Tag Archives: #PlannedDowntime

Understanding Business Downtime

Professional in an office showing stress while dealing with a business downtime.

Dealing with service downtime

Downtime is a factor that will determine the success of your business. It is the total time elapsed when a piece of equipment or a machine is not functional. There are two kinds of downtime:

Planned Downtime

This kind occurs outside the scheduled business trading hours. Weekends are appropriate for this kind of this downtime. Effective planning for this kind of downtime requires companies to know when their demand cycles occur.

Unplanned Downtime

Unplanned downtime occurs when there is an unanticipated failure of a process or equipment. This kind of downtime occurs when companies are less prepared to address it quickly. It usually occurs at the busiest time of the day.

How Does Downtime Affect Your Business?

The cost of downtime can be very high when not managed. The cost varies from industry to industry. Nevertheless, it does not affect only your income. Here’s how downtime affects different industries:

Manufacturing Industry

In manufacturing, downtime could lead to a lack of raw materials. It will also increase the cost of holding inventory. Manufacturers will experience loss in production during downtime. Reducing downtime in manufacturing will increase your production levels.

Distribution Industry

The supply chain requires an efficient workforce. Employees need to focus on their tasks to increase efficiency. However, downtime leads to issues that divert the focus of employees. It will lead to an increase in labor cost per unit.

Service Industry

Downtime could lead to damage to a brand’s reputation for your service industry. Clients who have had experience in your system could write a negative review of your brand. These clients could damage your brand image further by sharing their experiences with friends and family. It might push away your current and potential clients.

Online Industry

Loss of opportunity can be very devastating. This is usually the case for industries such as online shopping that experience downtime. Downtime could also lead to data loss. Cyberattacks are also common during downtime.

Advertising and Marketing Industry

Downtime causes a loss of traffic for marketing sites. Visitors of these sites also lose trust in the company. It takes a lot of effort and money to rebuild that trust.

What Causes of Downtime?

Knowing the typical causes of downtime helps to avoid future inconveniences. Technology is the leading cause of downtime. In particular, IT downtime is the most popular in businesses. IT issues from any of the following may cause downtime:

Hardware Failure

Out-of-date hardware results in hardware failure. It cannot execute complex applications. This can result in data traffic flow congestion. To avoid hardware failure, replace your old hardware with the latest collection.

Software Updates

Systems and processes need to be updated regularly to maintain their efficiency. However, relying on outdated software will lead to scheduled downtime. Out-of-date software is also vulnerable to bugs. Bugs in a server’s operating system will cause server downtime.

Employee Error

Human error is the most frequent cause of IT downtime. These errors occur when employees fail to follow laid-down protocols. Although human error can not be completely avoided, it can be controlled. You can consider documenting each task step-by-step to ensure that a standard procedure is always followed.

Internet Outages

Most businesses today rely on the internet to deliver their services and products. Internet outages are therefore a significant cause of downtime for businesses. Network congestion and faulty routers are some of the causes of internet outages. Failed link-to-internet provider also leads to internet outages.

Understaffed IT Departments

Businesses require enough IT experts to monitor their network, applications, and servers. Understaffed IT departments are unable to perform tasks effectively. Companies ought to hire dedicated experts to manage their IT needs.

Let Us Support You

Preventing downtime should be a top priority for your company. You need to have a team of experienced individuals monitoring and being proactive to prevent downtime and that is where SystemsNet comes into play. Ensure you contact us today to get started.