Internet Resilience Report: Outages Cost Companies Over $10 Million a Month

Despite soaring interest in the prospect of always on services and resiliency in general, an internet resilience report released this week demonstrates that the former is likely a bridge too far.

Resiliency, defined as the ability to “recover quickly,” is a major challenge for IT, as business participants report Internet outages are costing them $10 million a month.

Yet ninety-seven percent of companies in the report by Catchpoint say “a reliable, resilient Internet is of utmost importance to their business success.” As an increasing number of businesses, small to large – are banking big on reliable connections to the net as their commerce lifeline, a variety of obstacles are standing in their way.

Obstacles to resilience and outage causes

Outages can be caused by many things: storms, power outages, other extreme weather, trees between your wireless antennae, cable cuts, and the gradual decay of the outside plant operators use to provide your service. Equipment problems at either end also qualify.

"Internet resilience should be a critical part of your overall Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity program," said Pete Charlton, IT Vice President, TMNAS. "Ultimately, the CIO/CTO is accountable for the organization's digital resilience, but these are not just technology problems. Resilience and business continuity are, in fact, overall organizational issues that need to be discussed at the organization's highest levels and tested as frequently as possible."

More report insights

Based on insights gathered from 310 digital business leaders, key findings from the new report revealed: 

Seventy-eight percent identify improved customer experience as the primary driver for resilience programs.

Seventy-seven percent highlight the critical role of third-party technology providers in their Internet resilience strategies.

Forty-three percent estimate a total economic impact or loss of more than $1 million monthly due to Internet outages or degradations, and some Internet outages cost some companies upward of $10 million a month.

Forty percent cite talent and skillset as a major barrier to implementing internet performance monitoring.

New focus on quick recovery

For decades, service providers, including ISPs, have offered service level agreements (SLA) whereby financial compensation, free services, credits, or termination options are available if the provider fails to meet the agreed-upon service metrics, such as availability.

Why outages happen can be a factor of where your business is located. It is no secret that towns in most rural areas are usually served by a single ISP. If you experience problems and you do not have a backup connection via LEO satellite service –or a fixed wireless link – you should consider one.

Also, operators responsible for middle mile networks do not maintain or expand their crucial part of a connection, you have outages. The National Telecommunications Information Association (NTIA) dispersed billions for middle-mile expansion and upgrades. The demand was greater than the funding, so it is uncertain if the program will be funded again.

Worse still, some ISPs use subsea cables to carry business traffic internationally. Outages can be lengthy as the paperwork, resources, and repair ships are needed to repair cables laying on the bottom of the ocean.

Errors by third parties can cause an out whether a contractor is digging up your street to lay cable or replacing old copper wires with a new access option.

Help in measuring access performance

Catchpoint is addressing the issue of internet resiliency by offering internet performance monitoring offerings designed in part to make business and tech leaders aware of current problems to be addressed going forward.

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