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How long could your business cope without your internet connection?
   

More and more businesses rely on their internet connection – both for keeping in touch with clients and colleagues, and for actually selling their goods.  But just how long could your business cope if you lost your connection?  You’d probably be OK for an hour, maybe even a day at a push… But what about a couple of days?

We’re all increasingly reliant on the internet for business.  A recent survey by Easynet Connect, a Business Internet Service Provider shows that the internet forms a central part of many SMBs’ (small to medium-sized businesses) long-term strategies.  Over one third of SMBs are selling online, more then a quarter use VOiP for communicating, and more than one third use the network for remote backup and disaster recovery.

 
In the same survey, over two thirds of small to medium-sized businesses said that the internet was so important to their business that one day is the longest they could cope without their internet connection. For some SMBs, even this was too long – one fifth of businesses said the longest their business could cope was one hour!
 
Have you ever thought about how long your business could cope without being able to email files, answer customer queries over email, search the internet, or allow customers to research and place orders on your website? These are all important, day-to-day things that we rely on our internet connection for, but many SMBs think about cost rather than reliability when they’re choosing their business ISP.
 
The message from all of this is loud and clear: if you’re relying on your internet connection for the running of your business, then you need to make sure you’ve got the right kind of service, from a reliable internet service provider - whether its a leased line or other connection you'll be installing.
 
What are your experiences? Have you ever lost business or had any other problems because of a problem with your internet connection?
 
For help in finding out which kind of broadband is right for your business, see our Q&A on Internet.
 
 Public Comments Leave Comment  

 
Date: 29/07/2008 Name:David (Birmingham)

I think a couple of hours without email is fine - pick up the phone! - we seem to be losing the art of talking to people...

Having said that, a couple of days and I think we'd be in a panic!
 
 
Date: 29/07/2008 Name:Jody Grimmer (Hertfordshire)

We work with lots of factories out in the far east, so with people working in different time zones, there's no way we could cope without email to liaise with our suppliers.

Another really interesting blog. Keep up the good work - I like reading them over my coffee in the morning!
 
 
Date: 29/07/2008 Name:Joanne (London)

I never really realised how much I relied on out internet connection for the business until it went down a couple of months ago. We were without connection for about 3 days in total, and although we could pick up the phone to talk to suppliers and customers, we were very quiet for those couple of days.

It made me realise just how much of our business is generated through our website - not just orders coming through, but people calling up, after having checked out our website first.

Longterm we can't afford for this to happen again - we're currently reviewing our ISP to make sure we can get a guaranteed, reliable service.
 

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Blog Archive

28/07/2008 How long could your business cope without your internet connection?
01/05/2008 SMEs and the Credit Crunch
18/04/2008 The business of being green
02/04/2008 Welcome to Online Connect IT, the home for IT help and advice for small to medium sized businesses.
17/03/2008 Email black hole causing customer service crisis

 
 
     
 
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