Here’s a simple question: what happens to your business when you get an internet outage?
Really, it depends on how reliant you are on being connected at all times. For some businesses, a bit of downtime is just a minor irritation. But for others, it’s a huge problem. This is for those businesses!
For those moments when you suffer those unavoidable faults, we offer a completely bespoke backup connectivity service. What does it do? It sits in waiting behind your main connection. If that fails at any point, the backup kicks in. Today we’re discussing just why it might be necessary.
The importance of connectivity
Let’s start by stating the obvious: pretty much every business in the UK relies on an internet connection. Like we said, this is obvious. But it’s worth considering just how many processes depend on it these days.
Phone calls are routed online. Video calls have been standard fare since lockdown. More and more services have moved to the cloud. It’s not just file storage now – it’s everything from payroll and billing and orders to project management tools. Point of sale (POS) systems are generally internet-based too.
We’ve barely scratched the surface, but that list covers administration, communication, accounts and sales. Or in other words, four of the most important parts of any business! Now let’s bear this in mind: no internet connection is fault-proof.
How does downtime happen?
Unfortunately, no single type of connection is completely immune from downtime. Some are more reliable than others, but outages can happen at any time, for any number of reasons beyond your control.
It could be an issue with the internet service provider. It could be the exchange or the cables. It could be extreme weather – which seems to be all too common these days!
When downtime hits, it’s all cost, no benefit. That’s true for anyone. But for some organisations it’s especially bad. You might be unable to make sales or calls or complete any number of business-critical tasks. Our backup connectivity service is there to protect your business from those costs.
Outages will happen. The question is whether you can afford the downtime that follows. A lot of organisations simply can’t, from the healthcare sector to busy contact centres. That’s why we offer a backup.
What do we mean by “backup connectivity”?
You have your main connection. That stays in place. Then we’ll create a separate backup connection. If your main connection goes down, the backup kicks in. It sounds simple, and in a way it is. But what sets us apart is our ability to tailor it to you.
How do we do that? First off, by listening to you! We’ll want to understand what you do, how big your team is, and how costly downtime is for you. That way, we can figure out what type of connection suits you best, and how we can configure it for you.
Let’s give an example. Suppose you have a dedicated leased line. This is a high-performance, highly secure connection. But is one leased line enough? Chances are, if your business needs a leased line, you need a lot of data without interruptions.
Your leased line will offer this most of the time – but as we’ve said, no single connection can guarantee 100% uptime on its own. So, if you can’t afford downtime, why put all your eggs in one basket?
We might recommend a second leased line as backup. This will get you as close to 100% uptime as possible. Or perhaps you might just need a more limited backup to keep core functions running until the fault is fixed. In that case, we can provide 4G and 5G dongles that kick in automatically, as soon as the fault occurs. We’ll always find a way that works for you. What’s important is what you get from it: higher reliability, and more peace of mind.
Is it an unnecessary expense?
Well, we’d say that downtime is an unnecessary expense! But we will always look to work within your budget and needs. If two leased lines are too much for you, we won’t recommend them.
Backup connectivity is a bit like insurance. You’re hoping for the best, but planning for the worst. Above all, what you’re paying for is peace of mind. Downtime costs a lot of money. With a backup in place, you have the assurance that you’ll avoid those costs.
How does the service work?
This is the important bit: we tailor it to you. We believe that our knowledge and service set us apart. That’s why we’re always eager to get to know our customers, in our hometown of Milton Keynes and beyond. This is how we’re able to maximise the benefit to you.
We’ll work to understand your needs, and use our expertise to meet them, from our first discussion and beyond. If you want to keep your business online, get in touch today.
