What are the Benefits of broadband to Business ?
Topics
Efficiency
Customer Service
Dealing With Suppliers
Summary
If your business involves accessing the web on a regular basis – for email, research, selling your goods or services, or viewing online news and financial reports – then broadband can have a major impact on your costs. Getting broadband allows you to stay ‘permanently online’, but may save you money since you are charged a single monthly fee rather than for the time you spend on the web. Rates can start at about £25 per month.
Further savings in time are just as crucial thanks to the increased speeds at which you can view and send information. While accessing the web through a normal dial-up connection can be painfully slow, with broadband you can view email attachments and websites much more quickly – and share your connection with other PCs.
New ways of communicating with your customers, suppliers and employees are also opened up. Many internet software applications that you can use to improve your business are simply not practical through a dial-up connection. With broadband, these become a realistic option.
This section sets out various ways in which firms are using broadband today to improve the way they do business.
Efficiency
• Transfer to a fast, fixed-fee internet package rather than paying per minute for a ‘narrowband’ connection.
• You can fax, surf the web, take telephone calls – all at the same time; all using the same connection (this can lead to savings on multiple line rentals using traditional connections).
• Cut down on paperwork and the time it takes you to perform tasks on the web, such as planning business travel.
• Improve employee satisfaction and performance. Using broadband for data transfer and internet research is frustration-free; studies suggest that users respond by becoming more productive.
• Receive information (email, news and business bulletins, stock quotes and updates) direct to your desktop as it is sent.
• Use broadband to set up virtual private networks (VPNs) linking branch offices and off-site workers.
• Present your business in a positive light by using new technology to improve internal efficiency and customer service.
Customer Service
• Deal with emailed customer enquiries far more rapidly by having an ‘always-on’ connection.
• Install and run web-based customer relationship management (CRM) systems for handling customer queries, targeting existing customers and encouraging repeat purchases.
• Exercise constant control over your web hosting service and, therefore, your website. This means you can more rapidly add and amend data and content on your site – improving its effectiveness and e-commerce potential.
Dealing With Suppliers
• Cut down on travel costs by communicating with co-workers, suppliers and partners through rapid email or web-based audio/videoconferencing packages.
• Outsource your IT needs entirely online by using application service providers (ASPs) to run otherwise expensive business services such as email marketing, network security, and inventory management.
• Set up new ways of communicating with suppliers such as an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) for swapping documents and data.
• Compare suppliers using previously inaccessible online services such as online procurement systems, online auctions and B2B exchanges.
