Inspiring Business by Sharing Success

5 Factors Show SuperFast Broadband Is An Investment Not A Cost

5 Factors Show SuperFast Broadband Is An Investment Not A Cost

I’ve had a really rewarding time helping clients that had slow broadband in “the last 5%” such as rural areas, business parks and industrial estates join the 21st century connectivity super-highway in the last 2 years. They all wanted SuperFast broadband for many different reasons, but what they all have in common is at least one of these 5 reasons motivated them to find a solution.

                                                                                                            Marcus Harrison, ASG Group

I call them the TEMPO factors:

Time

Understandably, one of the significant frustrations was how long everything took. Sending emails was often painfully slow and connecting to social media or any other online service was nigh on impossible. Even doing online shopping instead of a long commute to the nearest shops proved problematic. Many of the clients accessed broadband funding schemes that were available, and there is a subtle irony that almost all of these funding applications had to be completed online – and no, I’m not making that up!! It’s a source of amusement now they have been connected to a better service, but at the time it was a perfect illustration of the delays a poor service causes on a day to day basis.

Efficiency

This was usually pivotal in the minds of our business clients and they had struggled for years in comparison to their competitors.  Poor broadband meant it was usually quicker to have a diary to hand to take a booking or make an appointment rather than put it in an online calendar; it was easier to have a ledger or rolodex to keep customer contact details rather than an online CRM; and never mind such luxuries as online banking and accounting – off to the bank and keep your physical receipts. It almost sounds Dickensian to me having been in the technology sector for as long as I have, but it was a reality to them and probably still is a reality for many others.

Money

I can give you countless examples of reasons why poor broadband costs businesses money. Last month I visited a training company that sold courses and had to book the online test slots from the test body, which were sold on a first come, first serve basis. Frequently they could only book half the slots they needed, which meant they could double their turnover with better broadband. I’ve worked with clients that wanted to do more video conferencing because all of their large clients were in mainland Europe and it was costing a fortune in travel and accommodation just to have a meeting. I’ve also worked with B&Bs that had lost bookings because they didn’t have a decent Wi-Fi available to their residents. There are solutions for better broadband for all budgets and in all of these cases the improvement was worth the investment.

Property Value

One of the most stunning statistics I have come across in my time involved in poor broadband communities is the one from a Rightmove survey. In this survey of over 3,000 people it was said that poor broadband could wipe off as much as 20% of the value of properties!! This is NOT just manifesting itself in the residential market. I have worked with many business parks and business centres that have bitten the bullet and upgraded infrastructure at their own cost, because it is what their tenants demand and expect. And they WILL move elsewhere if they can’t get it, no matter how loyal they may be. Broadband is increasingly being see as the 4th utility now, and for many it is becoming the most important. I have worked with business centres for many years and the first question prospective tenants used to ask was “What are my call charges?”. Nowadays, it’s “How fast is my broadband?”

Opportunities

There is no doubt that poor broadband has an impact on the opportunities available to all of us. We use technology to make our lives more convenient; things like shopping online, controlling our energy usage remotely or streaming/downloading our entertainment are taken for granted by many of us. Businesses need to be on top of the latest developments, be able to communicate with their customers easily and take advantage of business efficiencies to make them stronger. All of these technologies have one thing in common; they need the baseline infrastructure to be strong enough to deliver their benefits. In the online world, this means the technology is only as good as the broadband it runs on.

All these TEMPO factors have one running theme – LOSS.

Everyone can get SuperFast broadband and there are different solutions for each budget and situation – but that’s to delve into another time. In my experience it is often the best solutions are when a group of people come together to find a solution. You are likely to find if you are having a problem then many of your neighbours are too. The greater the number of you that want to tackle a problem, the better and more cost-effective a solution is likely to be.

If you would like to explore your broadband journey together by meeting one of the team for a coffee and a chat call Marcus on 01332 419708. Email: marcus@asggroup.org.uk.  ASG Group, 14 Melbourne Court, Millennium Way, Pride Park, Derby DE24 8LZ.


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