When things are running well, it can seem like wasted time, resources and manpower to disrupt a known IT system with something new. The risk business runs is that aging systems are weaker, both in terms of computing power and in security defences.

As business evolves, existing resources are stretched thinner. When demand exceeds supply, systems can crash. One study a few years ago estimated that hourly costs associated with IT downtime can run into many thousands of pounds.

An IT failure is a major business disruption, but it is not the only danger. Dean Spencer, our MD at Eitex, recently commented, “ Many business owners look at the worst-case scenario and weigh up the risks from there. What they often miss are all the smaller risks older IT systems can pose. The hidden costs involved in the smaller things that can go wrong can be huge. Addressing them is quite simple, and results in big savings on IT expenditure.”

Here are some of the areas where business IT can involve those hidden costs:

1/ Expensive Mistakes

Mistakes happen, no matter how careful everyone is. The big security hacks, where malicious actors from other countries target multiple household-name companies, are the ones that hit the headlines. However, there are countless smaller, equally damaging security breaches every day that never get reported.

These come from inside an organisation, and are often accidental. Security breaches can come from:

• Leaked passwords.
• Emails sharing sensitive documents.
• Careless social media sharing.

Staff training and good control over user access to company data to help combat human error risks.

2/ Wasted Time

The old fashioned way of maintaining business IT systems was to be reactive: When something goes wrong, fix it. If all is going well, leave it alone.

This approach can lead to IT staff permanently chasing and putting out helmet fires, dealing with everything from slow computers to server issues. A better, more proactive way is to foresee potential data bottlenecks or threats, and allocate resources before a critical event stems the flow of information.

Cloud computing provides this proactive power, through scalable services and robust security measures that anticipate and circumvent future issues.