Capterra Glossary
Redundancy
In a business setting, redundancy occurs when employers dismiss employees because a specific position in their workforce is no longer deemed necessary. For example, if a company buys a machine that can automatically perform the duties of an employee, that employeeʻs job would be deemed redundant.
In the tech industry, the term redundancy is used to describe the duplication of a computer component such as computer data or a computerized device to prevent it from becoming unavailable in the future. In other words, redundancy is a system design that duplicates a computer component so that if it fails, there is a reliable backup. However, redundancy can be used in a negative manner when referring to duplicating a computer component unnecessarily or due to poor planning.
What Small and Midsize Businesses Need to Know About Redundancy
Small and midsize organizations often can't afford to keep employees whose positions are deemed redundant. For example, if a small coffee shop employs a chef to bake fresh pastries every morning for their customers, but down the line decides to buy their pastries from a bakery every morning, then the chef's job is deemed redundant. In this case, the small coffee shop will likely lay off the pastry chef, as their services are no longer required.
Redundancy in computer programming is a key aspect of data security that is practiced by both large corporations and small to midsize organizations. To keep data secure, companies will often encourage employees to use redundant devices such as USBs to back up company data. This helps ensure that confidential organizational data on company computers is accessible in the case of a computer malfunction.
Related Terms
- Synchronous
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Intranet
- Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR)
- Identity and Access Management (IAM)
- Managed Service Provider (MSP)
- Haptics
- WAN (Wide-Area Network)
- Service-oriented Architecture (SOA)
- Augmented Reality (AR)
- Chief Information Officer (CIO)
- Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Service-Level Agreement (SLA)
- Scalability
- Data Center
- Authorization
- Multitenancy