Spyware will cost the average SMB with 50 users some $4,726 per year.According to a recent Computing Technology Industry Association survey, more than one-quarter—26 percent—of PC users at small- and medium-size businesses reported their productivity was affected by a spyware infection in the last six months. Of those that said they had been hit by a spyware event (including unwilling changes to their home page, disruptive pop-ups and new search bars appearing in their browser), more than one-third reported multiple infections.
The study’s conclusion is that SMBs suffer real and costly effects from spyware infections, network downtime and other common IT problems. Assuming an SMB with 50 employees working at an average cost of $27.50 per hour and IT repairs of between $75 to $100 per hour, spyware infections cost the average SMB $8,239 per year, including nearly $4,000 in lost employee productivity during the infection and approximately $1,200 in lost employee productivity during repair time.
Click here for a slideshow that drills down into the details of how CompTIA came to these productivity-loss estimates.
Network downtime, meanwhile, cost the average SMB $4,726 per year, according to the survey, with nearly $4,000 in lost user productivity and a little over $800 in IT labor cost to repair the problem. SMBs that used managed services for network/server monitoring saved 50 percent on average due to shorter repair times and downtime.
In the worst cases, infected users experienced 10 or more spyware incidents during the previous six-month period, according to the survey. The average infected user spent 18 work hours dealing with the spyware problem, significantly impacting productivity, before it was finally repaired. Many affected users live with the spyware-related problem—or attempt to fix it themselves—for a day or more before seeking help.
That’s the problem. SMB PC users experienced a 21 percent reduction in productivity on average the first day they noticed a spyware problem, according to the survey. At the worst of the infection, users reported a 32 percent reduction in productivity. Spyware repairs—when they finally occurred—took two to three hours on average.
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Despite that survey data from SMB PC users, another CompTIA survey reported that IT managers at SMBs (defined as companies with fewer than 200 PC users) perceived the spyware problem as much less severe. Most respondents reported only 4.5 incidents per 100 users, roughly one-tenth what the end users themselves reported.
Why the big disconnect between SMB users’ spyware experiences and IT managers’ perceptions of same? The CompTIA study authors speculate the stigma surrounding spyware is one factor. Many users are embarrassed to have fallen victim to this problem and most at least attempt to fix the problem themselves. Many wait to seek help from the help desk, which adds to the drag on productivity.
CompTIA commissioned Kotler Marketing Group to do the two surveys to help MSPs (managed service providers) better quantify the value proposition for managed IT services to the SMB sector. The surveys aimed to understand the frequency and cost of common SMB IT problems including spyware, viruses and server/network downtime to help MSPs make the case for the return on investment for their services.
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Most SMB IT managers had dealt with at least one network device or server going down for at least one hour during the previous year. The most common source of network problems were router/firewalls—44 percent—and primary network servers—37 percent, according to the CompTIA survey.
Not surprisingly, SMB computer users rated their productivity during PC and network downtime as significantly decreased—at a rate that averaged nearly 50 percent during the first hour, nearly 60 percent during the next two to three hours and nearly 70 percent during any additional hours.
Network downtime hit users in the professional services and financial services areas particularly hard, at roughly 64 percent for each. Design, engineering and marketing consultants were among the job titles most affected by network downtime at nearly 78 percent, while back office and operations personnel in the financial services industry were also significantly affected, at 69 percent.
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Network servers and devices that went down took almost 100 percent longer on average to repair when they were not covered by a remote monitoring service, according to the survey. As a result, end users experienced network downtime 88 percent longer on average when the network server or device was not covered by a remote monitoring service, helping to make the case for remote monitoring services.
