In this blog I discuss why it’s important to choose a connectivity solution that meets the needs of your business today and in the future.
The connectivity solution that you choose needs to meet the needs of your business today and in the future. For example, when the economy starts to improve you may find yourself in a position where you want to hire more staff. This in turn will have a dramatic impact on your communications and bandwidth needs.
Many businesses still possess their own servers for file storage and emails. However, the majority of these servers will eventually come to the end of their natural life, meaning they probably won’t have enough power to run the industry’s latest software, or be able to support growing staff numbers. If you do still have your own server, when was the last time they were backed up and what would happen if you lost the data stored on them? To ensure this never becomes a problem it would be wise to move your services into the Cloud; which will also have direct implications on your bandwidth needs.
VoIP
In order to reduce operational costs, you may also want to consider moving away from traditional voice solutions and utilise voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services. To ensure VoIP works reliably for your business you should consider moving away from using a low-grade or residential ADSL connection. Although standard ADSL connections are pretty good for standard services, having bandwidth that minimises delays – available through a dedicated business provider – is extremely important if you are to maximise VoIP’s potential. This is why choosing the correct product is so important.
When searching for your solution, the price difference between standard ADSL solutions and more professional alternatives can seem overwhelming. But it’s important to look at these price differences in context. For example, when looking at service level agreements (SLAs), you should look at the possible duration of downtime in case of a technical failure. Ultimately, extended downtime can seriously harm your business as well as create an unhappy customer base. So, looking at the larger picture: is it really worth going for the cheap connectivity option?
Moving your telephone services to VoIP should enable your business to achieve significant cost savings. Therefore, the initial expense of purchasing the correct data connectivity solution will pale into significance when analysed against the overall savings you’ll make.
It can be difficult in the current economic climate to justify the purchase of a new service but the key is to speak to an honest business provider that will help make the decision a little bit easier.