YouGov survey looks into telecoms continuity and the cost of downtime

More than a third (36 percent) of UK workers have had their company telephone connection cut off due to failures caused by factors such as flooding, power cuts, roadworks and equipment faults during the past year. That’s the main finding of a new YouGov study commissioned by Inclarity.

The poll questioned almost 2,500 people, of whom 60 percent had experienced up to a full day’s disruption of their company’s phone system; costing the business an average of £14,431 per incident.

61 percent of respondents weren’t aware of any disaster recovery or business continuity plan to address the issue. Businesses in Wales, Scotland and the west Midlands were the least prepared, with two thirds or more unaware of a business continuity plan in place for phone downtime (76 percent, 67 percent and 66 percent respectively).  

Dave Millett, chief operating officer at Inclarity, urged businesses to reassess the value of being able to maintain a reliable telephony solution during any adverse circumstances.

“Too many UK firms leave their phone systems in jeopardy. Communication is the foundation stone of any successful business. Companies need to put more emphasis on ensuring their phone system is as protected from downtime as they do with other areas such as network and data access,” he said. “The cost of commercial phone downtime can rocket quickly. We think that £14,000 is actually an underestimation of the potential daily financial damage to companies.”

•Date: 1st August 2008• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: Telecoms continuity
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