Your business moves at the speed of the internet — when your network is up and running, that is.
Network outages are worse than annoying. They can cost your small business money, time, and energy. While network outages are sometimes the fault of your internet service provider, and thus unavoidable, there are steps you can take to ensure that your business’s network is up and running most of the time.
What Causes Outages
According to Network Computing, up to 80% of network outages have internal causes. Whether it’s someone misconfiguring a piece of equipment, or accidentally unplugging a router, your network outages are much more likely to come from the inside.
However, even though taking internal steps is important, you shouldn’t discount external attacks. Up to 70% of small businesses have been targeted by hackers.
The most common causes of network outages include misconfigured devices, environmental problems (like tripping over a cord), and bottlenecks caused by memory or bandwidth.
In order to stop your business from going down, here are some steps you can take.
1) Examine your business for weaknesses
After a network outage has been repaired, your first step should be to locate the source of the downtime. You should determine whether it’s something simple and internal, like a blown fuse, or the result of a more widespread failure. Without diagnosing the cause, you won’t know how to remedy the issue.
After the issue has been addressed, ask your IT team to find other additional weaknesses and rank them from highest to lowest priority. While you may have to spend some extra cash, having a network that’s up and running is well worth the expenditure.
2) Opt for a Redundant Network
How important is the internet to your business? Some businesses can absorb the cost of the internet going down for several hours. For others, that’s unthinkable.
Depending on how important the internet is to your business, you may want to opt for a redundant network. In this case, you may want to have a secondary contract with a different internet provider. That way, if your primary network fails, you still have a backup one.
This solution is costly, but unless your area is struck by a natural disaster, it’s unlikely that both of your internet networks will go down at the same time.
3) Store Information in the Cloud
Network outages can be devastating. If your employees create all of their data on their computers, a single outage can cause hundreds of lost files, unsaved work, or corrupted data.
You can avoid the fallout from a network outage by storing pertinent information in the cloud. That way, even if your business’s network goes out for several days, all of your data will be secure.
4) Gradually Implement IT Changes
Rolling out massive IT changes all at once is a recipe for network disaster. Instruct your IT team to implement changes on a small but steady scale. That way, if the changes do negatively impact your business’s network, they can be reverted quickly without causing long-term outages.
Do you need help with your business’s network infrastructure? Contact Vodigy Networks today! We specialize in helping small businesses use technology efficiently.
