Netconsult Blog Why is uptime important and how can you reduce downtime through server monitoring?

Ensuring server uptime for your business is crucial - server downtime costs UK businesses around £3.6 million every year. However, it is not just the financial costs that could be crippling for your business, as there are issues of confidence, reputation and trust tied up in downtime too. If you want to ensure that you keep downtime to a minimum then server monitoring could provide a simple solution.The importance of uptimeDealing with the consequences of server downtime can be damaging. There is the financial cost - this sits somewhere between an average of £4300 and £258,000 per hour. However, server downtime also creates some serious issues for staff morale, as well as business performance, as companies lose a huge 545 hours every year of staff productivity as a result of downtime. According to a Ponemon Institute report there has been a 38% increase in unplanned server downtime since 2010. For many businesses, being unable to sustain uptime can do serious damage to a reputation, eroding the trust that clients and customers have in the business' service, as well as its IT infrastructure. It can have an impact on customer loyalty, can make staff feel disenchanted and may even be the cause of employees looking for work elsewhere.Why does server monitoring offer a solution?There are a number of common causes to downtime, such as failed software updates, overloaded systems, poor security, outdated equipment and compatibility issues. Server monitoring offers a solution, whether you are dealing with a small number or hundreds of servers, no matter where they are located. It provides an overview of the entire server environment, including auditing storage drives, CPU, and memory.Real time perspectiveServer monitoring also enables a complete perspective on servers in real time so that potential issues can be identified and dealt with early and uptime maintained. In particular, server monitoring can:Ensure that you receive alerts with respect to critical server statesProvide oversight on the most important performance indicators, such as network bandwidth, disk status and memory usageHelp to avoid server latency - when a server is down the business is losing money. This should not happen when you have server monitoringAudit hardware and software inventory to provide a clear picture of infrastructure and performanceProvide monitoring of key indicators for specific server rolesTrack and compare inventory changesPlanning to reduce downtimeMany businesses find that server downtime is particularly painful because they are simply not prepared to deal with it. Issues are not identified early and there is no concrete plan in place to handle what arises. As a result, problems often go unresolved for some time and are not effectively resolved. Server monitoring is an essential, proactive step for any organisation keen to reduce the cost of downtime and enjoy the benefits of smoother server service.We provide network monitoring as part of our netManage service to give your business the best possible options when it comes to ensuring uptime. Contact netConsult to find out more today.Author: Laura Zverko - Follow us on Google+