IT downtime isn’t just frustrating—it’s expensive, disruptive, and potentially business-threatening. On average, UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lose 14 hours per year to IT downtime, with employees operating at just 63% productivity during these periods. Even after systems are restored, businesses waste an additional nine hours recovering lost data, and productivity only climbs back to 70%. That’s valuable time lost, deadlines missed, and revenue slipping away.
The financial impact of IT downtime is staggering. The average cost of downtime for an SME is £212,000 per incident, with some businesses losing as much as £300,000 per hour. Even tech giants aren’t immune—Meta’s recent two-hour outage cost them $100 million. While large corporations can absorb these losses, for SMEs, unexpected IT failures can lead to customer churn, reputational damage, and even long-term financial instability.
Cyberattacks: The Leading Cause of IT Downtime
The risks are escalating. Cyberattacks are now the number one cause of IT downtime, responsible for 24% of incidents—up from just 10% in 2018. Despite this rising threat, only 32% of UK businesses have cybersecurity insurance, leaving them financially vulnerable to data breaches, ransomware, and phishing attacks. Over 50% of businesses have already experienced at least one cyberattack in the past five years, with the average ransomware recovery cost sitting at £650,000.
Can Your Business Afford to Ignore IT Downtime?
🔹 How much would IT downtime cost your business?
🔹 Are you confident your IT setup can prevent and recover from a major outage?
Ignoring IT resilience is not an option. A proactive IT support strategy, robust cybersecurity measures, and a disaster recovery plan can prevent costly downtime, safeguard business operations, and protect your bottom line.
✅ Prevent IT downtime before it happens
✅ Reduce financial risks with strong cybersecurity and backup solutions
✅ Ensure business continuity with a solid IT recovery plan
Check out our infographic to see the full impact of IT downtime or visit our cybersecurity page for more information.
