The Ponemon Institute’s tri-annual report on the cost of data center outages was released this year. There has been a steady increase in these costs since they started doing this research in 2010. See the tables below to see the trends that have been found.
Outage Costs
|
2010 |
2013 |
2016 |
Maximum |
$1,017,746 |
$1,734,433 |
$2,409,991 |
Mean |
$505,502 |
$690,204 |
$740,357 |
Median |
$507,052 |
$627,418 |
$648,174 |
Minimum |
$38,969 |
$74,223 |
$70,512 |
Source of Costs
|
2010 |
2013 |
2016 |
Direct Costs |
38% |
35% |
36% |
Indirect Costs |
50% |
52% |
51% |
Opportunity Costs |
12% |
12% |
12% |
According to the Ponemon Institute, definitions of the above include:
Direct costs – any direct expense necessary to accomplish an activity
Indirect costs – any organizational expense (amount of time or effort) necessary to accomplish an activity
Opportunity costs – lost business as a consequence of a diminished reputation
Activity Cost Categories
|
Total |
Mean |
Median |
Minimum |
Maximum |
Third Parties |
625,401 |
9,927 |
6,970 |
1,551 |
27,600 |
Equipment |
597,114 |
9,478 |
8,865 |
1,249 |
67,783 |
Ex-post Activities |
530,964 |
8,428 |
11,566 |
- |
36,575 |
Recovery |
1,334,151 |
21,177 |
17,570 |
1,900 |
58,171 |
Detection |
1,682,856 |
26,712 |
22,813 |
877 |
69,100 |
IT Productivity |
3,898,440 |
61,880 |
56,789 |
6,994 |
125,600 |
End-user Productivity |
8,706,159 |
138,193 |
124,551 |
15,600 |
456,912 |
Lost Revenue |
13,141,737 |
208,599 |
197,500 |
26,591 |
755,810 |
Business Disruption |
16,125,669 |
255,963 |
201,550 |
15,750 |
812,440 |
Total Cost |
46,642,491 |
740,357 |
648,174 |
70,512 |
2,409,991 |
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