Since the advent of the Internet, there is almost a daily increase on the reliance of all of our lives on the Internet. The Internet is barely fifty years old, but we all rely on it like a wizardry godfather of guidance, you definitely would have asked the Internet for guidance on issues like how to make a meal, what school to attend, where to buy an item, and everything in between. Good news is that our businesses are not left out in this dependence, 80% of all business rely on some kind of Internet connection to remain functional, some rely more than others. Thought, it seems like that number would realistically be higher than 80%. If your business relies greatly on the Internet to function efficiently and effectively, here’s a salient preposition to consider making your business more efficient.
Most businesses rely on an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and high-speed business Internet to make your business function properly. Since Internet is important to the functionality of your business, having a little downtime may prove costly. Customers are more often than not at the upper end of insatiability log, and a simple failure in connectivity might prove more than a bargain.
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.
If you think about that, you’ll do things differently”
– Warren Buffet
Like a wrestling championship match, the slightest loss of focus might prove more costly than a few kicks to a wrestler who has trained so long and hard for the match up. Our businesses are much similar in this retrospect, we ‘train’ so hard to build a strong business, and a little loss of Internet connectivity might be a little costlier than expected. Having a secondary ISP (redundancy) is more than an ‘insurance cover’ against a potential loss of customers. Although in larger business environments, the proposition of a secondary ISP ‘that you may never use’ might not be well received by financial departments, but in reality: ‘that you may never use’ is more a myth than a fact, as shown in past outages by even leading ISPs. Moles can eat up fiber cables and fiber cuts are all too common, ISPs can have internal connection issues or equipment failure, weather conditions can cause adverse effects, construction work or workers may destroy wires unintentionally, routine payment checks performed by ISPs on clients’ accounts may also lead to temporary down time, the possibilities are simply a question of when not if.
Having unprecedented network downtime once every few months is almost inevitable, this could mean inability to send important emails, run cloud-based applications, video call, access and work on data, process orders, and perform other important functions, and in the long run the unwitting loss of productivity and an inadvertent loss of customers. Let’s not forget about missing out on new business while experiencing an outage.
Here are a few reasons why you should get a secondary ISP for your business Internet redundancy.
PREMIUM FLEXIBILITY
Over reliance of anyone or anything is not beneficial for any business. In retrospect, just as you wouldn’t risk your business relying on a single person to function properly, you shouldn’t also risk your business relying on one Internet provider. A secondary ISP is thus quintessential for any good business to function. You may use a failover redundancy plan (setup with an advanced or a business-class firewall) that enables your secondary ISP to automatically takes over Internet supply when your first or primary ISP goes off, saving you a lot of productivity. You may also use a load-balancing redundancy plan which allows your business to optimize both your primary and secondary ISPs at the same time in say, a ratio of 80% to 20% depending on which connection is best at the time and how strong your primary ISP is at the time. Load-balancing backup business internet may prove to be of the essence to businesses that have to input a lot of data and where customer user face is high, leaving you with no worries when your primary network server becomes loaded or slowed down.
Whether you choose a fail-over or a load-balancing secondary ISP, be sure NOT to use the same supplier nor the same type of ISP. If your primary business Internet source uses fiber or cable connections, do not use a fiber supplier or type as your secondary business Internet source, a wireless connection should suffice, (fixed) wireless connection do not run on the same wires that cable and fiber connections run on, a spontaneous down time for both connections (primary and secondary) is not on the cards. This would offer premium flexibility to your business while keeping your reputation to your customers. To put it simply, if you have fiber as your main Internet connection at your office, choose an alternate method of Internet as your secondary or backup internet business connection, such as fixed wireless, cable or LTE.
CUSTOMER CARE LEVERAGE
Your business relies greatly on customer satisfaction to flourish, satisfying them should also be at the top of any business scale of preference. Having a backup ISP for your business Internet will ensure that your customers are satisfied at every and any possible time, owing to the fact that you are covered in the event of any downtime.
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”
– Bill Gates
Knowing that a downtime would potentially dissatisfy your clients, this gives you a leverage, a slight advantage over your competitors in your business niche who may not have a secondary ISP, as your business becomes totally alien to network downtime, inaccessible portals and delayed e-mails. You know that anti-climax feeling you get when you experience a power outage while watching an interesting movie or making dinner, well, while you almost always go back to the movie maybe not the meal, but with customers, this certainty does not exist, and you will likely avoid such scenarios with a backup ISP and seamlessly continue business.
SAVE COST
On the surface, securing a secondary ISP can prove an expense, this may be true, but considering the amount of money it can save your business, it should be less viewed in the light of an expenditure. IHS Market Estimates showed that North American companies lose up to $700 billion a year from network downtimes, with small scale and medium scale business potentially losing $1 million and large-scale business losing up to $60 million annually. At our nationwide ISP Metro Wireless, we save you all the hassle of potentially losing money or clients, by providing the most budget-friendly secondary ISPs. We can all agree that even the largest of ISPs have been in the news with nationwide outages, it is a reality. A small backup business internet circuit will surely save your business money in the end.
DATA SECURITY
Security of data is very important to a lot of businesses; you don’t want your business data or customer data tapped over the net. Most secondary ISPs offer this luxury, keeping all information safe and secured until your primary ISP is back.
SUSTAINED PRODUCTIVITY
Knowing a sure fact that every ISP at some point, experiences downtime or outages, to varying degrees (but all surely do). Redundancy helps you cover the cost when your primary ISP is down, so you aren’t down and out! This could save you from losing productivity and in turn losing money and your resources. This way, Internet will always remain your asset and never your liability.
PROFESSIONALISM
When your potential customer is unable to contact you via email or your live support chat that requires an Internet connection, the customer gets an impression that you are unprofessional and hence they can lose interest in your product and services and would switch to your competitor. It is important for current and new customers to be able to successfully reach your business.
INSURED BUSINESS INTERNET
While many insurance schemes might come at pricey costs, ensuring your Internet connection is relatively cheap, at the moment, much cheaper than they have ever been. So, this insurance scheme is rather utilized than imagined, and pros certainly outweigh the cons. Some businesses might only be able to afford cheaper and slower secondary ISPs, but that is fine, at least it keeps your business Internet up and running until your primary Internet provider resolves whatever the issue may be. By the way, your customers love to feel secured, and they get just that.
“Customers loves certainty, make sure you give it to them”
– Amit Kalantri
AVOID STREES
In the event of an outage, reconnection might bring a lot of stress and difficulties particularly in businesses with a lot of employees who have to get back on track. There may be more associated stress for customers, patients checking in and out would be stalled, customer care or call center services, logistics and other services would also be stalled.
For so many reasons, getting a secondary Internet service provider will keep your business secure, up and running, insured against unforeseen circumstances, reduce down time, eliminate loss of revenue and keep your user face and customer service satisfied. You should get a secondary ISP now for redundancy, and Metro Wireless is here to help you stay connected!