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Around one in eight workplaces in the UK suffer from connectivity outages on a daily basis, with five per cent of firms experiencing multiple instances of downtime, a new study has claimed.
Research by business internet service provider Glide found that once connectivity is lost, it takes an average of 107 minutes to get reconnected.
Overall, the average worker in the UK estimates they lose almost an hour and a half every day (86 minutes) due to problems with their network, which will equate to 374 working hours being lost in total in 2019.
There could be a number of factors that contribute to this, with ISPReview.co.uk suggesting it is indicative of a lack of redundancy in many businesses, such as ensuring backup connections exist that run on a separate line from the firm's primary link.
"Simply installing an ultrafast fibre line doesn’t make your business immune to outages," the site noted. "Even the smallest businesses can have redundant connections, such as through something as simple as a 4G mobile broadband link."
Glide's survey showed Glasgow is the worst city in the UK for business connectivity, with more than a quarter of respondents (26 per cent) reporting daily issues. This was followed by Bristol (20 per cent), Southampton (18 per cent) and London (14 per cent).
The industry most affected by these issues were legal firms, with one in seven (14 per cent) claiming to lose their connection multiple times a day. Perhaps unsurprisingly, IT workers were found to be the least impacted, with 40 per cent stating their business never loses connectivity.
Ben King, chief technology officer at Glide, said: "It's shocking to see just how many hours a year workers are losing due to the internet being down. With millions of offices across the country dependent on an internet connection to run, it really is worth investing in a fast, reliable and assured network to support your business needs."
