The absolute confidence in their IT infrastructures to conduct business operations translates into zero tolerance for network downtime. As a result IT teams are under intense pressure to ensure consistent, highly available network performance. network performance.
However, in an era where where major digital transformations can lead to new connectivity complications, controlling potential network performance problems requires knowledge of some of the most common underlying causes of service interruptions and their direct and their direct impact on the business in order to define strategies and priorities.
Network performance problems can occur for a variety of reasons and involve everything from a cabling and configuration cabling and configuration problem to an unresponsive domain name system (DNS). responsive.
What does really cost your business?
Did you know that the average business experiences 14 hours of downtime per year? CA Technologies conducted a survey that revealed what small, medium and large companies lost each year, on average, due to IT failures:
- Small businesses lost more than US$ 55,000 / year
- Medium-sized companies lose more than US$ 91,000 / year
- Large companies lost more than US$ 1,000,000 / year
These figures may not seem like an equal comparison for your company, but consider:
- How many employees will you pay to sit idle while IT problems are solved?
- Will you have to pay employees overtime to compensate for lost productivity?
- Will you need to develop marketing efforts to explain to customers and apologize for the interruption in service?
- How much revenue could have been generated during the period of inactivity?
- Downtime affects all areas of your company.
Direct and tangible costs of downtime
- Lost sales revenue.
- Penalty fees, such as priority shipping charges, bank fees or contractual fines.
- Stock / lost materials.
- Overtime wages paid to compensate for lost employee time.
- IT recovery costs.
Indirect costs and intangible
- Loss of business opportunities
- Bad publicity
- Loss of customer trust and goodwill
- Decrease in share value
- Damage to the company brand
- Loss of customers to competitors
Network problems can cost more than just money
Network can seriously damage a company's hard-earned reputation. earned with great effort. This can lead to crisis. This not only affects employees, but also other stakeholders, including customers. customers.
Several airlines have seen the value of their brand diminish when they went through a similar situation. situation. This can happen to any company that doesn't take care to IT failures. Any loss of credibility with the customer can lead to the company's downfall.
Decreased productivity
An unplanned leads to business interruption. There is a loss of working hours which decreases productivity. The exact calculation of the decline in productivity can be calculated based on how many users are affected. The productivity problem can extend to other suppliers, partners or users.
Financial liabilities
You may have legal or financial liability for providing network-related services, and failure to do so may result in a breach of the service level agreement. This could lead to fines or prosecution. It's also another reason to avoid downtime. downtime.
Loss of trust of the client
Whether you run a retail business or an airline, network downtime can affect your customer base enormously. It directly affects your revenue because a dissatisfied customer quickly switches to a competitor.
Hope for the best and plan for the worst
Network analysts say that organizations can reduce the pain of network outages by following some standard best practices. Here are five basic tips on how to avoid network outages in your organization:
1. Ensure the basics. Maintain the hardware, avoid old systems, run diagnostics, have an adequate power supply with backup and run power system stress tests.
2. Run exercises for the entire system. Perform shutdowns on some links and see if proper failovers occur. If not, you may have a configuration problem.
3. use up-to-date network management tools. Have adequate network visibility and monitoring tools used at all times, during exercises and during application deployment tests. This part is critical and essential for service assurance, if you don't see a problem, you don't know how to deal with it.
4 Think about the application layer. Design the entire architecture so that the infrastructure works with the applications. Don't force-fit the application to use the infrastructure you have, first design the applications and then design the infrastructure to meet your needs. Look at the two elements together.
5. be careful. Look for link failures and device failures. Don't focus on one to the detriment of the other and monitor continuously. If there is a fault, either in reality or in a simulation, carry out a full analysis.
Finally, organizations organizations need to review their infrastructure and choose the network partner that can best take them into the future. Some organizations follow their data centers and may remain loyal to traditional technologies and policies. policies.
But the economy may lead many companies to operate at least part of their data center with cloud providers, a path that will require new ways of thinking and new technologies. technologies.
About Conversys
Conversys IT Solutions is a provider of Information and Communication Technology services and solutions. and Communication with operations throughout Brazil.
With a highly highly qualified technical and commercial team and a network of partners that includes the main global technology manufacturers, Conversys IT Solutions is able to deliver customized IT infrastructure and telecom solutions to clients. Telecom.
We invest in our employees and partners and strive for a long-lasting relationship with our clients, because we believe that this is how we gain the skills and knowledge we need to innovate and generate value for the businesses in which we operate.
About Aruba
ARUBA, a Hewlett Parkard Enterprise company, is redefining the smart grid with mobility and IoT solutions for organizations of all sizes globally.
Offering IT solutions that empower organizations to serve the Mobile Generation - mobile-savvy users who rely on cloud-based applications for all aspects of their work and personal lives - and to harness the power of insights to transform business processes.
With infrastructure services offered as private or public cloud software, Aruba offers secure connectivity for mobility and IoT, allowing IT professionals to create networks that keep pace with change.
