LEIGH, England, May 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

With computers revolutionising the way we work ,most modern companies rely on a variety of IT systems. But what would happen if the systems that businesses so rely on suddenly crash? Key Computers, a team of IT experts dedicated to providing reliable and cost-effective cloud computing, hosted desktop and network support, are launching an email campaign to stress the implications of data loss and the cost of server failure.

In 2000, London's stock exchange had a shocking taster of the damage that can be caused by an IT system crash. When the City's computer systems literally ground to a halt for eight agonising hours, millions of pounds in business were lost on the last day of the financial year.

Key Computers talk about the cost of server failure and how many businesses may be unaware of how much it would cost their business. The IT experts analysed research conducted by Emerson Network Provider, a leading US telecommunications service provider and data centre professionals. In a report titled 'Understanding the Cost of Data Center Downtime: An Analysis of the Financial Impact on Infrastructure Vulnerability,' Emerson Network Providers state that during an IT outage, US businesses lost an average of $5,000 (£3,300) per minute. With the average outage lasting for approximately 90 minutes, this could cost businesses around £297,000 every time a system crash occurred.

Continuing their study in Europe, the research also found that approximately 30% of European businesses do not have an official disaster recovery plan in place that would help them recover should an IT disaster occur. As a whole, server failure and data centre issues in their various guises, cost the industry in the region of £17 billion, including late delivery surcharges and additional overtime payments required to make up for the lost time - not to mention the loss of customer confidence.

With many businesses unaware of just how severe the damage caused by system crashes can be, many are equally unaware of why servers fail.

Key Computer's email campaign aims to highlight the reasons why company servers crash, including overheating, out of date security, software installation errors, out-dated operating systems and poor server management.    

With IT system crashes potentially having devastating financial consequences on businesses, it is within every company's interests to minimise such risks. Key Computers advise that the best way to achieve this is by implementing robust IT maintenance strategies, which can prove to be expensive. As many modern businesses are having to 'tighten their belts' when it comes to outgoings, cloud technology is a more cost-effective solution as it eradicates the need for server maintenance.

Key Computers was established in 1984 and manages all manner of IT requirements from supplying equipment and providing support to managing hosted environments through CloudServerPlus. By hosting a server in the cloud with CloudServerPlus businesses will be provided with a high tech and ultra-secure server for a fraction of the cost of companies managing their own IT infrastructure.  

SOURCE Key Computer Applications Ltd