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High-speed business internet provides a specific connection to your workplace and helps to run your business smoothly. In general, it comes with faster download and upload speeds, more features, and a team that is dedicated to keeping your service up and running. When the internet goes down for your neighbors, your provider guarantees your connection and your business will be unaffected.
This kind of service can be costly. Avoiding the expense when your company needs the upgrade, however, is even more costly.
It’s time to take a look at your set-up and decide if business internet is a necessity for your organization.
1. You can’t afford to lose your connection with your customers, your payment centers, and your employees
If your business is especially small–for instance, you’re a freelance content editor, writer, or bookkeeper–you probably don’t need to upgrade to a business internet. Selling through Etsy? Let them take care of the orders through their provider.
If this is the case, you can probably just make do with a good high-speed service. Make sure you really do have quality service, however, and upgrade to a faster plan if you don’t have what you need to keep running your company.
If you’re a larger organisation that takes online payments, you should take advantage of business internet.
According to Appdynamics.com, “application performance issues can impact more than revenue, your brand might take a substantial hit as well. Hundreds, thousands of potential customers could take to Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, the App Store and voice their complaints and give poor reviews simply because your app crashed, stalled, or they weren’t able to successfully check out.”
If you have connectivity problems, your customers will trickle out through the hole the outage caused. They’ll search for their needs on other sites, and perhaps never return to yours. In an age where the public is used to instantaneous everything, they’re not going to wait around until your internet is up and running again. And like the study showed, they’ll also complain about your company and cost you future customers.
But just how much initial revenue are you losing anyway? Besides the lost customers and future profits. According to the same study, the “True Cost of Downtown” averages between $8,580 – $686,250 per hour, depending on the size of your business.
2. You need a professional, knowledgeable team
Generally, business internet customer service representatives really know their stuff. They’re more tech savvy and aren’t reading from some kind of call-center script, without really knowing what they’re talking about. Business internet has more advanced features, so you’ll be in touch with your provider’s more advanced crew.
Business internet at Utah Broadband is particularly user friendly because not only is their staff made up of experts in the field, but they’re also all local. As a neighborhood provider, if you’re lucky enough to live in Utah, when you call them you’re connected right to their office and not some off-shore call center.
3. You need advanced features
This table is from howtogeek.com. Basically, you’ll see that with business internet, you get more secure internet, guaranteed service, and heavier customer service.
Also according to howtogeek.com, “business accounts are more likely to offer features like static IP addresses (important if you’re running any kind of internet-connected server or you’re telecommuting and your company requires a static IP for connecting). Some ISPs also offer additional features for business plans, like a domain name and space for building your own website or running an email server.”
We know it’s difficult to balance your business needs with your budget. You should be able to tell fairly easily if you need business internet for the good of your company, or whether you can make do with a high-speed home plan. Talk to your provider if you have any questions.
As your business grows, make sure you have the resources in place to keep your company running and bringing in a profit. Even if you’re not there yet, it’s likely you’ll need a professional business internet service sometime in the future.
Good luck!
You may also like: Fibre Optic Internet: Why Your Business Needs it?
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