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The cost of Internet failures to UK businesses
UK businesses lost over 50 million hours and £ 3.7 billion due to Internet failures in 2023 , according to a new report from Beaming , a specialist business ISP . Reliance on connectivity for trading and operational activities has increased among businesses in the last five years , and the cost of missed sales , lost productivity and other disruptions due to downtime has risen by 400 %. survey of businesses using connectivity from various Internet service providers and advice to help companies reduce downtime levels and costs . The report reveals that cumulatively , UK businesses experienced 8.8 million Internet failures and 50.5 million hours of disruptive downtime in 2023 , where the ability to trade or access vital services was impaired .
Beaming ’ s report – The Cost of Downtime : The Impact of Outages on UK Businesses in 2023 – shares its analysis of a Censuswide
The amount of time businesses lost to connectivity failures in 2023 was a fifth lower than in 2018 when previous Beaming research found that firms lost 60 million hours to downtime . However , the cost of that downtime has increased fivefold : from £ 742 million in 2018 to £ 3.7 billion in 2023 .
Heightened dependence on connectivity for communication , e-commerce and access to cloud applications means 15 % of UK businesses , some 850,000 nationwide , would now start losing money the moment their connectivity fails . This is 81,000 more firms than five years ago .
During eight-hour Internet outages – a standard working day – 39 % of businesses now would lose money . This compares to 34 % at the end of 2018 and represents an increase of 240,000 companies nationwide .
Two-fifths of companies returning to five days in the office
“ It ’ s disappointing to see so many companies forcing their employees back into the office five days a week and turning their backs on flexible hybrid working . People have come through the pandemic and seen that a less rigid way of working that offers better work / life balance is possible , and it seems counter-productive to now take that away .
“ To attract and retain top talent it ’ s essential you offer some form of flexibility , and it ’ s something most jobseekers now expect . The term ‘ remote jobs ’ is Googled over 18,000 times per month in the UK – an increase of 410 % over the last five years . Technological advancements over the past decade have also significantly bolstered the case for a hybrid working model , particularly for traditional office-based roles .
New data from Virgin Media O2 indicates that 40 % of companies are returning to five days a week in the office and turning their back on hybrid working .
CEO and Founder of digital marketing agency , 71a , Edward Newman , urges business leaders to continue to embrace flexible working :
“ There can be benefits to having a team working together in person , but there is no reason for this to be enforced in a five days a week , 9 to 5 structure , which places unnecessary restrictions on people ’ s lives . I would urge businesses to break free from rigid structures and continue to embrace the flexibility hybrid working offers .”
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