How Much Time Do You Waste on Computer Issues and Problems?

In the modern business environment, productivity is King, and employees are asked to do more than they were 10 years ago; they are expected to multitask, be multi-skilled and be flexible. It’s a sign of the times, but there are many barriers to improved productivity even with a skilled and motivated workforce. One of the biggest is the time wasted due to computer faults.

The Problem in Statistics

Multiple studies show that the average employee wastes too much of their typical workday on non-work related, time-consuming activities. Exclude procrastination (50% of distractions include non-work use such as social media), trying to fix their computer or trying to find a person who can help with their specific problem is next.

• One 2016 study in the USA found, on average, employees spend 22-25 minutes daily trying to find a solution to a computer fault; scale that up to the average working week and that amounts to 91 hours, or over 2 weeks per employee

• Another found the average business experiences 14 hours of downtime annually
• During this time, employees perform at an average 63% of peak, including an adjustment period to get back into workflow once the system is back up and running
• Last year, it was calculated that this costs UK businesses some £3.6m in lost productivity and lost business/clients
• Technical faults cost anything between £4,300 and £258,000 every hour with one US analyst suggestion around $4,000 for every minute (about £3,200) for larger businesses

How Do Computer Issues Affect Performance?

Even with a shorter downtime, and as noted above, employees take a while to get back into their stride and they may even have to restart a task if work is unsaved or backup fails. Every minute of downtime is lost productivity, frustrating for the employee with tasks to complete and there are only so many hours in the day to get work finished.

Customers may also suffer if they cannot access your services, check their accounts or records. Even if the problem is an in-house issue, customers who cannot access information they need will have a negative perception of the brand. Large scale outages could mean media exposure where there is risk of data breach.

The Solution

There are two facts of life where computer systems are concerned:

• Even the most robust and reliable systems and equipment will experience problems from time to time
• Your business will always lose money when your computer system experiences downtime

How your business handles such problems will impact how much the issue will cost – both monetary, and professional reputation. It takes a dedicated team to streamline and minimize this.

Be Proactive

One of the best ways to avoid having to waste too much of your time on computer issues is to be proactive about it. Issues are going to happen and it’s how you’ve prepared to deal with it that’s going to affect how long it lasts.

One solution for this is to have a third-party service and maintenance package. When a quick response is necessary, this will save time and money. Plus, your employees will always know who to contact, where to go when they have a problem and won’t be left scratching their heads trying to fix a problem.

Current solution not quite working for your business? Give First Stop IT a call. We will listen to your requirements and discuss ways we might be able to help you.