You read the title correctly. On average businesses lose 31 hours of productivity per week due to IT interruptions.Â
That is a lot of lost productivity. In Connecticut that works out to an average of $591.48 in wages. That does not factor incomplete assignments, late projects, and broken client commitments. The loss in dollars can easily enter the thousands..per week.
Can your business afford a loss of thousands of dollars per week?
From there it can escalate.
The reputation hit your business might take as a result of broken commitments can mean the loss of new and repeat business.
Imagine if every week you were expecting certain results from a business you were working with, but they constantly missed deadlines because of technology issues. You would not be very happy. You would look for an alternative to your current business relationship.
My lost revenue because someone is not looking after your IT infrastructure.
That 31 hours might seem minimal at first glance but, it’s not minimal at all. It’s an average. Someone must have more than 31 hours of lost productivity and someone must have less.
More than likely the smaller businesses are the ones on the lower end. However, smaller businesses really cannot afford any lost productivity.
A bigger business might be able to absorb 31 hours or more of lost productivity but when you translate that to lost revenue and broken customer promises the business loses far more than 31 hours of productivity.
Another common misconception is that hackers have no desire to attack smaller businesses. The truth is far from perception.
More than 70 percent of attacks target small businesses. Many small business owners think they have nothing the hackers could possibly want. The reality is most smaller businesses are not adequately prepared for an attack.
What should scare small business owners, even more, is that 60 percent of small businesses that are attacked go out of business within 6 months.Â
That’s risky behavior for a small business.
Data breaches cost from $36,000 for small merchants, up to a whopping $3.62 million for large enterprises.
Let’s start with a small business. $36,000 is a tremendous amount of money to lose for a small business. This often results in the eventual closing of the business.
A lot of small businesses are not aware that there is insurance just for this purpose. Some businesses believe it’s not necessary. Even if the business has the insurance it will not help with their reputation once the data breach is reported.
It can be mitigated with routine network and infrastructure assessments to identify potential risks.
Enterprise businesses are more often able to absorb the breach. We see them all the time with companies like Target and Home Depot. Their data and customer information is breached. They report it to the proper authorities and keep marching on.
Their reputation sometimes takes a hit, but they usually continue. $3.62 million is nothing to sneeze at but a business that makes hundreds of millions, or billions, can absorb it better than a small business can absorb $36,000.
One final statistic. 98.2% of all businesses are small businesses under 100 employees. Small businesses are the backbone of America. Small businesses are at a significant disadvantage without proper IT support and education.
Small businesses need to do better. Let’s start with learning where you need assistance.
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I used to be the “IT guy” when I worked at the vet. IT guy is in quotes, because I was just the person who knew more about connecting up hardware and troubleshooting software than anyone else. Small businesses NEED good tech.
i’m lucky to work for a company that has put a lot in place to avoid hackers and attacks like this. but it’s true, it’s very scary!
It’s very sad that samll businesses go out of business within 6 months. I can imagine the loss they have to go through with if that’s all they had.
Yikes, I didn’t know businesses went through things like this. I don’t have a business, so I wouldn’t know. I do know I tend to really like small businesses more than the big ones.
Reading from those who have experience and knows more than me in this sector is all I need to improve myself.
Having a good computer person is always a must for small businesses. Those stats are eye opening
This kind of topics are really foreign to me. However, I feel I’d need to get to know something more in this field in the future. 🙂
oh wow! It is so sad that small businesses are suffering for no fault of their own! I am a small business and I get hacked all the time, this is so frustrating. Thanks for the article, it is great.
Chad
http://www.mosaicslab.com
The figures tell the whole picture and pretty scary to learn that 60% of small business that are attacked go out of business within half a year. That much of risks.
Interesting to know that small businesses can be a target for attacks. It’s understandable that an attack could do some serious damage or close them down permanently.
I feel like this is something some people forget about when starting a business, such a threat in the technological age.
These are great things to be discussing even though it’s scary! It can be so frustrating warding off security threats
This is interesting. Alot of planning definitely needs to go into starting a business, especially if you are going to have an online presence. Thanks for the reminders.
There is so much to know as a small business owner. Losing productivity in any business is a no win result. We’re all just trying to make it.
Very interesting and informative write up to read. An IT expert is really important in the business its either in a small or a big one but sadly, the small business always suffers a lot because of this issue.
These statistics look very scary to me. I want to open my business but I need to carefully plan now and get everything properly audited. Data breaches can certainly put your business at high risk
Um….as a small business owner, those statistics are TERRIFYING. Thanks for the eye-opening read.
It is so important that we learn new things especially if we are a business owners. Thank you for sharing such an information.
That is some gnarly facts you got there and now I’m scared to ever open a business haha well I was already but now I know what I need to do to be safe
The computer age, has brought itself the good and the bad. Having a good understanding of technological data helps us be safe online and prevent attacks from hackers.
Damn!!! Who knew there were so many road blocks and obstacles in the way! Thanks for sharing
It truly takes consistency and continued growth in order to gain money in your business. Losing money can hurt pretty bad if you don’t stay on top of things.
Once you start to go downhill, it can be pretty easy to keep going that way. It’s smart to change things up when it starts to fail.
Owning a business can be scary. In this day and age, it’s a cutthroat world for any business big or small.
I once heard that the number one reason people leave an office job, is due to issues with office equipment! Glad there’s a company out there to help businesses out!
You have an in-depth knowledge about this topic my friend. This shows in your work loud and clear.
I’ve seen small businesses boasting of how hackers cannot consider them and this makes them so easy. However, this is the hardest truth because unless they always stay ready, the could easily fall prey of such attackers.
The competition had reached a certain level where to sustain a business, it takes lots of courage and brainstorming
I love reading and knowing all that is great and amazing! It can really help us! Thanks for the share!
After reading this this is really scary and important problem in Small business. Yes, good investment in security is most important.
This is so important. My life is better since I’m a Apple person. But it’s so important to have th right IT guy by your side. Thanks for sharing.
Small business owners really need a good computer person with excellent knowledge. Its really sad to know about the loss of small business owners.
Its so important to learn new things from those who have experience. Thanks for sharing.