The Hidden Cost of Downtime: What an Hour Offline Really Costs Your Business

Most small business owners have had "one of those days." The internet drops, email stops working, or the main computer refuses to start. Eventually things come back, everyone gets back to work, and the day moves on.

But what did that hour actually cost? The answer is usually more than it seems, and only you can answer it for your business. Here are a few questions worth asking yourself.

Who Stops Working?

Think about the last time your systems went down. How many people were left waiting? Could anyone keep working, or did the whole office grind to a halt?

Now think about what you pay those people for an hour of their time. When systems are down, you're still paying for that hour. You just aren't getting any work for it.

Can You Still Make Money?

If your systems went down right now, could you still take an order? Process a payment? Send a quote or an invoice? Answer a customer's question?

Consider what a typical hour of business looks like for you, especially during your busiest times. Some of that business may simply wait until you're back up. But some of it may not come back at all.

Would Your Customers Wait?

When a customer can't reach you, can't place an order, or doesn't get a reply, what do they do? Some are patient. Others pick up the phone and call someone else.

Ask yourself how easy it would be for your customers to find another option. The easier it is, the more an outage can cost you, and not just today but in future business, too.

What Happens After Things Come Back?

Downtime doesn't end when the systems come back on. How long does it take your team to catch up? Is there overtime, a backlog of orders, or a pile of emails waiting?

And if something was lost along the way, such as files, records, or recent work, how long would it take to recreate it? Could it be recreated at all?

What About the Costs You Can't Put on a Spreadsheet?

Some costs never show up on an invoice. Think about the stress on you and your team, the missed deadline with an important client, or the impression you leave when you have to say, "Sorry, our systems are down."

How much is your reputation for being reliable worth to you?

Adding It Up

When you put these answers together, the real cost of an hour offline often looks very different from what most owners expect. And many outages last a lot longer than an hour.

The good news is that much of this downtime can be prevented, or at least shortened. Keeping an eye on systems before problems start, keeping software up to date, making sure your data is backed up and can actually be restored, and having a plan for when something does go wrong all make a real difference.

A Question Worth Asking

If you haven't thought about what downtime costs your business, now is a great time to start. Take a few minutes with the questions above. Then reach out to us for a free consultation on where your business might be vulnerable and what can be done to keep you up and running.