Server downtime is one of the biggest challenges companies face today. It’s also one of the most preventable. With a consistent commitment to server patching, monitoring, and maintenance, organizations can stay operational and secure.
Unpatched servers pose a substantial risk for organizations of all sizes, with the potential for staggering revenue losses. In fact, the average cost of downtime for businesses can be in the six- to seven-figure range.
Read on to learn more about server patching and how it can help mitigate security and financial risk.
Key takeaways
- Unpatched servers are an enormous business risk, potentially leading to complete operational shutdowns.
- Server patching directly protects business continuity. It’s your frontline against cyber and security threats, keeping systems stable and secure.
- Proactive server patching transforms IT from a cost center to a business enabler.
- Patching also can solve performance challenges and provide productivity enhancements to keep efficiency high.
What is server patching?
Mainly synonymous with server updates, server patching is the process of applying new software updates to current operating systems, applications, and firmware. Server patches improve performance while addressing security vulnerabilities and bug fixes.
From database management and web hosting to application and file storage, modern servers today handle increasingly complex workloads. Each function depends on multiple software components that regularly require updates. A single unpatched vulnerability in any component can compromise the entire IT infrastructure's security, underscoring the need for comprehensive server patching to maintain operational integrity.
The importance of business continuity
When business operations halt—even just for a few hours—the consequences hit nearly every aspect of your organization. Lost productivity translates to missed deadlines and frustrated team members and unhappy customers. Without the ability to process transactions or access services, revenue streams can be severely impacted.
According to a recent industry report, an hour of downtime can be devastating for enterprise businesses:
- Costs rose over $100,000 for 98% of organizations.
- Costs rose by $300,000 for 81% of organizations.
- Costs rose $1-5 million for 33% of organizations.
However, the damage from downtime extends far beyond the immediate financial loss. Business disruption leads to reputational damage and customer churn, which have long-term implications for a company’s success. Downtime also leads to lost internal productivity for employees affected by the outage.
Ultimately, organizations today consider business continuity a key pillar of resilience along with disaster recovery. A strong business continuity plan lets you respond quickly to disruptions and keeps your operations on track. It protects your revenue, your team’s productivity, and the trust you’ve built with your customers.
The importance of server patching and how it helps business continuity
Servers are the foundation of many business operations. They can store data, deliver critical applications, or process transactions. They keep teams and customers connected. When servers function as they should, business flows seamlessly. Your employees can access the needed resources, effectively leverage applications that perform without hiccups, and support a consistent customer experience.
However, unpatched servers introduce numerous threats to business continuity:
- Connected endpoints. When your primary server lacks critical updates, every device connected to your network could be exposed to those vulnerabilities.
- Server downtime. Even a brief server outage costs organizations thousands or even millions of dollars. Extended downtime has a compounding effect for businesses that rely heavily on digital operations for success.
- Ongoing vulnerabilities. Exploitation of vulnerabilities is behind 34% of data breaches, and third-party involvement in breaches has doubled to 30% in the last year. Many cybercriminal organizations maintain scanning tools that continuously search for unpatched systems across the internet to quickly identify attack opportunities
- Stability issues. Without frequent patch updates, servers can experience stability issues that manifest as unexpected crashes, memory leaks, or compatibility problems. These challenges can compound over time, creating an increasingly unreliable IT environment.
The stakes of server patching are high. A poorly executed patch deployment can break critical systems, shutting down your entire organization for days.
The compliance implications are equally significant. Many industries face regulatory requirements for timely security updates, and delayed patching can result in substantial fines and loss of certifications. Healthcare organizations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), financial institutions following the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and companies adhering to Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) requirements all face severe penalties for unpatched vulnerabilities.
Every IT team faces the challenge of deploying critical patches while keeping systems online and users happy. Careful planning, thorough testing, and solid communication help your team get it right.
Keys to successful server patch implementation
Effective patch management requires a systematic approach, balancing security urgency with operational stability. Here are the essential elements to consider:
- Develop a comprehensive patching strategy: Define how you’ll evaluate patches, when you’ll deploy them, and how you’ll roll back if something goes wrong. Make sure everyone knows their role and how you’ll communicate across teams.
- Prioritize critical vulnerabilities: Not all patches are created equal. Focus on security patches that address actively exposed vulnerabilities—these are the mission-critical updates. Then, you can fix stability issues impacting business operations. Use a vulnerability scoring system like Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) to guide prioritization.
- Combine manual oversight and automated efficiency. Automation is key for speed and consistency, but a hybrid approach is often best, particularly for critical servers. Leverage automated workflows for routine, low-risk patches but retain manual control and oversight for critical server updates.
- Implement strong testing protocols. Never deploy patches directly to production servers without testing first. Create a sandbox environment that mirrors your production systems to identify potential conflicts or performance issues before they impact business operations.
- Establish server failover mechanisms. With a robust failover system, your organization can still maintain operations, even if a primary server experiences problems before or after patching. Set up load balancing to share traffic, build backup servers that can step in quickly, or consider using the cloud for extra redundancy.
- Schedule strategic maintenance windows. Plan your patch deployments during periods of minimal business impact, usually during off-hours or scheduled maintenance periods. Communicate those windows clearly to your stakeholders to ensure your staff is prepared to monitor and resolve any issues.
Successful server patch management with ConnectWise
Effective server patch management is critical for organizations today. For IT teams looking to elevate their patch management practices, ConnectWise RMM integrates seamlessly with your existing workflows to patch workstations and servers, OS and third-party applications, to help keep your end-users productive and secure.
Watch an on-demand demo of ConnectWise RMM today and secure your servers before the next vulnerability strikes.
