The continuous problem of unsolicited
emails, faxes and computer viruses is
hitting the pockets of small businesses
across the country. Almost a quarter of
SME’s surveyed by the Bank of Scotland
said that computer viruses had brought a
significant impact on their finances.
The
potential damage a virus can cause
ranges from minor data loss to serious
damage to your entire network; yet many
small businesses are still relatively
unprepared for a virus attack.
Although less of an outright risk than
viruses, spam emails are also a drain on
business resources; with 22% of
businesses surveyed stating that junk
emails cost them over £500 a year, and
5% stating it costs them up to £12,500 a
year.
This is easy to see when you consider
the cost of employee time to deal with
spam:
If you pay your employees £6 an hour,
and it takes them 10 minutes a day to
deal with (I.e.: delete) spam/junk
emails; then it costs you £1 a day per
employee. This works out at £240 a year
(assuming 240 working days a year); if
you have 10 employees then it is costing
£2400 a year just dealing with unwanted
e-mails.
It is clear that small businesses are
those suffering most from the effects of
spam emails.
Unwanted faxes are also a nuisance, but
much less so than viruses and emails;
particularly as you can sign up freely
for the Fax Preference Service,
preventing unsolicited faxes.
Find out more about Keeping Your
Business Computers Safe in our new
article here.
Find out more about IT and your business
from our Internet and Technology portal
here.
