IT Failure: Causes, Consequences, and How to Prevent It

In many ways, 2024 was the year of the Crowdstrike outage. This major IT failure affected 8.5 million devices worldwide, leading to $1 billion in costs. As disruptive as this incident was, it did set alarm bells ringing for many businesses. It showed that an unexpected system failure can leave you without access to critical data, causing severe frustrations for your team.

Want to ensure your organization can withstand a major outage? Read on to find out how IT failures occur and what you can do to prevent them!

Common Causes of IT Failure

IT failures can stem from a variety of issues, and many of them are interrelated. The leading cause is a mistake made by an employee. Some common examples of human error that can lead to IT failure are:

• Misconfiguring settings
• Using or storing weak passwords
• Accidentally deleting important files
• Sending key information to the wrong recipient via email

Software and hardware malfunctions place high on the list of common causes as well. Flaws in the software can often render systems unusable. Physical damage to components can disrupt many services.

Network issues such as connectivity problems can prevent employees from accessing necessary resources or communicating effectively. They also leave businesses more susceptible to cyber threats, such as:

• Spam and phishing
• Malware and ransomware
• Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks

Consequences of IT Failures

When an IT system downtime occurs, the ramifications can be severe. For starters, many companies suffer major financial losses due to:

• Direct costs from downtime
• Compensating affected clients
• Additional recovery expenses

Beyond these obvious costs, IT failure may cause your partners and clients to lose trust in your organization. Consistent failures can also grind your daily operations to a halt, affecting employee productivity.

Finally, poor IT infrastructure management may lead to your company not meeting compliance requirements. In regulated industries, this can result in legal penalties.

How to Prevent IT Disruption

Prevention is better than cure, and this is even more true when it comes to IT failures. Implementing proactive measures is essential for avoiding IT pitfalls and enhancing system reliability. Consider these strategies:

• Regular maintenance: Schedule consistent maintenance to keep software and hardware in optimal condition
• User training: Ensure that all employees are trained to use IT resources correctly
• Robust security measures: Invest in cybersecurity solutions to protect systems from external threats
• Backup solutions: Regularly back up data to a secure location, ensuring quick recovery in case of a failure
• Monitoring systems: Use monitoring tools that can alert IT personnel of potential issues before they escalate

Moving Forward with EnvisionIT Solutions

As you can see, an IT failure can have devastating effects on a business. By understanding the root causes and implementing effective preventive measures, companies can significantly reduce the risk of failures.

At EnvisionIT Solutions, we're dedicated to providing IT support in the Denver, Albuquerque, and Colorado Springs areas. We use 24/7 monitoring services to proactively monitor your business and give you the peace of mind you need. Not convinced you need our services? Contact us here to sign up for a free assessment of your IT infrastructure!