As a small, medium or large business, you’re going to need to have broadband, that’s obvious. Every business needs to make sure that they have broadband in a time where it is so crucial. If you don’t have it, you can be engulfed and left behind by your competitors; especially for a small business, this can spell the end of your enterprise.
It’s evident that broadband for small businesses is an important feature but why do you need it and what do you actually need?
Broadband for small businesses: Why your business needs to stay connected
For a small business – any business, for that matter – it’s important that you’re online. Some businesses inevitably don’t value the importance and occasionally this doesn’t impact them in the slightest but certainly in most cases it’s important that you’re online for multiple reasons. Here’s just a few of the reasons why broadband for small businesses is important:
- Interconnectivity business-wide
When somebody’s out the office, it’s a pain. When you don’t need to get in touch with them for something particularly important, it feels daft to call; when you need to keep them updated without internet, it’s hard. With broadband, you can use lots of different web applications, local applications and VoIP to keep in touch at all times. When everybody has access to the internet, it’s much easier to stay in touch with each other. Not only is it much easier, but it’s crucial to keep each other constantly updated too.
- Web Applications
No matter what your business provides, it’s likely that you’re going to need to create some content on your computers at one point. For example, a slideshow or a word document. As a small business, however, spending a large amount of money for something such as the Microsoft Office can be seen as a waste of money. If you have access to the internet, there’s multiple web applications – such as Google Docs, Sheets and Slides – that can do the same thing for you; the benefit of these web applications is that they’re usually free! Whilst this is just one example of web applications that can be extremely useful to your business, it’s an important one: broadband can save you huge amounts of money in different areas.
- Social Media
With nearly 2.5 billion social network users worldwide, there’s lots of potential for your business by having profiles on platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Without broadband, it’s going to be a lot harder for your business to keep these accounts updated in the work day; even more so when it’s important to update these accounts multiple times per day! With social media accounts regularly updated, your business can potentially be making ten times – if not more – the money that you are now without social media accounts.
Broadband for small businesses: What do you actually need?
For your business, you don’t have to have some spectacular connection. There’s no need to pay for Virgin’s premium superfast broadband: you only need to go for a basic package so that you’re connected to the internet as much as possible. Fortunately, basic packages are available for relatively cheap now compared to when broadband first became a possibility for businesses. This means that even as a small business, constantly being connected to the internet can be cheap.
If you live in an area that doesn’t have sufficient options for connecting to the internet (such as an area that isn’t supplied by BT or Virgin), Line of Sight broadband is an option for your business. Line of Sight broadband is literally that: Line of sight. This means that your business premises need to be visible from the mast that’s providing the connection to the broadband. This allows you to have fast broadband in areas that wouldn’t normally be able to have that speed. Another bonus is that line of sight broadband doesn’t break the bank, either!
This article was written by Rebecca Fearn with useful information from OptionBox. Rebecca is a Yorkshire lass who loves eating great food in amazing places.