Running an e-commerce business isn't just about keeping your website up and running. Customers rely on your ability to serve them via telephone, fax, email, or other means, and it requires all of your systems to be working to be able to fulfil customer requests. Often, a single failure in your infrastructure can disable your ability to serve clients, ship orders, answer calls, and process transactions.
Calculating the cost of system downtime isn't just looking at the cost of lost orders. Your time as a manager, and the impact on your staff and clients need to be accounted for as well. The labour cost of fixing customer service problems, and the opportunity costs of spending your time fixing your business (rather than growing it) all add to the core costs of lost orders.
There are a variety of different infrastructure components that an e-commerce business relies on to operate including electrical power, Internet access, website hosting, email, and core software applications. If any one of these systems fails, the ability to serve your customers can be disrupted.
If your Internet connection is down due to your DSL or cable provider system being unavailable, most of the typical e-commerce business's systems grind to a halt. Without Internet access, you are unable to send or receive email, produce shipping documents, or receive orders from your storefront. Setting up a wireless Internet access system as a back up to your primary ISP is a cost effective way to reduce your system downtime.
After you implement a back-up wireless ISP system, you'll need to set-up your network to automatically switch over in the event of a failure of your DSL or cable modem. The latest generation of inexpensive intelligent routers can be configured to automatically ping your ISP providers, and switch you between them so that if one goes down, you are switched over to the alternative system seamlessly.
The newest Internet based toll free services offer a very creative solution to your inbound call handling needs. In addition to being very inexpensive, these systems can be set-up to route your inbound toll free calls to multiple different phone numbers. If your landline is down, your customers can still reach you because your toll free service can route your calls to your VOIP or cellular phone number without disruption.
In areas of the country where power is less reliable, you need to be creative in the set-up of your electrical systems. Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS's) can give you short-term back-up power, while assuring you have clean, spike free electricity flowing to your devices. Make sure all your critical equipment has a UPS including routers, modems, switches, phones, servers, and of course you’re PCs.
An inexpensive solution for longer-term power outages is to have a back-up generator available onsite. You can pick-up an inexpensive generator at your local home center, and you can have an electrician install a basic generator connection switch to your circuit panel. In the event of a power outage, you can start-up your generator, plug it into the generator transfer switch, and flip a couple switches, and all your systems can be operating. Make sure you test this system occasionally to make sure your generator starts easily and that you have configured you switch on the proper circuits.
Most online stores are hosted at reliable web hosts. One of the most critical integration items it to make sure your payment processing system is equally reliable. It doesn't do any good to have a reliable website that can't process a credit card when a customer makes a purchase.
In the event of a true disaster, the one item you need to make sure you have is a good back up. A truly good back up includes all your critical business files and records, not just for the website, but your financial, marketing, and operational data as well. Take your back-up files off site, at least weekly, to assure you've got your data safeguarded.
It is important that you test all your redundant, and back up systems periodically to make sure they are working. There is nothing worse than having a critical system outage and then find out your back-up systems aren't working. Then you are attempting to fix TWO systems, not one. Keep the back-up and redundant systems operational when things are running well to make sure you can continue your business operations when a major outage occurs.
The benefits to your customers, your employees, and your own personal stress levels are significant. A business doing only $500,000 per year in business loses over $100 per business hour when operations are disrupted. The distraction can cost you even more by taking your time away from growing the business, to putting it onto fixing it. Every 1% of down time can cost you over $3,000, plus disrupt your life. Inexpensive investments in redundant and back-up systems can pay for themselves quickly, and easily.
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