05 Jun 2009

Website downtime 'could support the competition'

Businesses need to ensure that their websites experience zero or near-zero downtime, it has been advised.

Companies may want to address the potential of the downtime of business critical systems and applications, especially during the recession, Duncan Harvey, from GoldenGate Software, wrote on Continuity Central.

An unplanned outage could result in customers turning to the competition for the reliable service they require, as well as damage to a brand and potential financial consequences if sensitive information is lost.

"Today's increasingly savvy customers want convenience and quality service, regardless of when, where or how they interact with an organisation," Mr Harvey stated, which could emphasise the importance of disaster recovery (DR), especially for e-commerce firms.

Despite the financial and market consequences of poor DR, many individuals are not backing up their files on a regular basis.

Research by Symantec found that the average data loss incident costs around £1,258 to cover missing information.