80% of Irish businesses have no connectivity back-up system in place in case of system failure.
The vast majority of SMEs in Ireland do not have an appropriate back-up system in place,
New research on behalf of Magnet+ by Behaviour and Attitudes indicates that 216,000 out of 270,000 SMEs in Ireland are leaving their systems vulnerable to significant loss in the case of a connectivity malfunction or system failure.
“If you don’t have connectivity, you can’t operate as a business – it’s as simple as that”
The situation is also likely to be perilous and costly in the event of a spear phishing or ransomware attack by hackers and it is questionable how many businesses have their data backed up as well as their connectivity.
The cost of data outages for SMEs
Magnet+ has calculated that an average business in the IT sector could lose up to €20,000 per working day due to connectivity failure and having no back-up in place.
Recent CSO figures show that the IT sector has an average hourly labour cost of €48.39 meaning an IT related business with a team of 50 could lose productivity worth €2,419.50 per hour – working out at almost €20,000 per average working day (€18,146.25). Similarly, businesses outside of the IT sector with a team of 50 could also be impacted financially if they are without the appropriate connectivity back-up according to these CSO figures, for example:
Businesses outside of the IT sector with a team of 50 could also be impacted financially if they are without the appropriate connectivity back-up according to these CSO figures, for example:
- Financial, Insurance and Real Estate – potential loss of €17,145 per day
- Arts, Entertainment and Recreation – potential loss of almost €8,550 per day
- Accommodation and Food Services – potential loss at almost €5,520 per day
These figures don’t include the revenue loss for a transactional online operation, as well as the knock-on impact of reputational damage.
“If you don’t have connectivity, you can’t operate as a business – it’s as simple as that,” said John Delves, managing director of Magnet+. “That’s why I’m totally shocked by the figure that 80% of businesses don’t have a back-up system in place.”
In response to these startling results, Magnet+ has developed a new service, Magnet Duo, the first of its kind in Ireland guaranteeing internet connection at all times.
Magnet Duo provides customers with two individual active links – instead of one, which is the current standard – powered by Fortinet technology to ensure a secure, seamless and optimised user experience. Each link operates independently which means if one link is interrupted for whatever reason, traffic automatically switches to the other until the first is operating again. Each link is also connected to a different data centre meaning again, if one connection is interrupted, traffic is automatically routed via the other centre.
“Every day we’re seeing the real-life impact that connectivity failure has on businesses and it’s these failures and the alarming results of our research that led us to develop our new service Magnet Duo, Ireland’s first fully guaranteed internet connection. This means whatever happens – burst pipes, freak weather or broken cables – two lines will keep you connected and working,” Delves said.
