It’s always best to start with the obvious. If a business owner, manager, or anyone in an organization is reading this, there’s a good chance they already have concerns about the IT network they use daily. While it would be nice to provide assurance that everything’s fine, unfortunately, for many businesses, this isn’t the case.
Problems with networks run the gamut of small, easy-to-solve problems to serious issues that bring everything to a sudden stop. After all, when it comes to downtime, there’s no bigger killer of ROI. The good news is, there is help. From implementing a 5g test network to getting to know the signs of a problem, there are several ways that every person involved in a business or organization can take steps to ensure the health of the network and organization.
The Ugly Truth About Downtime
If an IT network experiences downtime, it is going to cut into profitability quickly. If a business’s technology is offline, their business is essentially dead in the water. If this happens, employees can’t work. Customers can’t get the answers they want. Phone service may be non-existent. To put it simply, downtime is bad.
Recently, CNN released a report that on average, the cost of IT network downtime for small businesses that experienced a ransomware attack exceeded the $100K mark. Unfortunately, cyberattacks are just one of the things that may result in even more network downtime. Basic software and hardware maintenance are more important than most people think. Usually, business owners will have plenty of warning that their IT network is facing issues. The key is to know the warning signs to look for.
What Happens if Warnings Are Ignored?
When possible signs of a problem are ignored, there’s a good chance that steps could have been taken to avoid it altogether. A perfect example of this is the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States received a minimum of four warnings from different credible sources that Japan was planning an attack on the naval base in Hawaii. It turns out that something that was called the “worst intelligence failure in all of American history” wasn’t actually an intelligence failure. In fact, there were multiple warnings. The issue was that they were all ignored.
The lesson here is not to ignore signs of a problem. Regardless of how big or small they may seem, when warning signs are ignored, bad things happen. This is true for a company’s network.
Don’t Wait to Take Action
When it comes to a system’s network and security, there’s no room for guessing or assuming. Decisions need to be made based on facts that are gathered from the information available to the business. Failure to take action when issues are identified can lead to a break down of communication, which can eventually cause a devesting consequence for the business in question. If necessary, work with a third-party service provider to ensure the proper steps are taken to protect a business and all its sensitive information.