Uk Companies Urged To Tackle Escalating £1.5 Billion Computer Downtime Problem

Dec. 3, 2010 - PRLog -- NEEDWOOD – 3 DECEMBER 2010: Private and public companies in the UK will spend more than £5 billion (1) on buying in the latest computer technologies and systems by the end of 2010 – but many will fail to implement procedures in the workplace that reduce the risk of human error causing damage to their single most important business tool.

Research conducted by e-Solutions, one of the UK’s leading fraud prevention, internal audit and compliance consultancies, reveals human error accounts for 56% (2) of all total system downtime and data loss, and the financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications and healthcare sectors (3) are more at risk than any other.

Central and local government also regularly experiences significant problems in this field, many of which can be eliminated if senior managers applied a degree of foresight to develop contingency plans that deal with all likely crisis situations.

“In an age when we can perform technological feats that would have been regarded as miracles only a few years ago, today many organisations cannot answer the very basic question: who last accessed our company server – and what did they do?” said Angus Stewart, chief executive of e-Solutions.

“The problem of ensuring a company’s computer system works properly at all times is exacerbated by the increased dependency on outsourcing, offshore consultants, temporary employees and IT staff that administer technologies purchased from a number of competing suppliers.

“In my experience, this brings about a significant decrease in direct accountability.”
To tackle the problem, and avoid reputation damage and costs estimated to be in the region of more than £1 billion annually, Angus Stewart is advising IT Directors to develop a holistic view of their entire IT infrastructure. This includes developing a facility that enables them to monitor the human factor through a process known as People Auditing.

“People are a system’s greatest strength – and they are also its greatest weakness,” added Angus Stewart.

“Members of staff, particularly members of IT teams, can unwittingly create the most damaging problems that bring companies to their knees. In such circumstances, it’s important a company’s IT team can quickly get to the cause of the problem – and rectify it.

“Unfortunately, many public and private sector organisations have not made any provision to track and monitor the activities of their people, particularly in their IT teams. This omission in their planning is a serious oversight and will lead to continued problems and frustrations – unless it is rectified.

“Thorough People Auditing demonstrates that employees and partners are meeting established guidelines for information access, transaction integrity and intellectual property protection. It will also protect a business far more effectively – and that’s got to be a good thing.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Tony Yorke, media adviser, e-Solutions
Mobile: 07879 658888. Email: tony.yorke@e-solutions.uk.com

Angus Stewart, chief executive, e-Solutions
Mobile: 07967 593341. Email: angus.stewart@e-solutions.uk.com

NOTES TO EDITORS

1.       Figures quoted are supplied by the Office for National Statistics and relate to projected spend during the period January – December 2010.

2.       Research conducted by Observe IT, one of the world’s developers of People Auditing solutions for industry.

3.       Sectors identified by Observe IT.

4.       Leading corporations and institutions around the world are using ObserveIT to secure and monitor their IT server environments including: Toshiba, Xerox, Coca-Cola, GE Money, Siemens, Samsung, Nissan, BP, BNP Paribas, Vodafone & Sky.

5.       e-Solutions is recognised as one of the leading providers of compliance, internal audit and enterprise fraud detection solutions in the UK. The company’s clients include many of the high street’s biggest names in the financial services sector.          

6.       The company is based in Staffordshire, but operates throughout the UK and Europe.

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e-Solutions is one of the UK's leading enterprise fraud management, internal audit and compliance consultancies. We work with a number of leading blue chip businesses, helping them reduce the risks associated with employee fraud and identity theft.