There are several technological points on failure inside your business that can bring everything to a halt.

The show stoppers are:

Faulty/Broken Internet Router: With no connection to the internet it won’t be long before this starts to affect productivity, no e-mails, no browsing the web and external remote users can’t connect inbound.

Faulty/Broken Network Hub/Switch: This is a device that joins all the computers/devices on the network. If this breaks nothing works.

Server: Servers are usually robust and typically the only things to fail on servers are the moving parts. So that would be the Hard Disk and the Tape Drive. If your server dies you can’t access your data. If you Tape Drive fails your back up’s are in jeopardy.

Acts of God (or Utility Companies)

Also don’t forget without an electricity supply and no working telecoms you will also be taken offline.

To a lesser extent

Single PC’s/Laptops: If your PC at work is broken then you’re not being productive.

Printers: If you can’t print your in trouble, just think of the important things like invoicing or quotes going out.

External Points of failure

The external points of failure usually end up being the ISP (internet service provider) and/or the company providing your internet e-mail/website hosting. My advice is if you repeatedly have problems with your internet service provider then change them.

In this weeks topics I tell you how I help clients with these issues.

This one is simple, I keep “spare” replacement Routers, Hubs, Servers, Tape Drives, PC’s and Laptops ready to deploy when one of these crucial pieces of the jigsaw fail.

The external points of failure are naturally more difficult, but I maintain a good working relationship with the ISP’s and continually monitor their service. I use it myself so I know when it’s failed.

As I good as I think I am even I can’t conjure electricity or working telecoms and when these fail the best you can do is know how to report the failure to the correct utility supplier.

Tips:

Here is a “Its faulty and I’m in trouble checklist”

My Internet router was faulty?
My Networking Hub/Switch was faulty?
My Server was faulty?
My Server tape drive was faulty?
My Desktop PC or Laptop was faulty?
My Printer was broken or faulty?

What you need to know is how you would be able to rectify this as quickly as possible.

Take this example. If you have 25 desktop bound computer users that relied on the internet to be able to communicate with your customers.

1 hour of downtime is 25 person hours lost.
4 hours of downtime is 100 person hours lost.
8 hours of downtime is 200 person hours lost.

With 25 people down for a day and you will lose several thousand pounds of productivity.

Advice:

Work with a technology support partner that has your back covered for the items above. I am single lone consultant and even I can offer this level of service to my clients. This combined with 10 years IT problem solving means things run pretty smooth.

If you’re a North West based business looking for a good I.T Consultant then get in touch. 01606-841587.

Link: http://www.481.co.uk

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