Understanding IT downtime and its true cost
Written by Sid Collis from Bold IT
Research into the Global 2000 companies and their costs of IT downtime showed that $400 billion is lost every year [DM1]—$200 million per company on average.
In our digitally driven world, IT downtime is far beyond an inconvenience; it has big consequences: staff productivity will be shattered, customers will lose trust, and business reputation will be significantly damaged.
The financial impact can resonate long after systems have been restored.
How IT downtime rapidly drains your business
For every minute that your business is suffering IT downtime, the costs are ticking up at an alarming rate.
One of the most obvious is that staff are unable to complete any tasks.
The effect of this leads to missed deadlines, project delays and unsatisfied clients. If e-commerce is a major part of your business, sales are lost and customers are so frustrated they go elsewhere.
There are also hidden costs that are harder to quantify. Regular IT blackouts decrease employee morale and can leave your data in a non-compliant state, leading to legal issues and potential fines.
Additionally, getting your IT systems back up and running can cost a fortune without having a plan.
The common causes of IT downtime
Understanding the causes of IT downtime is essential and requires dedicated expertise.
Cyberattacks such as ransomware, phishing and malware remain significant threats capable of crippling systems quickly and out of the blue.
Human error must be considered, as relentless cyberattacks seek to trick people into falling for increasingly sophisticated scams.
The proliferation of generative AI will make this an even greater threat.
This might also be caused by ageing hardware and failing components, which can be just as big a cause of IT downtime as any cyberattack.
Similarly, software glitches, including incompatibilities, internal bugs or failed updates, can trigger outages.
Analogue issues like power cuts, floods and other real-world events can also majorly disrupt things, underscoring the need for a thorough and all-encompassing disaster recovery plan.
Whatever the risk profile, all these situations can be mitigated against through proactive maintenance and preparation, which can be provided through our remote IT support services.
How to calculate the cost of IT downtime
We live in an age where all businesses must evaluate the potential losses that could be incurred through both direct and indirect expenses in the event of significant IT downtime.
Direct costs include lost productivity, which you can calculate by taking the number of employees affected, the percentage of their work disrupted, their average hourly wage and the total hours of downtime.
Revenue loss also plays a significant role, which can be calculated by factoring in gross revenue, total business hours and the percentage of your business impacted.
Indirect costs are significantly harder to quantify. Think about reputational damage, compliance fines and the expenses associated with emergency IT support or recovery services.
Together, these considerations paint a terrifying picture of how downtime erodes profit margins.
How to avoid IT downtime
The tradition of internal IT departments is being decisively replaced by dedicated IT specialists as partners.
In the face of significantly more sophisticated cyber security concerns and the ongoing rapid expansion of technology, your IT needs to be protected by specialists who work proactively to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals, failing hardware and other IT issues.
With dedicated IT engineers on your side, reliable IT infrastructure is more easily obtained and can even be leased to save your business the upfront costs of a total system overhaul.
Regular maintenance, routine checks and proactive monitoring are all part of the service, identifying potential IT downtime vulnerabilities and resolving them before they escalate.
Strong data backup and recovery plans protect your information in any event, while a well-structured and regularly updated disaster recovery plan guarantees swift restoration during unavoidable disruption.
Employee training is also critical, as educated staff are less likely to make errors that could lead to downtime.
How we can help
Endpoint Detection and Response Services (EDR)
Our Endpoint detection and response services (EDR) can help protect you from these cyber security threats. Endpoints are the individual device connected to your systems, such as desktop computers, laptops, servers, smartphones, printers and other devices.
They are designed to detect, investigate and respond to any cyber security incidents and threats that may affect these endpoints.
Endpoint detection and response services continually monitor devices for signs of suspicious or malicious activity and use advanced behavioural analysis and machine learning algorithms to establish a baseline for normal endpoint behaviour – deviations from which trigger alerts for potential security incidents.
We provide tailored EDR solutions that deliver real-time protection, proactive monitoring and rapid response – helping businesses stay secure in an ever-evolving threat landscape.
Employee training
Our staff cyber security awareness training allows your employees to be fully up to date on both the traditional and emerging tricks and tactics used by hackers, turning your employees into your strongest line of defence, rather than your biggest vulnerability.
We teach employees about threats and best practices relating to phishing, malware, ransomware and social engineering, as well as other online threats and their impact.