The average IT user could be wasting at least two hours per month on network induced delays, which could total up to two to three days’ productivity lost per year, according to key findings in a Network Performance Frustration research report launched by Dimension Data.
Commissioned by Dimension Data and Datacraft Asia, the report surveyed 957 IT users and 267 IT Decision Makers (ITDMs) responsible for managing IT networks across Europe, Australia, Central and Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Africa and North America.
The Asian countries surveyed for the research include China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan.
“This figure is particularly startling when one multiplies it across an entire enterprise. In an organisation of 1000 employees, this level of lost time and productivity could be costing the enterprise tens of thousands of dollars – if not more – per year,” said Dexter Wee, General Manager of Network Infrastructure, Datacraft Asia.
The research, which was sponsored by Blue Coat Systems, showed that performance problems and delays ran across a range of services, of which the file transfers and network log-ins were the biggest performance bottlenecks. IT users are reportedly losing an average of 35 minutes per month on network log-in delay, 25 minutes per month on email, and 23 minutes per month on file transfers. Lower time delays were reported in technologies like VoIP and video, but these applications have such a low tolerance for delays that any time lapse might render them unusable.
“IT users should enjoy speedy and efficient network performance. The delays they’re encountering could be dramatically – and easily – reduced with the appropriate technology. If the user is unable to use a certain application or technology, they might well avoid using it altogether. This means that not only is the original investment negated, but the user is unable to enjoy any productivity benefit that the technology was supposed to give”, said Wee.
Despite the frequent network delays and productivity loss, around 75% of the IT users surveyed are satisfied with that their corporate network performance, even though 30% of them report frequently slow running computers and systems. This suggests a level of acceptance or a low expectation of performance by the users.
The research also revealed that over 20% of the ITDMs surveyed don’t take network performance into account when calculating Return on Investment (RoI), and a shocking 23% don’t calculate RoI at all, and thus have no clear understanding of the monetary impact that network performance can have.
“Without the ability to look at RoI, a company leaves itself open to losses and costs which cannot be quantified. What’s more, the RoI business case for performance improving technology and solutions is both compelling and easy to prove, with a typical payback period as low as seven months”, added Wee.
“Enterprises need to wake up to the fact that lost employee productivity is a substantial – yet unnecessary – drain on resources”.
“The report shows it is clear that performance optimisation technologies can afford considerable time savings across a number of areas, from file downloads to log-ins and remote access, which are the main cause of network delays and poor performance,” concludes Wee. |
