The power of broadband

Article: Are you harnessing broadband?

Small businesses generally buy broadband (also known as ADSL) for one of two reasons: faster internet and email access, meaning that they can improve communications, and the fixed charge, which removes the cost-per-minute charges associated with dial-up service.

As they begin to use the service, they also see other benefits they perhaps hadn’t considered before making the switch. We often hear from customers that they’re surprised they could surf the internet whilst being on the telephone. This is an inherent benefit, but broadband opens up a whole new world for small business users, such as web sites, internet telephone services, support and email on the move.

Small businesses traditionally have trailed behind larger corporations in their adoption of new technologies, but broadband has changed that. The take up of web sites among smaller businesses, for example, has increased rapidly.

Over three quarters of companies in the UK now have a web site and 81 per cent of IoD members in a recent survey said that they had increased their customer base as a result of having a company site. A surprising 16 per cent also now bring in more than a fifth of their sales via the internet. These figures can’t be ignored.

What a web site gives you as a smaller business, along with a new channel to market, is the opportunity to compete with much larger players on an equal footing, as size doesn’t matter on the web.

The current trend we’re seeing is that companies initially experiment with web sites, and develop increasingly complex sites as they see the number of web-based customers increase. They may begin with a site that is nothing more than an online company brochure, adding catalogues and then making the site transactional so that people can actually buy through the site. The cost of developing a professional looking web site needn’t be high, as there are a range of options and tools available to suit every budget.

It sounds like it could be expensive, but the most cost-effective option is to start with a site that is developed by the company itself. This can be done with tools that are available off the shelf or as part of a broadband package from an Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as our Internet Trader Pack. These allow users to build simple websites that include text, photography and click-through links, even if they have little IT or design knowledge.

The next stage is to use a package where you supply the copy and photography to the designers, and they use a series of pre-defined designs and pages to produce the site. This is great if customers want added functionality and a more professional feel to the site.

A BT Business Broadband customer, Churchmanor Estates Company plc, a commercial development and investment specialist, uses our EasyWeb service to do exactly that.

The company deploys a website to support each of its development projects in order to get the information to customers, partners and investors.

Supplying the information to our developers means websites can be created and updated rapidly. It also means there is brand consistency across all of the sites, making them easy for users to navigate and find the information they need.

The mostAlthough costly, thebut most flexible option is to have a bespoke site. This offers companies the ability to configure the entire look and feel of the site, and add in advance functionality to suit their needs. Another of our customers, The Bean Shop, developed their own site using Internet Trader Pack and then moved to a bespoke solution as customers’ requirements were becoming more specific.

A web site is just the first stage of harnessing the power of broadband. An increasing number of companies are using the internet to make telephone calls with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services for national, as well as international calls. This coming together of telephone services and broadband is often known convergence.

VoIP offers reduced call costs, but also gives a cost-effective way of having multiple lines and allows users to make and receive calls wherever they have a broadband connection. This makes it easier to work from home, or remotely. We have a number of customers who travel and use their UK number to make and receive calls, even when they’re abroad. All they have to do is plug in their adapter into a broadband connection and get a British dial tone.

VoIP services generally come in two flavours – PC-based or handset-based. The former means that you dial and make calls through your computer, generally using a headset. The latter enables users to plug a standard telephone handset in to the broadband connection and doesn’t require the computer to be turned on in order to make a telephone call over the internet.

The simplicity, ease of use and low cost of VoIP services is making them increasingly popular with small businesses in particular, allowing users to have a number that they can use wherever they are. The same is true of email, with users looking at ways to access mail when they’re not in the office.

Increasingly companies are using hosted email services that mean staff can access their Outlook inbox, calendars and address books over the internet, as though they were in the office.

Our Web-based services use the latest Microsoft’s technology to enable staff to not only to access information from broadband connections, but via any internet enabled device, including mobile devices such as mobile phones and BlackBerries.

The hosted services also enable colleagues to share documents and files in a secure online environment, which means people could be in multiple remote locations, but know they are always accessing the most up-to-date information or version of a document.

Broadband and all of the applications that wrap around internet connections may seem like something out of Star Wars to many owner-managers who are responsible for IT, so adding another layer of complexity is something they don’t want to do – it’s just another thing to go wrong.

However, a keyOne of the benefits of using hosted services is that the responsibility for keeping everything running belongs to someone else. AndHowever, when things go wrong with the systems you’re responsible for, broadband also offers another advantage – the ability to use remote IT support.

Remote support, allows IT consultants to access and repair your computer over a broadband connection, whether it be something as simple as resetting a password or as complex as reconfiguring an entire system.

Broadband is providing small businesses with the tools they need to really develop their company, right from setting up a web site, through to remote working, to having a ‘virtual IT manager’ available 24 hours a day. Once you’ve got that connection, a whole world opens up to you.

JARGON BUSTER

ADSL

An Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is the technical name for a specific broadband technology that provides faster connection to download information from the internet than the connection up to the internet.

VoIP

Voice Over IP (VoIP) is a new way of making voice using the internet. Calls can either be made through the computer or using a standard handset and adapter plugged into a broadband connection. It is a cost-effective solution for small businesses that require multiple lines or that have staff working remotely. This coming together of telephone services and broadband is often known convergence.

Hosted Exchange

The latest Microsoft technology, allowing users to securely access and use their Outlook inbox, calendar and address books from any internet connection. It also allows users to access and share files and documents over the web.

Remote Backup

An electronic data service that backs up important electronic data over the internet at multiple sites away from the office. Should disaster strike and company’s systems become corrupted, as a result of flood, fire or computer failure, staff can access the information they need and continue with business as usual.

Click here to find out more about BT Business Broadband.