Dom Norton, Sales Director, Spitfire Network Services Limited

There have been many technology challenges as a result of businesses adapting to the fallout from COVID - a universal change in how workforces all over the country (and around the world) went about their daily business shone a spotlight on some important technology issues - an explosion in video conferencing / communication usage, the need for employees to access resources from outside the traditional network perimeters, and a reliance on devices other than the office PC/laptop to get work done etc.

Amongst all of this technological disruption, people might have had just cause to sit and ponder broadband services. After all, lots of business (and personal) interaction has taken place over the likes of Zoom, there has been a move towards using more real time applications and with many of us wanting to access applications from home offices that would have ordinarily been local, any failure or deficiency in your broadband service would have been keenly felt - you’re no longer enjoying a business grade line from the office.

And the market for broadband services has never been busier, although not all are created equal. It can be very confusing for businesses when it comes to choosing the right service for their needs - you are confronted with a myriad of choices when it comes to the technology used, speed offered, infrastructure type or even which provider to supply it. In the face of all of this choice, how can a business determine which broadband service is the one for them? Or how do you choose the best option for your home office?

Clearly, we have different expectations between the quality we get from our home broadband service and that which we get from business use. To put it differently, the outcome from a dip in service at home is very slightly annoying, whereas the same drop in a business context can cause much bigger headaches. So, if you are watching a film at home via a streaming service and you get a couple of seconds of delay is no big deal but if you’re pitching a new client over Zoom for example, a poor-quality broadband service could impact very negatively on your efforts to win that business.

Should speed be your priority?

Those choosing broadband for the home tend to focus on speed. In reality though, a business needs guarantees on performance levels and not speed. This is because they use applications that are expected to work consistently or that need real time performance - high speeds don’t necessarily guarantee this. Try and gain an understanding of the underlying circuit performance provided which is indicative of the type of performance you actually need. Start by appraising the minimum speed your business actually needs and then look at the type of performance your business requires. Simple internet browsing or local use of applications doesn’t require high speed or performance. Things like video calling or using key business applications remotely means that you should instead be considering service level agreements (performance SLAs) as a priority.

Service level agreements (SLA) are key

Performance SLAs are massively important for your business. Application providers will often quote minimum performance levels required for their application to work, i.e., what bandwidth is required and associated levels for jitter, latency and packet loss. Your circuit must meet these performance levels, otherwise speed becomes irrelevant. The performance SLAs of a circuit indicate that you are getting the performance levels needed to provide a consistent, high quality user experience - vital for running your business smoothly. Remember, some services may boast very strong performance SLAs as they use different infrastructure to get back to the core network (FTTC Ethernet) whilst others have no performance SLAs which can’t deal with the kind of real time processing previously discussed (FTTC Broadband). You can only expose such differences by taking a close look at the performance SLAs on the circuit. Review them and make sure that they match your requirements.

And don’t forget support

Support can be divided into two aspects. Firstly, the support level on the actual circuit, or fix time and secondly, how easy it is to actually get support. For example, what happens if your connection goes down whilst discussing a proposal with a new client? What is the fix time if your connection goes down and what obligations does your provider have? Clearly, downtime under such a scenario has ramifications for your business - how will you work if the connection does go down and have you lined up a backup circuit? Is it easy to get hold of somebody at your service provider when there is a problem that needs addressing? You want a provider that can actually correct the issue instead of keeping you waiting on the phone endlessly. Will they remember you if you have to call back, are they logging things correctly? Find out where the support team is based and try to get a feel for their pick-up and resolution times. Test the support number and see how the experience rates against your needs.

It is clear that choosing broadband for your business is in a different league to choosing broadband for your home. The kind of everyday problems you encounter on your home broadband would be unacceptable for your business. There is much more risk to your business resulting from a problematic broadband service.

Think about the implications to your business if your broadband runs slowly or constantly lags. Look closely before you sign up to any deal - however attractive the marketing might be.