The true cost of downtime for any organisation is difficult to calculate. However, there are many elements that can be considered when estimating the damage downtime can do for a business.
Lost Revenue
Downtime caused by a cyberattack or network service malfunction, means that most of the lines of communication that most businesses depend upon, such as email and online platforms, are down. This means new money is prevented from coming in, due to the lack of tools. Many businesses also use cloud-based services, which means downtime prevents employees of these businesses from continuing their work.
Lost Productivity
Besides downtime stopping a business’s operations in its tracks, money that could have otherwise been used to further the company is being spent on performing non-revenue generating activities, such as fixing things, to return the business to normal operations. Additionally, during downtime, although no work is being done, the business still needs to pay operating costs and salaries.
Lost Opportunities
Businesses that do the majority of their business online especially feel the effects of downtime as they can miss several opportunities to make a sale or gain new customers. Any loss of network service means that customers won’t be able to find them online and purchase products or services. It also makes it impossible for the business to connect with existing customers.
Brand Damage
Downtime can cause harmful long-term damage to a company’s brand when customers frequently encounter service outages that make it difficult to use a company’s products or services. This experience will stop customers from consuming the business’s products and services, as well as cause them to share their negative experiences with others, resulting in the besmirching of a business’s name.
Data Loss
While most service providers backup data, downtime can have unpredictable consequences, such as damaging and corrupting files. Despite the loss of precious data, the sudden inability to access data can also cause panic in a business’s customers and cause them to lose confidence in a company and seek more reliable services elsewhere.
Downtime can have a serious effect on business operations and efficiency, and can end up crippling a business if it is unable to cope.
If your clients or potential customers are worried about the prospect of downtime or are wanting to prevent further damage to their business by placing their business in the hands of someone who is able to handle downtime in the future, you should be offering vStandby AIP, an add-on module to ActiveImage Protector.
vStandby is a cost-effective solution that ensures continued data protection for your mission-critical servers. It revives physical machines in no time and is automatically updated for complete peace of mind.
For more information on vStandby and other ActiveImage products, contact us today.
