Enhancing Productivity with Managed IT Services

Are minor IT problems and major IT disasters costing you time and money? Preventing these sorts of disruptions proactively is what managed IT services are designed for. 

Everytime something goes wrong with your IT, it means at least one of your staff members has to wait until it’s fixed in order to keep working. This is what we call “downtime”.

The economy of downtime is unforgiving—it grinds your business to a halt, racks up expenses, and keeps you from getting anything done. 

Do you know how much downtime you should expect to deal with, and what it can cost you?

What Is Downtime?

Downtime is the term used for any period of time in which a computer or computer system is offline and unavailable. Downtime can occur in a number of situations, all with varying degrees of severity:

• While you wait for the computer to restart in order to fix a problem
• After a power outage knocks out the entire building’s network
• In the fallout of a ransomware attack that encrypts all your company’s data

In a nutshell, downtime occurs whenever you’re trying to use your IT systems, but can’t. 

What Are The Primary Causes Of Downtime?

Power Outage

If your power source fails, that can lead to a long list of complications like servers going down and lost, unsaved data.

Cybercrime

Cybercrime has increased in recent years and is still on the rise. All it takes is one employee opening a malicious attachment and your business data could be held hostage.

Human Error

Accidentally unplugging key equipment, overloading the system, and improper installations can all cause downtime, but maintaining certain policies and procedures can cut down on human error.

Natural Disasters

Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes happen. Having a plan for getting back to business if the unthinkable happens is the fastest way to recover.

Why Is Downtime Bad?

Downtime isn’t just expensive because you have to get your technology fixed—there’s also the fact that it brings your business’ operations to a halt. If an IT-related or natural disaster occurs and takes critical systems offline, employees will be unable to complete their tasks, yet your normal business expenses will carry on.

During that time, you still have to cover all the expenses of running a business without the revenue you would usually generate. Even if downtime does not grind everything to a halt, some of your staff will have to divert themselves from their normal work to mitigate the problem—again reducing productivity. 

How Does Downtime Affect Your Business?

Downtime will negatively affect your business in a number of ways:

Expense Vs. Revenue

While you deal with downtime, all of your business expenses continue, while you generate no revenue. It’s an incredibly expensive problem to deal with.

Loss of Focus

Downtime stops your staff in their tracks. Even a minor delay can affect momentum and motivation, severely hurting your organization-wide productivity.

Affected Service Delivery

While your systems are down, you can’t deliver services or sell products to current and potential new clients.

Cost Of Repair

However you approach fixing the problem, it’ll cost time and money.

Reputational Damage

The trust of your clients and the reputation of your company are invaluable assets that can erode with prolonged or frequent downtime issues. A diminished reputation can negatively affect your future business opportunities.

Organizational Culture

The more downtime you experience, the worse your employees’ moods will be. The longer they’re stuck waiting around to do their work, the more frustrated they’ll get, and the less highly they’ll think about the way your business operates.

Stunted Growth

If you’re always “putting out fires”, how can you ever expect to move forward? IT projects and expansions will continually be put on the back burner because of more pressing (yet, smaller scale) problems.

What Is Average Production Downtime?

Here are some studies showing how much time is lost every day due to IT downtime:

• Average IT Downtime: According to a new survey of U.S. office workers, professionals waste 22 minutes each day, on average, dealing with IT-related issues.
• Average Time To Get Back On Task After An Interruption: A recent study indicated that most people take 23 minutes and 15 seconds to recover from an interruption. 

However, average rates of downtime can vary greatly, depending on a number of factors:

• Industry: The more you depend on technology, the more likely you are to encounter downtime. For example, manufacturers encounter 800 hours of downtime every year.
• Size: The larger your business is, the more factors there are at play, and the more likely you are to encounter downtime.
• IT Management Practices: The better managed your IT systems are, the more likely you are to minimize the rate of downtime you experience.

No matter how much downtime you deal with, one thing we can all agree on is that it’s expensive. Ponemon Institute estimates that every minute of even partial downtime can cost as much as $5,600.

That’s why more and more businesses are turning to managed IT services…

4 Ways Managed IT Services Boost Your Productivity

Proactive Monitoring and Maintenance

Managed IT services employ advanced monitoring tools to detect and resolve potential issues before they escalate. This proactive approach minimizes downtime, ensuring continuous productivity for businesses. By regularly maintaining and updating systems, managed IT services optimize performance and prevent disruptions.

Enhanced Security Measures

Managed IT services implement robust security measures to safeguard businesses against cyber threats. This includes deploying firewalls, antivirus software, and encryption protocols to protect sensitive data. By mitigating the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks, businesses can focus on their core operations without worrying about security vulnerabilities.

Scalable IT Infrastructure

Managed IT services provide businesses with scalable IT infrastructure solutions. This allows businesses to easily adapt and expand their technology resources as their needs evolve. Whether it’s adding new users, upgrading hardware, or integrating new software, managed IT services ensure that businesses have the necessary resources to support their growth and productivity.

Expert Technical Support

With managed IT services, businesses have access to a team of skilled professionals who can provide timely technical support. Whether it’s troubleshooting software issues, resolving network problems, or assisting with hardware installations, expert support ensures that businesses can quickly overcome any IT-related challenges. This minimizes downtime and enables employees to stay productive without being hindered by technical difficulties.

I.T. Matters Will Minimize Your Downtime

The best way to approach downtime prevention is proactively—you need to keep an eye out for system issues that can spiral into total stoppages. 

You need to implement backup technologies and best practices to prevent outages. You need to enhance your cybersecurity to protect against cybercrime. Unfortunately, that’s a lot for you to handle on your own, especially when you have other work to see to. 

Allow us to help.

When you choose I.T. Matters as your managed IT services provider, you can be confident that your data and sensitive business applications are fully protected. Our comprehensive backup and disaster recovery procedure allows us to quickly access redundant backups spread across our various data centers. You will quickly be up and running without worrying about excessive downtime.

Ha Tran

Would you like to reduce frustrations with technology and boost operational efficiency within your business? The I.T. Matters team partners with companies of various sizes to help you create a secure, scalable, and flexible technology infrastructure.

Exceptional customer service is at the foundation of everything we do – ensuring that IT projects fully align with your business goals. Our friendly and knowledgeable team continually reviews industry trends and government regulations to help reduce risk and create a more productive IT environment for your business.  Whether you are looking for full-service, outsourced IT infrastructure support, or simply need help with an upcoming technology project, contact us to help!