Downtime. Is there a worse word to hear when running a business? It means things come to a halt, and nothing is moving forward. As is the case with any other downtime, IT downtime is something you want to avoid. It can bring your entire network, website, and everything else associated with an Internet connection to a crashing stop. When this happens, it means no online sales, website visitors won’t be able to reach you, and even in-person sales may be blocked if you can’t access the Internet for credit card readers. Essentially it is a complete nightmare. To avoid such an issue, you need to know what causes IT downtime.
Here are some of the top causes of IT downtime.
Overloading The System
Every system has a max capacity. It can only hold so much. It’s like trying to put 13 gallons of gas in a 12-gallon tank. There’s only so much it can take before it just turns into a giant mess. If you overload your system, it won’t just cap out, though. It will completely shut down.
So how do you avoid overloading your system? You need to calculate exactly how much bandwidth your network devices require to run at full capacity. You also need to add in some wiggle room. This way, you have some added bandwidth for any additional devices you might add in the near future. You don’t want to constantly be upgrading your network capacity with every purchase or addition. This is far too time-consuming, not to mention it stops your productivity and may require you to shut down the network in order to make the upgrades.
We can help you make these calculations in identifying the optimal network size.
Too Many Devices Connected To The Network
In the same way that you can overload the network by using up the entire bandwidth with devices, it is possible to crash the system with too many users. Whenever a user is connected to the network, they will be sending and receiving data. As more users become active on the network, it can bottleneck data movement.
If your business has been growing and you’ve brought on additional employees, it may be possible your network is simply too small and needs to be upgraded in order to handle the expanding digital workspace you require. However, it is also possible that other individuals are using your network. Perhaps you have open Wi-Fi, and outside users are using it. This can tax your network and cause it to crash.
If you do offer open Wi-Fi at your place of business, the best course of action for this is to have a separate network for your employees and one for your customers. This will keep your own network not only free of the added drag of more users, but it will keep it more secure as well.
Poor Upgrade Execution and Rollout
Another one of the top causes of IT downtime is improper rollout. There is nothing more destructive to your website and network in general than rolling out an update prematurely. This is something we have all seen happen. A company is excited about new updates, so management pushes the release of this new update before it is actually ready and fully tested. Because the company wants to make a big splash with the update, it isn’t done bit by bit but instead in one big chunk. There is so much riding on this instant release that things can either go exceptionally smooth or, which is often the case, completely crash and burn.
A forced, massive release needs to be tested because even the smallest coding issue can topple the update. However, testing only goes so far. If the update is heavily publicized, it may receive more traffic than expected, which can overload the update, again causing it to crash.
Everyone loves a flashy new release. But it is almost 100% better to update everything bit by bit. These updates can be in the background with minor changes. Essentially, these small updates will lay the foundation for the release. Users may discover minor adjustments to the website and how the system works, but this can help hide the excitement of the full release while the implemented changes are fully tested, and the kinks are worked out. You can still have a grand release for the new system even after implementing small changes over an extended period of time.
Of course, you may not fully know how to drip release your updates. You might not know what needs to be implemented first and built off of. That is one of the major benefits of bringing in our team here at Charlotte IT Solutions. We can help you with the development of the updates and then assist in the drip release. This way, we can help test out the updates without giving away the big reveal. This will ensure your reveal goes as smoothly as possible because the last thing you want is either for the system to crash during a much-advertised event or do you want to deal with extensive IT downtime. Charlotte IT Solutions will help make sure you avoid these kinds of issues and help make sure your rollout runs as smoothly as possible.
Avoid IT Downtime With Top IT Professionals
The best way to avoid the causes of IT downtime is to bring in a group of professionals that understand what works best for your business and the kind of technology you require. At Charlotte IT Solutions, we will work directly with you to better understand what it is you need out of your Internet, your connected devices and IT network security. We can help you pinpoint the best equipment without overloading your system. If you want to learn more about the services we offer and how we can improve the performance of your business, feel free to give us a call or send us an email at your earliest convenience. We can’t wait to hear from you.