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The evolution of business as well as the increase in the supply of the internet resource has contributed to the development of ecosystems highly connected and dependent on the internet. According to the TIC Empresas 2015 survey, developed by cetic.br, approximately 96% of the organizations have access to the internet, with many activities dependent on this resource.
Among the most prominent activities, we can highlight the sending of e-mails (99%), the search for information on products or services (94%), and the execution of banking transactions via Internet banking (88%). Tasks that demand specific skills, in turn, are performed to a lesser extent: 43% of companies deliver products or services in digital format, 35% train employees and 32% make phone calls over the internet (VoIP).
The data reported in the TIC Companies survey, confirm the strong dependence that contemporary companies have on the internet resource.
The purpose of this blog is to introduce essential points to be considered, in order to measure the costs associated with the unavailability of the internet resource in corporate environments. Total or partial unavailability of resource impacts on employee productivity, interruption of essential services, brand image and other points that may generate direct and indirect losses for the business, will be evaluated in the course of this content.
Continue reading and use this material as a research source to analyze the feasibility of projects that involve high availability of internet resource in companies.
Total unavailability of internet resource
Although a representative share of Brazilian companies have access to the internet and make use of the resource in a large part of the daily business operations, a very small percentage of them are concerned with implementing concepts that aim to guarantee availability of the internet resource.
For these companies, the risks associated with unavailability of Internet are even greater, considering that, by dropping the link or the unavailability of network equipment, the only possible alternative is to wait until the service provider solves problem.
It is also known that depending on where the company is physically there is greater instability on the internet resource, also influencing the quality of the link and services offered to customers.
The placements made so far are intended to generate reflections on the risks associated with the unavailability of the Internet, especially in businesses with a high degree of dependence on this resource.
In a survey carried out by OSTECand NEOTRIAD, on the Internet use profile in companies, it was found that approximately 57% of company employees have their activities heavily compromised by the unavailability of the internet resource, reinforcing its importance for organizations.
In this sense, to evaluate the impacts generated by the unavailability of the Internet in companies, it is necessary to accurately survey the applications and processes that depend on the Internet to be executed, as well as the employees involved in the activities. Marketing and sales, including activities for the generation and qualification of leads, prospecting of new clients, support and after-sales activities, projects, development and financing, usually demand for solutions that make use of the internet, being impacted by their unavailability.
Companies with virtual sales platforms should be even more cautious about problems associated to the unavailability of the Internet, since business’ operation depends on 100% of the resource, and that unavailability will result in direct losses for the company.
In this sense, it is recommended that the company’s structure be evaluated to estimate the number of employees who would have their activities compromised by problems associated with the Internet. After estimating this indicator, it is possible to use the productivity calculatorto estimate the financial losses generated by such activity.
Partial unavailability of the internet resource
In addition to the total unavailability of the internet resource, generated by the drop of the link or failure of network peripherals, the company may also suffer from problems associated to a lack of management over the use of the internet in a corporate environment.
The lack of management over the internet resource allows that accesses unrelated to employees’ work activities, such as social networks, video applications (YouTube, Netflix), news websites, instant messengers, among others, compete directly with legitimate access, crucial to the company’s operation.
Structures with no control over the use of the internet allow a single employee, who is using YouTube, to consume the entire internet bandwidth of the company, preventing the execution of essential operations such as issuing electronic invoices, accessing internet banking, and other applications that depend on the Internet for its operation.
This type of unavailability generates a silent loss, hard to be identified without specialized solutions of information security; however, it is essential that these be taken into account, when measuring the losses caused by the unavailability of the internet resource.
The internet is, and will continue to be, essential for organizations, regardless of size or segment, so it is of great value that companies spend part of their time and budget to ensure the availability of this resource, avoiding financial losses and negative business image.
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