TROUBLESHOOTING EMAIL PROBLEMS COSTS COMPANIES OVER $1 MILLION ANNUALLY
Survey Reveals Cost of Troubleshooting Is More than Double the Cost of Downtime
Fremont, CA - December 7, 2005 – A study conducted by Osterman Research and sponsored by Zenprise, Inc. revealed that companies with greater than 5000 employees are spending over $1 million annually to troubleshoot email problems. The study also found that the average cost of troubleshooting email problems is more than twice the cost of email downtime, and that each problem takes approximately three hours to resolve on average.
The Osterman Research study, entitled "Email Troubleshooting: The Cost and Impact to the Enterprise", provides an analysis of the time and cost spent diagnosing and resolving email problems. It takes into account both the productivity cost of email downtime and the organizational costs incurred in resolving email issues. The study was conducted in November 2005 with 100 enterprise IT and email administrator participants. A copy of the report is available at www.zenprise.com/news/presskit.aspx.
"It's no surprise that downtime can be a significant expense for a company, but most companies do not know the true costs of troubleshooting email problems because they're spread across multiple departments," said Michael Osterman, Principal, Osterman Research. "It's clear that companies need to look for solutions that help them quickly and cost effectively troubleshoot email problems."
Email downtime certainly impacts communication, but for many companies it also affects key business processes. Survey data indicates that, for a company of 5000 employees, the average cost of email downtime is over $500,000 annually in lost productivity alone. Troubleshooting email problems is even more costly, estimated at over $1,000,000 annually.
Survey results further showed that troubleshooting email problems is time consuming and often involves multiple departments to resolve problems:
- The average time spent solving an email problem is 2 hours and 47 minutes
- Approximately 75 minutes is spent determining the cause of the email problem
- 47% of respondents say that troubleshooting an email problem involves four or more departments
- Over 60% of the cost of troubleshooting email problems comes from departments other than the email administration team
Zenprise, Inc. has developed a product that delivers real-time, automated diagnosis and resolution of problems across the Microsoft Exchange environment. "By automating email problem diagnosis and resolution, Zenprise removes the pain and expense of supporting and maintaining email infrastructure," said Ahmed Datoo, VP of Marketing, Zenprise. "Our customers automatically receive detailed resolutions to their email problems in real time — and sometimes even before any symptoms appear — thereby enabling faster repair times and reduced support costs."
About Osterman Research
Osterman Research, Inc. provides market research, cost modeling, benchmarking and related services to vendors of technology-based products and services.
We help vendors, IT departments and other organizations make better decisions through the acquisition and application of relevant, accurate and timely data on markets, market trends, products and technologies. We also help vendors of technology-oriented products and services to understand the needs of their current and prospective customers. Part of what makes us unique is our market research panel: a large and growing group of IT professionals and end-users around the world with whom we conduct our research surveys. This allows us to conduct surveys quickly and accurately.
About Zenprise
Zenprise provides service-management software that delivers real-time, automated diagnosis and resolution of problems across the Microsoft Exchange environment. Founded in 2003, Zenprise is headquartered in Fremont, California and is privately held with funding from investors Bay Partners, Mayfield, and Shasta Ventures. Zenprise's executive and product teams bring enterprise software experience from companies such as Mercury, EDS, Zambeel, Bay Networks, and Loudcloud. For more information, go to www.zenprise.com.