Poor Network Performance = Poor Productivity

Sept. 15, 2008 - PRLog -- 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.

This was one of the key findings in a Network Performance Frustration research report launched by Dimension Data, the $3.8 billion IT solutions and services provider.  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.

Dexter Wee, General Manager of Network Infrastructure, Datacraft Asia says, “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”.

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. The survey shows that IT users are 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”, says 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.

About Blue Coat
Blue Coat Systems, Inc., founded in 1996,  is a publicly-held company based in Sunnyvale, California. Blue Coat secures Web communications and accelerates business applications across the distributed enterprise. Blue Coat’s family of appliances and client-based solutions – deployed in branch offices, Internet gateways, end points, and data centers – provide intelligent points of policy-based control enabling IT organizations to optimise security and accelerate performance for all users and applications. Blue Coat has installed more than 8,000 customers worldwide and is ranked #1 by IDC in the Secure Content and Application Delivery market.

About the Dimension Data Network Performance Frustration Report
The Network Performance Frustration research was conducted from April through to June 2008 to investigate the challenges that poor network performance presents to organisations, their employees and their IT departments. The research was commissioned by Dimension Data and Datacraft Asia, sponsored by Blue Coat Systems and conducted by Datamonitor.

The report is a summary of the key findings of the research and is available for download from www.datacraft-asia.com/speedoflife.

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About Datacraft
Datacraft is the leading independent IT services and solutions company in Asia Pacific. The company helps clients plan, build, support and manage their IT infrastructures. Microsoft solutions, data centre storage and contact centre technologies, with advanced skills in consulting, training and managed services, to craft IT solutions for businesses.

A member of the Dimension Data Group, Datacraft is listed on the main board of the Singapore Exchange. Headquartered in Singapore, Datacraft operates in more than 50 major offices and has over 1,460 employees across 13 Asia Pacific markets. More information can be found at www.datacraft-asia.com.