The right tech adds so much to your company. It improves your productivity, makes your employees work smart, but we all know that when there’s a major snag in the process and major technical downtime occurs, we all feel it. While we could argue that we rely too much on tech to get through the day, when we start to look at specific industries where tech is crucial, from digital marketing to the manufacturing industry, there seems to be consistency across the board as to why these things occur. Let’s highlight the main reasons for technical downtime.
Insufficient Maintenance
In the manufacturing industry as well as any company, relying on digital technology maintenance is a crucial component. Whether it’s in relation to hydraulic repair problems or a software patch, ensuring that the equipment is maintained means that downtime will be minimised. It’s important that any company has a plan in place to keep the equipment maintained. In many cases, it’s a legal obligation. But from the perspective of those employers who ignore the opportunity for software patches, it’s crucial that they make the time.
Ambiguity
From the perspective of companies that work with computers, with such a dearth of data breaches if there are no strict instructions on how to deal with these, it’s unlikely that employees will know what to do. In any industry, ambiguous working instructions can cause a lot of frustrating downtime. If you don’t recognise this as a problem it’s time to make sure that the documents are in place for employees to follow should a crisis occur. But you should also take the opportunity to exercise due diligence within your workers.
Human Error
Whether it’s something like a phishing scam or a personal human error, it is one of the most common causes of downtime. In the manufacturing industry, human error can be at its most severe. When there’s a problem with machinery like forklift trucks or conveyor belt issues, human error can result in human injury. As a result, you need to make sure your employees are trained up in the best practices. We should also make sure that the rules and regulations are adhered to. There are so many changes within the legislation that if an employee suffers an injury and you’ve not been seen to alter your practices, you may be hit with a fine or the business could be shut down temporarily.
Insufficient Crisis Strategies
Every company needs measures in place to deal with a crisis situation. Whether it’s a data breach or a physical crisis, every organisation needs a communication strategy using a mass notification system. This will help your company manage the outcomes of any situation effectively. And when there are crises, downtime might not be avoidable but having the right strategies in place can certainly minimise them.
Technical downtime is one of the most frustrating areas of running any large business. But that’s not to say it’s exclusively a problem in larger industries. Small startups can suffer these issues as well. Regardless of the size of your company, you must remember that downtime is a killer and you have to preempt this.
