What do we mean by downtime? Effectively, it refers to a period during the day where your business is unable to operate. You spend time doing nothing, for one reason or another. Clearly, this is bad for business as you need to minimise downtime as much as possible. Too much downtime means you aren't spending enough time working and being productive, so you can miss out on big opportunities. What causes downtime in your business? Numerous things can be responsible for downtime in your business, but the things listed below are some of the leading causes. By knowing what's halting business productivity, you can work on stopping it from happening.
By Team Savant
Image: Good Faces
Network Problems
Issues with your network are commonly seen as the major cause of downtime in your company. When the internet connection goes, or there's a network error, everything stops. Internet problems mean you can't work at all, while network issues relating to your website could mean the server is down and nobody can access the site, meaning you miss out on traffic.
Thus, you should look to prevent network problems and come up with solutions if they do happen. A stronger network infrastructure will help, as will fail-safes - like having a portable WiFi router that runs on mobile data, letting you connect to the internet if the broadband is down.
Accidents At Work
Accidents in the workplace cause downtime as you have to halt operations to deal with them. You need to carry out an investigation into the accident, be sure everyone is okay, and check that you can carry on working. If accidents happen regularly, you will experience far too much downtime.
Preventing this is as simple as running health & safety checks to ensure all of your equipment works correctly, and that you minimise risks in your business. Providing a pre employment medical before hiring anyone will also prevent accidents at work, ensuring you know the physical health of everyone you hire.
Employee Disputes
Often, downtime occurs when your employees are arguing amongst one another or have disagreements relating to their work. One person in a team wants to do one thing, while another may wish to take their work in a different direction. These clashes can waste valuable time as it means they spend precious minutes and hours debating instead of getting on with their work.
How can you stop this? Well, it's an easy case of revising your hiring policy. Look to hire people that are a cultural fit for your business, meaning they think similarly and have the same ideas and approaches to work. Alternatively, you could stop putting your own teams together and outsource instead. This way, you know the work is getting carried out by a synergistic team, reducing downtime.
The more time you spend doing nothing, the more opportunities your business will miss out on. Downtime can make you miss out on leads and customers, negatively impact your sales numbers. If you want your business to succeed, you simply need to tackle the main causes of downtime.