How do you minimize network downtime for a business?
When your network goes down, you lose a lot of precious time and the net result for your bottom line suffers. So what can you do? IT experts from several industries weighed in with their thoughts on how taking some preventative steps can help keep your network running and your business on track.
Sohaib Hasan
Sohaib Hasan, Founder of MyTechIsSolved.
Keeping a High Level of Redundancy and Maintenance in Place
By keeping a high level of redundancy and maintenance in place, you can minimize network downtime for your business.
Redundancy refers to the fact that multiple systems are operated to prevent any one system from failing.
Maintenance includes both proactive tasks, such as regular patching and anti-virus scanning, as well as reactive tasks, such as responding quickly to unexpected outages or requests for support.
Greater resilience is also achieved through careful planning and design of your infrastructure.
By taking into account factors like user load, application behavior, data distribution architectures, communication protocols, etc., you can create a flexible but robust IT architecture that will allow your business to scale smoothly and handle fluctuations in traffic loads with minimal impact on performance.
Updates of software and hardware should be done as soon as possible in order not to experience disruptions caused by outdated programs or malfunctioning equipment.
A system survey should also be conducted periodically with priority given to identifying any vulnerabilities that may exist which could lead to attacks against systems.
All of this requires dedicated resources (money & time), but by following these simple tips it can be easier than ever before to minimize network downtime for your business!
Software Scheduling
I would say that because so many people use the internet, many businesses are forced to produce quarterly, monthly, or even daily reports on substantial volumes of data. During the night, when fewer users are utilizing the system, processing-intensive information is scheduled. Having a timetabled strategy in place facilitates momentum maintenance and the completion of essential tasks. This makes it easy for management to distribute resources according to the firm’s demands and the task’s priorities. It can also help you prioritize your initiatives, ensuring that the most important activities are completed first.
Antoine Boquen
Antoine Boquen, CEO and Co-Founder of Horizons.
Chris Stevenson
Chris Stevenson, CEO, VirtualRealityRental Houston.
Staying on Top of Software Updates
Staying on top of software updates is a great way to prevent network downtime from occurring. It helps to schedule routine update times so that updates are never neglected and don’t have to happen during important hours. Your IT staff should also be equipped with the knowledge and tools for network monitoring so that they can catch and address issues as early on as possible.
Network Security Management
In my opinion, this is the process of identifying the assets of an organization, followed by the development, documentation, and implementation of rules and procedures designed to protect those assets from sabotage carried out both within and without the organization. Because of the security measures taken for the network, computers will be shielded from potentially harmful software.
Additionally, it ensures the confidentiality of the information that is provided. The edge of the network is typically where security measures are put into place. By securing your network, you can defend yourself against attacks and stop unauthorized users from accessing the data it contains. You can accomplish this by conducting regular analyses and putting into action appropriate fixes whenever something goes wrong.
Adam Wood
Adam Wood, Co-Founder of RevenueGeeks.
Jitesh Keswani
Jitesh Keswani, CEO of e intelligence.
Performing Server and Facility Test
You can take numerous measures to minimize downtime and make your network as secure as possible. When minimizing the network downtime for my business, I prefer to test the server and facility performance, keeping my equipment and software updated and increasing the network redundancy.
Increase Network Redundancy
Network redundancy is an essential component of network design. It can reduce the chance of a business suffering network downtime. However, redundancy also carries an element of risk. As a result, network designers should consider the costs, complexity, and benefits of network redundancy when designing their networks. Network redundancy can be achieved through high availability deployments. High-availability deployments integrate redundant components and eliminate single points of failure.
Performing Server and Facility Tests
While downtime is a frustrating part of doing business, it can be even more detrimental when your business relies on network resources. Not only will it impact customer service, but it can also hurt your reputation. Repeated downtime can result in unhappy customers, leading to bad reviews and a damaged brand image. Furthermore, downtime caused by cyberattacks and server outages can damage valuable data and create security gaps.
Keeping Equipment and Software Up to Date
Downtime can have a significant impact on business productivity. Even a few minutes of rest can cost a business as much as $10,000, which is why keeping your equipment up to date is essential. Not only can this boost your productivity, but it can also prolong the life of your assets. While most equipment is designed to last for years, sometimes it fails due to overheating, outdated software, or viruses. Keeping your equipment and software up to date will minimize your business’s network downtime.
However, these measures are not an all-in-one solution to eliminate network downtime, but they can significantly help you to minimize network downtime for a business.
Network Risk Assessment and Cross-Platform Employee Training
Proactive analysis of the IT environment allows you to anticipate problems and helps minimize network downtime. This can be done through regular checks of the infrastructure, which contribute to the identification of discrepancies.
A risk assessment of the network is the quickest and most effective way to reduce network downtime. This can be done through network monitoring – a process which makes it easy to identify “what happened” to prevent future occurrences. Also, knowing your support network and the capability of the IT staff can make the difference between downtime that lasts a few hours and downtime that persists for longer.
Cross-platform training of employees for regular exchange of experiences and ideas is a great way to understand and predict network downtime to minimize it. We have experienced that network failures sometimes occur due to human discrepancies. It is therefore important that all employees have been thoroughly trained. In addition, employees must be taught to recognize and understand the real effects of downtime caused by improper use of resources.
Ronald Williams
Ronald Williams, Founder of BestPeopleFinder.
This is a crowdsourced article. Contributors' statements do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this website, other people, businesses, or other contributors.