The only way for a business to stay in the market over a longer period of time is to constantly work on its growth. Only a couple of decades ago, this required a lot of financial investment, as growing internationally presented different types of costs for a business. The main problem that showed up was connectivity.
Luckily, as technology has evolved, being able to communicate was the first challenge that was tackled, and connectivity has allowed businesses to work together as a seamless unit, despite the fact that people working together can be thousands of miles away from each other.
Even though this has allowed businesses to grow more easily without facing huge expenses, not all of the service providers are equally secure and stable. Additionally, as an increasing number of businesses are relying on technology, the quality of service has become very important, as any problems with the preset network can result in a huge financial loss.
Let’s take a look at how important of a role uptime plays, and why investing in a better service provider will bring better results.
Communication
The reliability of communication is of great importance for every business. Imagine a business comprised of several teams throughout different geographical locations. As the teams are working on a project together, having a communication channel open at all times is necessary for progress. Without it, any problem they come across would take a lot of time to solve, as correspondence channels such as email are not exactly the fastest and most efficient ways to communicate.
This is why many businesses use VoIP service providers with secure networks that are always online and specially made for business purposes. As communication is important now more than ever, using a provider that ensures maximal uptime is necessary for maximal productivity. A provider with an unstable network can lead to slower productivity.
Beside the in-house business communication, many businesses employ this technology in marketing and customer support purposes. This is another business process in which a stable VoIP network is necessary for offering the best service possible.
Company workflow
Even though there are plenty of public software tools useful for business globally, setting up one in-house is a choice many go with due to security reasons. Private networks provide businesses with complete privacy and security that ensures all of the crucial data remains in the business’s ownership.
However, picking the right provider for setting up intranet is a task not to be taken lightly. Uptime also plays an important role in setting up a system like this, as it can greatly impede a company’s performance. Here are a few examples that showcase the importance of intranet uptime:
Collaboration – Teams working together require continuous intranet uptime, as plenty of processes are worked on in unison. There are plenty of scenarios in which this type of approach significantly speeds up time needed for project accomplishment.Collaboration is a necessity in the business world of today, and working on an unstable system can negatively impact the overall productivity.
Document sharing – Businesses have an abundance of documentation that should be accessible to all the employees at all times. Whereas documentation is not always needed, there are times when it is crucial for speeding up a project. This is why a cloud system should be on a intranet that is stable and always up and running.On the other hand, there is always new information that should be added to the centralised knowledge base, or documentation that employees want to send to each other. All this makes it necessary for the system to always be working, as any downtime will impede workflow, increasing the time needed for project accomplishment.
A stable knowledge base – Knowledge base tools are ways of keeping the business efficient, effective and more productive. Hosting such a software tool on an intranet requires speed, reliability and security. Also, this type of tool can be used for different purposes such as project management, which heavily relies on a system’s stability.With a stable system, a knowledge base can grow to become a very important part of a company that should always be accessible to higher management and employees. This is where bad uptime can make the system less effective.
These are only some of the examples of how important the uptime of an intranet is. A company should work on a system that is always online. The importance can be compared to that of a bridge. As long it is standing everything is fine, but in case it collapses, you will immediately experience a loss.
To make sure that your intranet’s uptime is impressive, make sure to work with businesses that have plenty of experience with this type of service.
Financial loss
Why does it all matter? Well, all of the problems that might occur with unstable technology comes down to financial loss. Imagine heavily relying on a VoIP or data system that goes offline every week for one hour, when it matters the most. It makes it impossible for wide range of employees to finish their tasks and move on to others. While this might not be tragical for a small business, the higher it scales, the more damage is being done.
Look at this from another perspective, you are paying an employee, no matter if the communication or data system is working or not. If the system is down, productivity drops, as employees cannot finish their tasks and you, as the business owner, are wasting money every single minute the system is down.
When you have two employees, this might not be a serious issue, but what if you have 200 employees? A single minute of downtime turns into hours of wasted money. To avoid these losses from happening, it is a better solution to work with service providers that guarantee high network uptime.
If you are thinking about creating a business datacenter infrastructure, VoIP system or intranet, one of the first things you should think about is the uptime. Do your research well and always work with a service provider that successfully delivers a high system uptime.
In business these days it’s necessary to have a reliable internet connection. Your business and its internet connection are complementary. The kind of internet connection you need depends on what kind of business you have.
It goes without saying that if you’re a one man band who does minimal online work a Fibre service of 100Mbps would be overkill. Conversely, running an online film editing company on a 4G service would be equally preposterous.
So what is the best kind of internet connection for your business?
ADSL2+ & NBN
Whilst ADSL & NBN are cost effective it can actually end up costing you a lot more than you bargained for in lost productivity and downtime.
Both of these services are deemed “consumer” and don’t carry the same level of service assurance that true business ethernet and fibre services come with.
What do we mean by service assurance?
Service Assurance relates to how quickly your service runs, how quickly will the provider respond in the event of a problem, how quickly will a problem be fixed and if you will receive a rebate if your service isn’t running properly or is down.
Will I get the full speed on ADSL and NBN?
Both ADSL and NBN are speeds “up to” services. This means that whilst you may order a 25/5Mbps NBN service, it may only perform at 18/3Mbps. Similarly, ADSL theoretical maximum is 24/1Mbps, but rarely performs at full speed. This is due to a number of factors, mainly, the underlying technology of the copper network, distance from the exchange or node and network contention ratios.
If you run a small team or a business where an “always on” internet connection isn’t important, then an ADSL or NBN service may be suitable for your business.
If the internet is super important to your business operations, a Fibre or Ethernet Internet service is more suitable.
Ethernet and Fibre Internet
This is the most common type of connection that we provide at Summit. Fibre and ethernet internet services scale from small businesses all the way up to large enterprises. If you use cloud services like Office 365 and Google Apps, have multiple offices with a VPN, do a lot of video conferencing, need a dedicated internet service to upload or store files on cloud-based storage services or just need guaranteed speeds, then Fibre is the service for you.
Ethernet and Fibre services also have “symmetrical” speeds, meaning they have the same download and upload rates. The other reason businesses choose Ethernet and Fibre services is that they aren’t “best effort.” They’re guaranteed to be stable at the given speed, so if you’re on the 100/100Mbps plan, then that is what you get – 100Mbps download and 100Mbps upload.
Business Fibre and Ethernet services also carry Business Service Level Agreements which guarantee performance, uptime and fault restoration. In the unlikely event of an issue, you may be eligible for a percentage of your monthly fee as a service level credit.
Fixed Wireless
Fixed Wireless is a service which uses microwave point-to-point wireless connections from the supplier tower or basestation to your premises. Some businesses, especially in remote areas, cannot always get a dedicated fibre service. In this instance, Fixed Wireless is a good solution because it is also a symmetrical service that allows you be on the same upload and download with no issues. Fixed Wireless is also a good option as a failover service as it can serve as a good backup to keep your business running smoothly if you have complications with your wired service.
Telstra 4G Mobile Broadband Data
Telstra 4G Mobile Broadband is great for businesses that are on the go or have staff that need network access when offsite. However, the service transmits through the Telstra 4G mobile towers, so there can be complications when users are not in mobile range. Most connections these days run through 4G technology that sometimes gets even better speeds than fixed services. This type of connection is useful for pop up shops, very small businesses who need a very small amount of data or as a contingency plan.
As you can see, there are benefits and drawbacks to each type of data service. If your business doesn’t rely heavily on the internet, a 100Mbps Ethernet connection would be of little use, while a slower connection would be a problem if you do a lot of teleconferencing. Determining why you need your data connection will help steer you in the right direction when it comes time to choose which type to go with.
In business, moving office can be a stressful time. No matter how much planning you seem to put in to moving office, there’s always something which is forgotten or which goes disastrously wrong.
One of the cries for help we often receive is when our customers have forgotten to order telephones or internet and have either moved in or are days away from moving office. In an age where we’re all connected and rely on phones and internet to keep our businesses running, it’s a bit of a show stopper to any business move when you’re not able to communicate with the outside world.
Let Summit take the stress out of moving! We’re experts in Internet relocation and Phone relocation. Our project team will work with you every step of the way, from pre-qualifying your prospective offices when you’re looking to move, right through to making sure you’re online with fibre internet and our hosted phone system before you move in.
Make sure you’ve allowed enough space for your current staff + your growth plans of at least 20%! There’s nothing worse than having to do it all again in 12 months.
Plan, check your plans, re-plan and then execute!
If you’re thinking of moving, make sure you reach out to our team so that we can take the pain out of moving office for your telecommunications needs.
More and more companies are moving to the cloud. With business applications being online and more accessible, how are you ensuring that your business is always online to avoid costly downtime?
Thinking about your business, what online applications are you using?
Accounting – Xero, Quickbooks, MYOB and Microsoft Dynamics
Email & Collaboration – Microsoft Office 365, Google Apps for Work, Skype for Business, Google Hangouts
Online Meetings – GoToMeeting, Webex, Zoom and Skype for Business
ERP – Pronto, Microsoft Dynamics, Netsuite, SAP Business One, Sage and MYOB EXO
How are you protecting your business connectivity from downtime? Many businesses I speak to have not thought about their connectivity to their core business systems. The cost of not having good connectivity for both a primary and backup could cost your business tens of thousands of dollars.
Having a 4G Internet Failover greatly reduces the impact on a business in the event of a primary failure and is a cost-effective way to maintain connectivity in the event of a failure.
If you’d like to get serious about your Business Internet Service then the Team at Summit Internet would love to help you design and deploy a fast and reliable data solution for your business.
As part of our ongoing commitment to our Customers, Resellers and Wholesale Partners, Summit has successfully completed the addition of a new Point of Presence at NextDC’s B1 Datacentre.
Using the latest in Cisco Routing and Extreme Networks Switching, we have capacity for over 100Gbps of network capacity in Queensland.
The addition of Brisbane takes Summit Internet to a total of 5 Datacentres on the East Coast of Australia. Two Melbourne Datacentres, NextDC M1 & Equinix ME1, and two Sydney Datacentres, NextDC S1 & Equinix SY3.
Queensland is a market which we are committed to servicing with our world-class MPLS network providing high-speed Fibre Internet, Secure Private Data Networks, Voice over IP and IP Transit.
Summit connects to all major carriers in Queensland including Telstra Wholesale, AAPT, TPG, Pipe Networks and Vocus as well as local carrier, Nexium, which gives us reach to services in Far North Queensland via the Nexium Fibre and Fixed Wireless network.
