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Reactive maintenance
Reactive maintenance is work carried out after a fault or incident. Its purpose is to restore service as quickly as practical.
Synonyms: corrective maintenance, IT support, incident resolution, remote support
Examples for small businesses
- A server stops responding. A technician connects remotely, restarts the affected services and restores data from the latest usable backup if needed.
- Someone loses access to email. The technician identifies a damaged Outlook profile and configures a new one.
- A network switch fails. The technician replaces it to restore wired access.
Common mistakes
- Relying entirely on repairs after a failure.
- Failing to document the cause, so the same fault keeps returning.
Related terms
FAQ
What are the risks of relying only on reactive maintenance?
Incidents can cause more downtime and unpredictable costs. Regular checks can prevent some failures and make others easier to handle.
How does it differ from corrective maintenance?
The terms overlap. Reactive describes when the work happens. Corrective describes fixing the fault, whether that involves hardware, software or configuration.