IT Services News

Do businesses accurately measure the cost impacts of lost manhours through downtime? Are they doing enough to minimise these impacts and improve efficiency? Most business owners and management teams are aware of the need for a suitable disaster recovery plan to enable them to re-establish their business in event of a serious event (fire, flood etc) but may miss the other areas that need to be considered in order to increase productivity of staff members and minimise the lost time areas.
 

Having secondary broadband lines into a business may seem like an extravagance, however in the time of a service outage, the ability to keep your office team working could be priceless – could mean the difference between winning a deal or losing potential clients. Now available at reasonable prices, secondary broadband lines can be a lower speed of line than the primary, but could prove invaluable in your network planning.

The current cult of social networking sites has seen a shift in what is considered to be the norm as far as working practices are concerned. Unrestricted access to the internet is no longer seen as a perk but as a right. Online auction sites too have contributed to the labour hours lost by businesses every year due to ineffective workers constantly checking sites throughout the working day. Whereas internet usage used to be reserved only for break times, it is now more normal for staff to have browser windows open throughout the day, flicking on to the page only as and when they have a spare second or two. Whilst companies may like to be seen as flexible and as having a progressive attitude, losing money through workers being distracted is something that will come under closer scrutiny as we approach the worsening credit crunch. 

An average company of 10 staff members, wasting half an hour per working day, earning an average wage rate of £7.50 per hour over a 48-week year can amount to a staggering £9000 per year. How long does it take your business to make £9000 in profit??

So what can companies do without risking a revolution from your staff?

A total ban may be seen as Dickensian and could cause a drop in morale. However, working with your IT support team, whether in house or outsourced, and working smartly to restrict access to such sites with a smart IT web access policy can be a better way to tackle this problem. A good starting point is to draw up a list of the sites which are seen as the biggest issue and ban them during working hours, whilst allowing access at lunchtimes and before and after work hours so that you strike a balance. Further measures can include monitoring software to keep an eye on your staff’s internet usage, so that you can use disciplinary measures where abuse is discovered.