Downtime can cost some organizations thousands of dollars per minute. But it doesn’t just cost money; it can damage a company’s reputation and cause decreased productivity, data losses, legal issues, and customer dissatisfaction.
Understanding the difference between planned and unplanned downtime and how to reduce it can help companies avoid disruptions and minimize the impact on the organization.
Planned downtime vs. unplanned downtime
There are two distinct types of downtime, and it’s important to understand the differences.
Unplanned downtime
As the name implies, unplanned or unscheduled downtime is not something a company plans and is often unexpected due to system outages or equipment failure.
For example, unplanned machine downtime or server errors can cause an unexpected lapse in operation. This could include a computer crashing because of hardware issues or an entire service being unexpectedly unavailable for teams or users. This rarely occurs at convenient times. When problems arise unexpectedly, they can take longer to resolve and to get systems and services back up and running.
Planned downtime
Scheduled or planned downtime is proactive maintenance that helps companies avoid more significant issues. Companies schedule down periods for maintenance tasks during convenient times for the company and customers to minimize the negative impact on users.
Organizations can use scheduled downtime to install upgrades, perform routine maintenance, replace outdated machine parts, and more to ensure optimal performance and increase the reliability of their machines and services.
Unplanned downtime causes
The most common culprits of unplanned downtime include operational risks, such as hardware or equipment failure, cybersecurity breaches, and human error. Additional causes include supply chain issues or failure to perform regular maintenance.
Companies can prevent unplanned downtime by identifying the most common causes and finding opportunities to reduce operational risks and optimize their workflows.
Here are some actionable steps:
- Audit maintenance protocols: Review scheduled maintenance plans and ensure regular service for equipment and systems to prevent breakdowns.
- Analyze communication and escalation processes: Assess how issues are reported and resolved. Identify bottlenecks, such as escalating problems to the wrong team or delaying resolution.
- Track equipment performance: Monitor key metrics such as Mean Time Between Failure and maintenance histories to identify recurring issues or outdated equipment causing frequent breakdowns.
Downtime reduction strategies
Identifying the potential causes can help companies mitigate issues, but organizations must also have effective strategies for effectively reducing downtime. Here are 5 strategies to help your organization reduce unplanned downtime:
Preventative maintenance: Preventive maintenance can help to identify potential causes, but it’s also one of the best methods to prevent unplanned downtime. Regular system and equipment maintenance can help organizations mitigate issues and help teams catch problems before they occur. Companies must create a preventative maintenance schedule and stick to it to keep their systems in working order.
Predictive maintenance: To perform predictive maintenance, organizations monitor equipment performance to anticipate maintenance needs. Teams can install sensors to monitor equipment vibrations and temperature. They can then collect and analyze this data to identify issues. This lets companies take a proactive approach and perform maintenance based on data vs. being reactive when issues arise.
Employee training: Human error is one of the leading causes of unplanned downtime. Organizing regular, ongoing training helps employees operate equipment effectively and helps teams understand the necessary steps to resolve issues quickly.
Audit risks: Understanding potential risks allows organizations to take a proactive approach to mitigation while enhancing operational efficiency. A risk audit evaluates equipment and processes to identify areas for improvement or replacement.
For example, if a company can identify old or outdated equipment, they can replace it with newer technology that will perform better. An audit can also help to identify workflow inefficiencies. For example, are there opportunities to automate system diagnostics or incident monitoring?
Backup systems: Implementing backup systems can help to minimize the impact when a system goes down. For example, companies can install backup servers, power supplies, or spare machinery.
Reduce downtime and prevent issues
Downtime isn’t just a financial burden—it affects reputation, productivity, and customer satisfaction. By implementing proactive strategies such as maintenance management, employee training, and regular risk audits, organizations can reduce costly disruptions and keep operations running smoothly.
Learn more about how PagerDuty can help your teams increase reliability and minimize the need for downtime by signing up for a 14-day free trial.