IT leaders estimate that downtime costs $4,537 per minute, according to a PagerDuty survey. The damage goes beyond money: downtime can hurt a company’s reputation and lead to lost productivity, data loss, legal issues, and dissatisfied customers.
Understanding the difference between planned and unplanned downtime, and how to reduce each, helps companies avoid disruptions and limit their impact.
Planned downtime vs. unplanned downtime
Downtime falls into two categories: unplanned and planned.
Unplanned downtime
Unplanned, or unscheduled, downtime is unexpected and usually caused by system outages or equipment failure.
For example, a machine failure or server error can halt operations without warning. That might mean a computer crashing because of a hardware issue or an entire service going down for teams or users. These failures rarely happen at convenient times, and unexpected problems often take longer to resolve.
Planned downtime
Planned, or scheduled, downtime is proactive maintenance that helps companies avoid bigger issues. Companies schedule it during low-impact windows to minimize disruption for users and customers.
Teams use this time to install upgrades, perform routine maintenance, and replace outdated parts, which improves the performance and reliability of their machines and services.
Unplanned downtime causes
The most common causes of unplanned downtime are operational risks such as hardware or equipment failure, cybersecurity breaches, and human error. Supply chain issues and skipped maintenance also contribute.
Companies reduce unplanned downtime by identifying their most common causes, then lowering operational risk and improving workflows.
Start with these 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Monitor key metrics such as mean time between failures (MTBF) and maintenance histories to identify recurring issues or outdated equipment causing frequent breakdowns.
Downtime reduction strategies
Knowing the causes is only the first step. These five strategies help reduce unplanned downtime:
|
Strategy |
Description |
|
Preventive maintenance |
Preventive maintenance is one of the best ways to prevent unplanned downtime. Regular system and equipment maintenance helps teams catch problems before they cause outages. Create a preventive maintenance schedule and stick to it to keep systems in working order. |
|
Predictive maintenance |
Predictive maintenance uses equipment performance data to anticipate maintenance needs. Teams can install sensors to monitor vibration and temperature, then analyze that data to spot issues early. This lets companies schedule maintenance based on data instead of reacting when issues arise. |
|
Employee training |
Human error is one of the leading causes of unplanned downtime. Regular training helps employees operate equipment correctly and helps teams know the steps to resolve issues quickly. |
|
Audit risks |
A risk audit evaluates equipment and processes to find areas to improve or replace. For example, a company that identifies outdated equipment can replace it with better-performing technology. An audit can also surface workflow inefficiencies, such as opportunities to automate system diagnostics or incident monitoring. |
|
Backup systems |
Backup systems 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
Proactive strategies such as preventive maintenance, employee training, and regular risk audits help organizations reduce costly disruptions and keep operations running smoothly.
PagerDuty’s incident management platform helps teams detect issues early, route alerts to the right responders, and automate diagnostics to resolve incidents faster. See how it works with a 14-day free trial.