Even with technological advancements, it’s generally accepted that businesses will experience operational downtime. The question isn’t so much if operational downtime will happen, but rather how unplanned delays and stops impact other aspects of your business and erode your profitability.
When is an Issue an Issue?
Generally speaking, there are two types of issues that interrupt business productivity: those resulting from faulty tools, and those resulting from circumstances that interfere with continuing normal business operations. Think of them as “everyday” issues and “catastrophic” issues, respectively:
- Everyday issues interrupt productivity and can incur lost time and repair costs. They typically stem from equipment and technology -- computer crashes, hard drive failure, printer jams, toner/ink outages and slow Internet connection.
- Catastrophic issues stop business productivity altogether, and usually for an extended period of time. A catastrophic issue may be out of the business’s immediate control, as in a natural disaster, or it could be a consequence of full-scale data loss.
It Adds Up
Regardless of issue type, operational downtime can occur at any time. While the majority of the 625 business professionals responding to a recent industry poll have some sort of data protection and recovery plan in place, they don’t have a ready solution for what they identified as their top three concerns associated with operational downtime:
- Idle employees during outages
- Seamless customer satisfaction
- Excess labor costs attributed to “catch up” activities
To put the impact of these concerns into perspective, the same industry study asked respondents to quantify how much actual time downtime incidents cause:
- 54% report that at least three incidents occurred in the past 12 months
- 61% cited an average of two to six hours per downtime incident
- 52% estimate that downtime incidents lasting up to six hours have an almost immediate negative impact on their business
Cloud-based Connectivity
With the advent of cloud-based connectivity, operational downtime challenges are now more easily solved with outsourced managed business technologies strategically designed and implemented to optimize processes and increase overall efficiencies.
If operational downtime is standing in the way of your success, contact the Gordon Flesch Company today to learn about maintenance practices and workflow management systems we can implement to help take your business to the next level.
