Retail and Broadband are tied together

There\'s nothing as frustrating to a customer as innocently bringing a shirt or electronic gadget or new chef\'s apron - or whatever - up to the register for checkout, only to discover that the internet is down indefinitely. As far as that consumer knows, it may not be up again until Judgment Day, so how long are they really going to stand there with the \"Never Trust a Skinny Chef\" apron for Grandpa\'s birthday?

The answer is: not long. Your customers want to do business with you, but not at the cost of living their everyday lives. Without connectivity, you can\'t run credit cards, you can\'t do returns, you can\'t take coupons.

And if you experience an outage during a high-sales time - say, the holidays, or the weekend rush - you could lose thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Frequency of Internet Downtime
Given the high costs associated with internet downtime, you\'d think companies would make preventing it their absolute priority. According to Comm-Works, 52 percent of midsize companies will tolerate only an hour of downtime before mission-critical losses begin to pile up.

Unfortunately, according to the same source, a full 42 percent of businesses experience up to 4 hours of downtime every year, with 20 percent getting hit up to 24 hours and 4 percent losing connection for up to 72 hours. Why does this happen?

Well, the internet is a system constructed by humans and vulnerable to the whims of the planet on which we live and the other people that inhabit it. As with electricity, water, and other services, events beyond our control often step in and affect the network adversely. Traffic and construction accidents often damage the equipment and hardware needed to keep the internet up and running.

Mishaps at your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may also bleed back to you, causing downtime, as can server congestion (common at certain times of day). Mega storms, acts of nature and other severe weather take their toll too.

The internet being vulnerable to factors outside your building or business isn\'t your fault. Yet allowing this risk to continue is irresponsible, especially considering the additional side effects of internet outage.

Consequences Beyond the Register
When the internet goes out, the shockwave is felt farther abroad than simply the register. Much farther, in fact. By the time you have your connection back, you may have done damage to:

1. Time and attendance systems, meaning employees lose money or you lose track of their workflow, which can significantly reduce productivity
2. Inventory management, putting you off your reordering or shelf stocking timeline and backing up store operations
3. Loyalty programs, so even if you\'re able to sell items for cash you can\'t reward shoppers for their hard-earned dollars and cents
4. Online ordering & reservations, which is down for the count until your system is fully up and running again (Open Table, Grub Hub, Cavier)
5. Digital signage, which goes out along with internet in the majority of retail settings
   As if that\'s not bad enough, you may lose buy-in right there in your own shop or facility.

Downtime: Not Just Bad for Customer Relations
For obvious reasons, customers are displeased at finding themselves unable to pick up a quick lip gloss or loaf of bread. If they have to wait more than a few minutes, they\'ll walk away. That definitely translates to a loss of sales and, at least for some, loyalty.

It\'s worse than that, though. Downtime may also mean a loss of employee satisfaction. When your internet is down, they have to interface with angry customers. All they can do is apologize while they face the wrath of inconvenienced or downright enraged shoppers. Their willingness to bear the brunt of the company\'s problems is limited, and according to Accelerated, \"More than half of retailers see a decrease in employee productivity.\"

Moreover, Accelerated\'s recent study found that \"more than half of retailers cannot enable security systems during downtime, leaving themselves vulnerable to data breaches.\" Considering a large-scale (or even small-scale) data breach can do more damage to a brand than any amount of customer dissatisfaction, that\'s unacceptable.

Did You Know Your Business Can Prevent Downtime?
Prevent downtime by using s2s Communications, we're a managed service provider that keeps the internet on even when it goes out for everyone else.

With redundant internet connections, for example, backup cellular, s2s Communications can help ensure you never have to face customer wrath, employee apathy or brand-busting data breaches. Sound pretty good? We invite you to get in touch with us today to learn more.