Discover essential strategies and tips for managing IT infrastructure effectively. Stay updated with the latest advancements to optimise your business operations.

The real cost of downtime for SMEs – Can your business afford it?

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.

Benefits and challenges of security and privacy in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has revolutionised the way we store, access, and manage data. The cloud offers unparalleled convenience, scalability, and cost-efficiency, making it an attractive option for businesses and individuals. However, with these benefits come significant challenges, particularly in the areas of data security and privacy. When sensitive information is stored in the cloud, ensuring that this data remains secure and private is a top priority for every business.

Definition of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing services—such as servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and analytics over the internet (“the cloud”). Rather than storing data on local servers or personal devices. Users can access and store data in remote data centres managed by cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

Cloud computing has enabled faster innovation, creating flexible resources and economies of scale without the need for local infrastructure.

The importance of data security in the Cloud

Between January and May 2024 there were 35,900,145,035 global data breaches and cyber security attacks. This demonstrates the critical importance of data security in the cloud. The convenience and scalability of the cloud comes with significant risks, such as —data breaches, cyberattacks, and unauthorised access. These risks are real and affect businesses both small and large. In March 2024, American Express informed its customers that unauthorised parties gained access to sensitive customer information through a breach in their merchant processor.

Effective data security measures, such as encryption, multi-factor authentication, and real-time monitoring, are essential to safeguard cloud environments. Without them, businesses risk losing control over their most valuable asset, their data.

A security breach can lead to severe consequences, including financial losses, legal ramifications, and damage to reputation.

Many industries are governed by strict data protection regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union, which imposes stringent requirements on how personal data is handled. Ensuring that data stored in the cloud complies with these regulations is essential to avoid hefty fines and legal penalties.

The cloud, while offering robust security measures, is not immune to cyber threats. Cybercriminals are constantly evolving their tactics, targeting vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure to gain access to sensitive data. Implementing strong security measures in the cloud is crucial to mitigate these risks.

Privacy concerns in cloud computing

  1. Data ownership and control
    One of the primary concerns with cloud computing is data ownership and control. When data is stored in the cloud, it is hosted on servers owned by third-party providers, which can create uncertainty regarding ownership rights and accessibility. While organisations generate and manage their data, the cloud provider’s infrastructure and policies may influence how that data is stored, processed, and protected. This raises critical questions about who ultimately owns the data, who has the authority to modify or delete it, and under what circumstances the provider can access or share it.Legal and compliance requirements add another layer of complexity, as different jurisdictions impose varying regulations on data sovereignty, retention, and security. For example, regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU or the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) mandate strict guidelines on how personal data is handled, even when stored in third-party cloud environments. Organisations must ensure that their cloud provider complies with these regulations to avoid potential legal and financial repercussions.To retain control over their data, users should carefully review the provider’s terms of service, data privacy policies, and contractual agreements. It is essential to clarify data ownership rights, understand how data is encrypted and stored, and determine what happens to the data in the event of contract termination. Additionally, businesses should implement robust data governance strategies, including encryption, access controls, and regular audits, to ensure that sensitive information remains secure and within their control.
  2. Data location and jurisdiction
    Data stored in the cloud can be hosted in data centres located in different countries, each with its own set of data protection laws. This can create legal complexities, particularly when data is subject to different privacy regulations depending on where it is stored. To address the legal complexities of storing data in cloud data centres across different countries, users should first ensure they understand where their data will be stored by consulting their cloud provider’s data residency policies. Choose providers that allow control over data location, enabling users to select data centres within their own region or in regions with favourable data protection laws. Additionally, businesses should conduct a legal review to ensure compliance with all applicable privacy regulations, such as GDPR, and include data residency requirements in their contracts with the provider.

Best practices for ensuring data security and privacy in the Cloud

  1. Data Encryption
    Encryption is one of the most effective ways to protect your data in the cloud, so it’s important to choose a cloud provider that offers robust encryption standards. Encryption should be in place to protect data when it is actively moving from one location to another, such as between devices, across networks, or from a user’s computer to a cloud server (this is called Data in Transit). It is also important that encryption is applied to data that is stored in the cloud but not actively being transmitted or processed (this is called Data at Rest).
  2. Strong access controls
    Implementing strong access controls is crucial to prevent unauthorised access to your data. This includes using multi-factor authentication (MFA), setting up user permissions based on roles, and regularly reviewing access logs to detect any suspicious activity.
  3. Regular security audits and assessments
    Regularly auditing and assessing your cloud environment can help identify vulnerabilities and ensure that your security measures are up to date. Many cloud providers offer tools and services that allow you to monitor your security posture and detect potential threats.
  4. Compliance with Data Protection regulations
    Ensure that your cloud provider complies with relevant data protection regulations, such as GDPR or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States. This includes understanding how your data is handled, where it is stored, and what measures are in place to protect it.
  5. Data backup and recovery
    Having a robust data backup and recovery plan is essential to protect against data loss due to accidental deletion, cyberattacks, or hardware failures. Ensure that your cloud provider offers reliable backup solutions and that you can restore your data quickly in the event of an incident.

Data security and cloud computing best practices

Data security and privacy in cloud computing are crucial considerations for anyone using cloud services. While the cloud offers numerous benefits, it also presents unique challenges that must be addressed to protect sensitive information. By implementing best practices such as encryption, strong access controls, and regular security audits, you can ensure that your data remains secure and private in the cloud. As the use of cloud computing continues to grow, staying informed about the latest security and privacy developments will be key to safeguarding your data.

Why building resilience into your IT infrastructure is essential

Today’s business environment is unpredictable, which means businesses need to build robust and resilient IT infrastructure strategies. Resilience has become a critical success factor for the survival and growth of any business.

Core network infrastructure including servers, internet links, and network equipment must be fortified to withstand and rapidly recover from any disruptions. This article explores the importance of embedding resilience into core network infrastructure and provides tips on how businesses can build resilience into their IT infrastructure.

Understanding IT infrastructure resilience

Resilience in a core network infrastructure refers to the ability of these systems to endure disruptions caused by issues such as cyberattacks, hardware failures or general connectivity issues, ensuring a continual IT service for your business. It’s more than just bouncing back; it’s about maintaining core operations during a crisis and emerging stronger post-disruption.

Downtime and business disruption can be incredibly costly to any business, and also impact reputation and customer confidence.

Why resilience matters

Where uncertainty lurks around every corner and disruption and change are constant, the concept of business resilience emerges as a business need, more than ever. Here are three compelling reasons to make IT infrastructure resilience top-of-mind.

1. Mitigating risks and minimising downtime

A single point of failure in core network infrastructure can have cascading effects throughout a business. For instance, a server failure or an internet outage can halt business operations, leading to significant revenue loss and customer dissatisfaction. Resilient networks are designed to anticipate, absorb, and adapt to such shocks, ensuring that downtime is minimised, and operations remain running.

2. Enhancing customer trust and loyalty

Customers expect reliable and consistent service – whatever your business. Frequent disruptions due to network failures can erode trust and drive customers to competitors. By investing in a resilient core network infrastructure, businesses can assure their customers that they are dependable, even in challenging times. This commitment to reliability fosters stronger customer loyalty and enhances your brand reputation.

3. Maintaining your competitive advantage

Whatever industry sector your operate in, having a competitive edge over your competition is key to success and a thriving business and resilience can be a key differentiator. Businesses that can maintain network operations during a crisis can capitalise on opportunities that arise when competitors are struggling. This advantage can translate into increased market share, customer retention and long-term growth.

Key strategies for building resilience

Organisations should ideally be driven to ensure reliable, secure and efficient operations within their IT infrastructure. A resilient information technology system helps companies enhance operational efficiency while minimising financial and reputational loss risks.

Implementing redundant systems

Redundancy involves having backup systems and processes in place. For core network infrastructure, this could mean having duplicate servers in different locations, alternate internet links, and spare network equipment. Redundancy ensures that if one component fails, another can take its place without interrupting operations.

Investing in High-Availability servers

High-availability (HA) servers are designed to operate continuously without failure for a long time. Implementing HA solutions can significantly reduce the risk of downtime. These systems automatically manage load balancing and failover processes, ensuring seamless operation even when individual servers go down.

Utilising multiple Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

Relying on a single ISP can be risky. By utilising multiple ISPs, businesses can ensure continuous internet connectivity even if one provider experiences an outage. This multi-homing strategy allows traffic to be rerouted through alternate connections, maintaining network availability and performance.

Deploying advanced network monitoring tools

Continuous monitoring of network infrastructure is essential for detecting potential issues before they escalate into major disruptions. Advanced network monitoring tools provide real-time insights into the performance and health of network components, allowing for proactive maintenance and rapid response to incidents.

Regularly test disaster recovery plans

A comprehensive disaster recovery plan (DRP) is crucial for ensuring that network infrastructure can be quickly restored following a disruption. Regularly testing and updating the DRP helps identify weaknesses and ensures that all stakeholders are prepared to act swiftly and effectively in a crisis.

Conclusion – tips for success for your business

Although we have discussed all the areas of IT resilience that is available, we fully understand that every business is different. With financial restraints a business needs balance the risks and costs to ensure they achieve the right protection for their business as well as the ROI from these investments.

It’s very common to focus on a small number of key areas where the risk of failure is high and in-turn where the cost of implementing is low. Mitigating risk is a long-term strategy and doesn’t need to be a costly overhead. Understanding the risks and knowing what to do if they happen is a great starting point.