Most businesses in the UK now have easy access to a fast broadband connection. With fibre optic broadband packages promising even higher speeds in the next few years, UK businesses have never been so easily connected to the rest of the world. But with the UK still falling behind on achieving a nationwide fast broadband speed, the government has recently been pushing its Digital Britain campaign: this promises to deliver not only faster broadband, but ‘super-fast’ broadband in more than 12 million homes and businesses by 2015.
So why is a fast, constant broadband connection essential to grow your business? It’s simple: a fast broadband connection will deliver you up-to-the-minute news; open you up to new markets worldwide and drive exports; and make you a true competitor to your business rivals. Business services such as VoIP telephone systems and online marketing tools like social media platforms also depend on a steady, fast broadband connection and without one the expansion and growth of your business is hindered.
And the government is putting serious money behind its campaign. Digital Britain is investing £830m on ensuring that every region in the UK gets a super-fast connection. £363m of that is dedicated to the improvement of broadband services in rural areas.
While urban businesses are reaping the benefits of a fast broadband connection, with access to fast fibre optic packages and close proximity to the cabinets, their rural counterparts are being overlooked. Rural businesses fall victim to slow ADSL broadband connections with a typical speed of around 2mbps. Ultimately, this could lose these businesses customers, sales and hamper their ability to break into new markets.
This in turn lessens expansion and growth potential. Trading online becomes hard as upload and download speeds are well below standard. Whether your website is hosted by your company or another local company, if it is slow loading to a potential customer or if a transaction does not go through, customer relationships could become strained and you might lose business to a competitor. The Federation of Small Businesses has said that slow broadband speeds are putting small businesses off trading online, limiting potential expansion and growth.
Meanwhile, broadband throughout the country is still very slow in some areas and unobtainable in others. If a steady broadband connection is crucial in your business, for example if you are running an e-commerce site, then checking out black spot areas online can show you where the speeds are low and where you should avoid basing your office.
XLN is the small business specialist, helping over 130,000 UK businesses save money on telephone, business broadband, gas, electricity and card-processing bills.