Challenges SMEs Face Due to Poor Internet Connectivity

by | Feb 18, 2021 | Commercial

High-speed internet is crucial for SMEs (Small to Medium-Sized Enterprise) to compete effectively in the business world.

It’s not the internet alone that helps SMEs succeed, but it plays a significant role in solving many problems and positioning them better. You can empower your business by connecting with the best broadband deals to eliminate slow internet issues.

Research shows that 10 out of 8 businesses complain about slow internet being the main challenge for their growth. The research further says that the average SME staff is maybe wasting around 72 minutes daily due to slow and unreliable internet connection. So, let’s try to demystify some of these challenges below.

Internal Communications

While allowing them to stay updated with your business information, your workers’ collaboration and connection are vital to enhancing your SME businesses to run smoothly. Internal communication heavily depends on the intranet, webinars, email, e-newsletters, and more. Therefore, issues with normal internet flow can cause havoc in the business’s daily operations.

The main problem contributing to all this is the contention ratio, which brings down connectivity when many people simultaneously consume one internet line. For instance, businesses may send surveys to employees to complete and send it back. On the other hand, employees tackle the survey and try to send it once at the same time.

Having reliable internet, dealing with such issues would be a thing of the past.

Digital Infrastructure

The majority of businesses prefer to use cloud connectivity for speed and to avoid downtime. Cloud allows SMEs to deliver their services uninterrupted and satisfy customers quickly and effectively. Dealing with cloud connections means your business can handle lots of data without experiencing internet flow interference.

SMEs that rely on the cloud require significant broadband speeds that are constant and reliable all the time. Any shortcoming with the connection would cause a massive failure during uploads and other tools from your business not to function properly.

Productivity

Productivity is the backbone of any business. If your business is not productive, it means your customers will suffer and most likely shift their attention to your competitors. So, having a reliable internet connection helps your employees to deliver their best.

Slow connection delays simple tasks to take a lot of time before they are completed. Wastage of time to a business is resources, and though everything may look normal, you lose a lot of customers who would have become your loyal business customers for long. If you are used to serving 100 customers per hour, you only remain with 50 customers and lose about 50% along the way.

The continuous slow internet may negatively impact your business growth. Investing in a reliable and fast internet may initially seem like a waste of money.  But it is necessary for any business planning to expand in the online world. However, after some time, the pros exceed the cons, and you can add up revenue for utilizing time and chance properly.

 External Communications

The most key form of communication is external communication that involves your customers. When your communication with your customers is effective, your business will always thrive, for they play a significant role in revenue increase. Fast and reliable internet would be essential to enhance a good relationship with your customers and improve communication.

The advancement in technology demands the same from business, and customers are likely to interact with excellent service delivery. SMEs with stable digital communication platforms online and social media find it easier to win customer trust the most. Customers prefer business they can interact directly on multiple platforms and failure to meet these demands is a loss to the SME sector.

Buffering Broadband

Buffering is a problem with latency resulting from delayed data processing due to internet connection. Latency can affect the speed of upload and downloads. That means the speed of images and video is slow and may negatively impact employees—the waiting process caused by buffering lower employee’s morale and business as a whole.

The only solution to avoid latency issues is connecting fibre broadband to improve the slow connectivity and boost employees’ morale.

Read through our useful guide for more information

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