Reducing network outages is becoming a key area of ​​growing concern for businesses. Today, we live in an age that requires always-on network availability. Even a minute of downtime in a mission-critical application can cost businesses huge fortunes and ruin their brand reputation.

A Gartner report from back in 2014 stated that "one minute of IT downtime costs $5,600." Since then, enterprise IT infrastructure has continued to become more complex, with nearly all businesses relying on critical digital infrastructure . How much downtime a company will spend depends on the severity of the impact on critical systems and how efficiently the business operates without those systems.

A lot of research has been done to estimate the cost of downtime for a business. According to Veeam's 2021 report, the estimated average financial impact of a one-hour IT outage is $85,000. Research published by TechChannel shows that for almost half of businesses, downtime costs more than $1 million per hour, at least during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data compiled by Statista supports the latter claim.

By making small planning and strategic investments in measures to improve uptime, businesses can protect themselves from these unnecessary costs and, more importantly, preserve their valued customers and brand reputation.

Three key steps to reducing network outages

Three basic steps, if followed carefully, can help significantly reduce network downtime and minimize the impact of network outages.

1. Regular server backups

The obvious benefit of backing up your data is minimizing data loss. Backing up your server also allows the data center team to quickly restart it before it damages other critical systems. The 3-2-1 backup rule should always be kept in mind: keep 3 copies of your data; store 2 copies on different/separate storage media; 1 copy offsite in a safe place.

It's also a good practice to test these regularly to make sure everything is going according to plan in a real crisis situation.

2. 24/7 network monitoring

Network outages most often present early warning signs that data center specialists can detect, allowing them to initiate an effective response before a full-blown outage occurs. But this requires 24/7 monitoring that goes beyond traditional network monitoring. There are intelligent monitoring systems available that can effectively do this level of monitoring.

3. Let redundancy be your friend

No matter how well prepared a business is, natural disasters or other uncontrollable events that can disrupt your network should never be left alone. Preparing for this situation requires three basic steps:

• Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS): This needs to be the first line of defense. In the event of an uncontrollable disaster, the UPS will protect critical hardware and manage uptime until generators are restarted.
• Multiple Internet Connections with Automatic Failover: A second service provider should be hired as an alternate bandwidth provider who can provide enough bandwidth to keep your operations running smoothly.
• Managed Servers: While small businesses can rely on cloud storage, most businesses need a full-fledged hosting of servers that are powerful enough for all their business needs. These servers also require regular testing and maintenance to ensure they are ready for challenges when needed.

In summary

Even with all the necessary precautions taken, it can become exhausting to handle all the required inspections and maintenance in-house. A logical approach is to delegate end-to-end management to professional global data center and network optimization partners, freeing up enterprise IT teams to focus on more strategic work. A trusted professional partner ensures that every step is perfectly planned and executed.