The financial fallout of getting IT change wrong

The tale of financial damage from IT change going wrong has existed as long as business computers and their networks have.

But in today’s climate, it’s never been stronger or riskier.

IT infrastructure is larger and more complex, and while systems are more agile, change has to take place faster and is harder to oversee.

And the greatest financial risk comes from rushed change.

Research has revealed that the average cost of unplanned downtime is over $14,000 per minute, with this figure rising to nearly $24,000 for large enterprises.

Of course, these costs vary depending on factors like the sector and the company’s internal environment.

But the root causes of unplanned downtime are all too familiar.

The reality is most outages and audit failures come from unmanaged change – this could be a routine system upgrade before a support period ends or a configuration issue that has gone unnoticed.

But modernization should be driven by ongoing control and visibility of systems, not by upcoming deadlines.

So, what is the cost of unmanaged change and an IT incident? And how can companies make risk visible? The costs of untracked and rushed change Unplanned downtime can lead to companies racking up some high immediate costs.

Financial services firms can see between $5-7 million in costs per hour, as trading halts and transactions fail.

Retailers face lost sales and cart abandonment, while manufacturing companies can suffer from production stoppage and supply chain disruption.

Yet it’s not only the immediate financial damage organizations have to consider: these incidents trigger reputational damage and operational waste, as well as the potential for regulatory fines.

But really, these costs all come from untracked and rushed change, be it to deal with a looming end-of-support deadline or to respond to an incident of unmanaged change when staff have implemented ‘fixes’ without following the proper change process.