Alone with loss of revenue and loss of productivity, downtime can harm your business’s reputation. Customers may stop purchasing your business’s products or services if it regularly suffers from IT outages. They’ll view your business as being unable to keep its network online, in which case they may switch to a competitor with a more reliable IT infrastructure.
As a business owner, you should take precautions to minimize IT downtime. Even if your business is small, downtime will likely result in a loss of revenue, loss of productivity and damage to your business’s brand.
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