Avoiding Network Downtime

As soon as your network experiences downtime, your employees will inevitably start asking two questions. Who can help us, and how can we avoid network downtime in the future? When a network goes down, however, all management is really concerned about is how soon the team can be back up and running. Here are some ways to avoid network downtime.

Responding to Outages

An outage can make for a complex issue. Not only will you be unable to access data or functions throughout your network devices and systems, you must also know how to react to the situation promptly so that business is not greatly affected. The first thing you should do is determine the extent of the issue: whether the source of the outage is internal or external. If, for example, the outage has caused your whole network to go dark, the problem might be with your Internet provider, in which case a simple phone call can help you determine exactly what is going on.

Often times, system malfunctions occur because of changes made to the hardware and/or software. An automatic software update, for example, can largely impact how other systems function. Even adding new wireless access points to your network can wreak havoc on your system’s configuration. Additionally, many organizations now allow ad hoc networking by their staff members, making for a potentially dangerous situation that requires the appropriate safeguards and policies to maintain the system’s integrity and security. You need to ensure your network is secure to avoid network downtime.

Protecting your Network

Of course, there are always other possibilities as to the source of a network failure. Modern technology like computer viruses, worms and bots has allowed criminals access to personal information, property, finances and much more with more ease than ever before. Such information can be accessed from both personal devices and larger network systems. Taking the proper steps to safeguard your system from such information hacks is vital to the integrity of both your business and employees, and to avoiding network downtime.

For more information, contact us at OAC Technology, and we can help you avoid network downtime.