24 hours of IT downtime do not automatically mean 24 lost working hours per person. What matters is which business processes stop, what can be caught up later and which extra costs actually arise. A flat “cost per hour of downtime” hides these differences. The following calculation is explicitly fictional and demonstrates a method, not a DAXS measurement or market statistic.
A tested recovery path reduces technical uncertainty. To set economic priorities, the business also needs to identify the affected process, its dependencies and the effects of different outage durations. That is the purpose of a business impact analysis. The question here is narrower: what does one specific 24-hour outage cost under disclosed assumptions?
The scenario: one working day without order and dispatch IT
At a fictional trading business, the ERP fails at 08:00 on Tuesday and becomes usable again at 08:00 on Wednesday. That is 24 calendar hours, initially affecting one eight-hour working day. The 45 people in the affected process can use 40% of their time for other useful tasks; 60% of planned working time is blocked. The calculation is 45 × 8 × 60% = 216 blocked person-hours. This measures capacity, not yet an additional cash outflow.
The plan for that day was 100 orders. 70 are caught up after recovery. 30 are demonstrably lost. For these 30 orders, the assumed contribution margin for these orders is €180 each: revenue less the associated variable costs. Two other orders are delayed but retained, each incurring €750 in contractual extras. Whether such amounts are actually payable must be checked against the contract.
Five items, one transparent total
The calculation adds distinct consequences only. In particular, neither the full revenue of lost orders nor the normal wages of the 45 employees are added again to lost contribution margin. External assistance, premiums and express shipping count only as additional cost relative to normal operation.
| Cost category | Assumption and formula | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Lost contribution margin | 30 permanently lost orders × €180 | €5,400 |
| Contractual extras | 2 delayed but retained orders × €750 | €1,500 |
| External recovery | 10 additional hours × €130 | €1,300 |
| Catch-up work | 20 hours × €35 additional premium | €700 |
| Express shipping | 10 shipments × €25 extra charge | €250 |
| Total per event | 5,400 + 1,500 + 1,300 + 700 + €250 | €9,150 |
The 216 blocked person-hours can be valued, using an assumed fully loaded rate of €45, as €9,720 of committed capacity. This amount must not be added to the €9,150. Normal salaries continue regardless; some work is caught up later, and lost contribution margin already captures part of the financial consequence. The hours still help management: they show where a workaround or alternative task could reduce the burden.
How one event extends into three- and five-year scenarios
A multi-year view needs an explicit assumption about the number of comparable events. The following planning sketch assumes two such outages in three years and three in five years. This is neither an outage probability nor a forecast. The same order mix, prices and affected shift are held constant solely to make the calculations comparable.
| Period | Baseline | With 10 additional lost orders per event |
|---|---|---|
| Three years, two events | 2 × €9,150 = €18,300 | 2 × €10,950 = €21,900 |
| Five years, three events | 3 × €9,150 = €27,450 | 3 × €10,950 = €32,850 |
The sensitivity scenario replaces ten more recovered orders per event with ten permanently lost orders. That raises lost contribution margin by 10 × €180 = €1,800; all other items stay constant. This single assumption changes the five-year value by €5,400. Conversely, a night-time outage without an affected shift can have very different consequences from the same technical fault at month-end or before a delivery deadline. The BSI damage-analysis method therefore calls for special dates and different assessment periods to be considered.
Which figures a business should actually collect
A reliable value comes from order data and process discussions: start and end of the business-process interruption, shifts actually affected, temporary workarounds, lost versus postponed orders, their contribution margin, documented premiums, contracts, external assistance and recovery time. Also consider data currency, ability to deliver and when the backlog is truly cleared. A service may be technically reachable while processing remains hours behind.
For an investment decision,€9,150 must not automatically be booked as “avoidable with backup”. Better backup can affect recovery time and data loss, but cannot prevent every outage or eliminate all delivery consequences. Only a specifically tested recovery and continuity target lets the business compare residual losses with the cost of a measure. DAXS can work with the business department to turn process and technical data into a verifiable scenario. Contact DAXS.
Sources: BSI: consider special dates and events · BSI: document business impact analysis results · NIST SP 800-34: Contingency Planning.
