Your business probably has a few different channels of connectivity in this day and age. If you’re not sending emails over the internet, you might be taking phone calls or even sending quick messages through an internal network system. Long story short, business connectivity is essential to maintaining operations effectively, and not something that you want to lose a handle on.
Business connections are built from connectivity, which is why we’ve put together this article, illustrating how dangerous it could be for your business to lose these channels, even briefly, due to a lack of managed IT support services or otherwise.
Losing connectivity could mean unnecessary downtime
Sales accounts for almost 1 million members of the UK workforce, with customer service making up almost 500,000 UK workers. In short, a lot of people need the capacity to connect and communicate to do their jobs. Something as simple as losing a business internet connection can mean staff being unable to access important applications, contact clients, send emails – essentially making work impossible. This isn’t just going to lose business, but it will also frustrate your staff significantly.
Financial losses
Unnecessary downtime and the inability to work is bothersome at best and financial poison at worst. If you can’t connect with business systems properly, you risk various revenue-blocking outcomes, such as:
- Unprocessed sales
- Unaccepted payments
- eCommerce sites going down
- Physical POS systems going down
- Inability to take order or negotiate
This can then be compounded by the additional costs of staff overtime and wasted labour costs, making a lack of reliable business connectivity solutions utterly unviable financially.
Strategic interruptions
Interacting with clients and customers is only one part of the problem. You might lose business connections with crucial elements of your supply chain or other vital partnerships, resulting in outcomes such as:
- Interruptions to logistics and shipping processes
- Loss of external data from real-time partners
- Inability to use external tools to monitor performance and other trends
Internal communications are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the interruptions caused by a loss of business connectivity.
Losing business connectivity can damage a company’s reputation
It’s not all about the staff and loss of revenue as and when connectivity is lost. Having your business connect with clients and potential partners properly is an important part of establishing a strong reputation in the industry. Losing your ability to do so, even in the short term, can have massively negative consequences. Studies indicate that 96% of customers have no qualms leaving you behind in instances of bad customer service – meaning the odds aren’t exactly in your favour when business connectivity is lost.
Reputational risks of lost connectivity include:
- People taking their business elsewhere due to a lack of responsiveness
- Customers having negative experiences, then sharing them with other consumers or potential clients, building a business reputation for being unreliable
- Losing the trust of once long-time customers forever
- Negative reviews and social media comments resulting in digital toxicity for your brand name
All it takes is a few negative experiences for your company to lose its momentum.
Security issues are common when connectivity is lost
It’s also important to remember that cloud-based data, customer records and other critical data can become more vulnerable as a result of lost connectivity. Rushed recovery efforts, along with disconnections during transfers, can lead to corruption or even thievery. This can result in a lack of compliance with data security laws, making your business liable to legal action.
Mitigation is minimisation
If you want to protect your business from lost connectivity, it’s important to cover all your bases in terms of removing redundant connections and having a disaster recovery plan. The best way to do this? Get in touch with a good provider of managed IT services. They will be able to point you in the right direction in terms of security and connectivity support.
