How to reduce IT downtime in a small business: 9 practical steps

IT downtime may start as a technical problem, but the impact can quickly spread across the wider business. Employees can lose access to systems, customers can experience delays and management time can be diverted into getting operations back online. 

According to recent research, UK SMEs lose around £7,500 and up to 2 working days due to unplanned IT downtime. For a small business, this can have a noticeable impact. 

In fact, reducing downtime isn’t just about having better systems. Regular maintenance, effective backups and proactive monitoring can all help reduce the risk of escalation. 

Scaling your business could mean that the technology you initially relied on at the outset needs to become more expansive. You may find that existing systems don’t provide the reliability you now need. As a result, taking a proactive approach to IT could create benefits and opportunities you weren’t expecting. 

In this article, we explore 9 practical methods to help reduce your IT downtime, especially if you’re a small or medium business. 

9 practical steps to reduce IT downtime

You’re the expert on your organisation, so it’s possible that you’ll have individual areas you want to explore. Here are 9 proactive ways to start reducing downtime in your business and increasing productivity. 

1. Proactive monitoring

Without active monitoring, IT problems are often only discovered when they begin affecting employees. Proactive monitoring gives your IT provider greater visibility of supported systems, allowing warning signs to be identified and investigated before they develop into more disruptive issues.

This can include monitoring device performance, available storage, connectivity, services and hardware health. Issues such as critically low storage, failed services or hardware alerts may be identified before they result in a larger disruption.

Notably, remote monitoring and management (RMM) is capable of continuously monitoring supported devices and automatically alerting an IT support team when an area needs attention.

2. Maintaining a consistent patching schedule

Regular updates for software and operating systems are necessary to minimise the chance of security vulnerabilities or performance issues. However, a consistent patching schedule helps keep systems secure while minimising disruption to your team.

A managed IT support provider, like Integrity, can schedule your updates at convenient times to minimise disruption to day-to-day work. We use automation to schedule security patches at specific times so your systems are updated with minimal disturbance. 

Learn more in our article: What is managed IT support? A plain-English guide for UK businesses

3. Backup and disaster recovery

Backups are an essential data loss protection method for your business. In addition, knowing that your backups are consistently working and that important information can be restored after an outage are vital to business continuity. 

In this regard, regular backup verification and test runs can help identify any possible problems before an actual outage takes place. Having a well-informed recovery plan should give you a clear understanding of restoration procedures you will go through if a serious IT failure or cyber incident emerges. 

4. UPS and hardware refresh

Today’s technology does age and can slow down, which inevitably makes it less reliable and more difficult to manage. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can deliver short-term power protection and protect systems against power interruption impacts. 

Reviewing the age and condition of your servers and other critical hardware is important, as is replacing older equipment before it becomes outdated or vulnerable. 

5. Network resilience

Today, we all probably depend on an internet connection to support most of our work, such as customer communication or cloud applications. This connectivity, whilst being a strength, can also become a potential point of failure. 

If your primary connection fails, you could require a secondary connection or temporary solution that helps keep essential services running securely. A managed IT support provider can set up these services for your business to ensure crucial operations are ongoing. 

6. Endpoint security

Cyber security is an essential part of IT strategy and security these days. One cyber incident can restrict access to systems and compromise sensitive data or make systems unavailable.

A range of cyber security measures, such as appropriate endpoint protection, email security, multi-factor authentication, access controls and regular patching, can all help reduce your exposure.

7. Staff training

Employee training is vital when it comes to keeping systems secure and available. Regular training sessions help staff recognise a variety of vulnerability areas, including phishing emails or unusual login requests. This process can also help employees know what actions to take if something doesn’t look or feel right. 

8. Documented incident response

Time is of the essence when it comes to an IT incident. Documenting a response can help in the moment and when it comes to future risk events. A documented incident response is useful if it identifies who is responsible for the response, which systems are priorities and when external support is required. 

With this kind of protocol available to employees, it can help reduce the amount of time spent on working out how to respond to a critical IT system issue. 

9. Clear SLAs

A clear Service Level Agreement (SLA) should set out what systems your managed IT provider supports, expected response times and how this support will be delivered. Your MSP’s SLA should define scope, support hours, priorities, response targets and escalation routes.

If your business experiences a serious outage, your SLA will contain essential information and actions to follow.

A managed IT support provider can give your business ongoing access to technical expertise rather than only becoming involved after something has already gone wrong. 

The right service should match your systems, be tailored to your specific business requirements and ensure you gain the support you need, when you need it. 

Read more here:  What should an IT support contract include? The essential checklist

Reduce downtime before it becomes a business problem

No business can ever completely eliminate IT system failure. The aim of your managed IT support provider will be to maintain oversight so that any potential issue can be identified early so your business can recover efficiently if something does happen. 

For many small or medium businesses, moving away from a reactive approach to proactive IT support monitoring and maintenance can make the biggest difference. 

Rather than waiting for employees to report problems, a managed IT support provider can continuously monitor supported systems, supervise updates and provide a consistent point of contact.

Integrity provides tailored managed IT supportwith proactive monitoring designed to help keep systems up to date, protected and available. Our RMM service continuously monitors supported systems and can identify potential problems before they cause disruption.

If recurring IT problems, unreliable systems or unexpected downtime are becoming a distraction for your business, it may be worth reviewing your current IT setup.

Speak to the Integrity team to discuss your current systems, identify potential risks and explore a more proactive approach to IT support.