IT Brief New Zealand - Technology news for CIOs & IT decision-makers
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Fibre - What does it mean for your business?
Mon, 22nd Jul 2013
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Imagine, an employee on average spends nine minutes every day waiting for files and websites to download. That is more than 53 hours a year!

And that's not even counting the time spent rebooting after the downloaded file freezes your computer. Let’s face it – time is money.

Chances are your business has an ADSL or VDSL connection which uses copper wire. And now fibre is available. There has been lots of talk about Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) being rolled out across New Zealand, which involves installation of fibre optic cables, but what does this mean for your business?

Fibre will give your business super fast internet but it also makes a number of things possible for your business, which will have an impact on cost, productivity and competitiveness.

“Consider your business needs, what you could do with a faster more reliable connection, what becomes possible for your business – Cloud Computing, VoIP?” says, Blair Stewart, general manager of Digital Island, a 100% Kiwi owned business telecommunications provider.

Over 60% of new Digital Island customers are employing fast fibre internet connections to enable their business to take advantage of the below benefits.

Business benefits of fibre:

• Cloud Computing - i.e. MS 365, CRM and finance systems. Fibre is an enabler to Cloud applications. Cloud applications reduce your business costs and increase productivity.

• Improved business services such as video-conferencing or the use of web-based applications.

• Faster file sharing - file download and upload.

• Remote and home working capabilities.

• Lower call costs by taking advantage of VoIP delivered over fibre.

• Online back-up and disaster recovery.

• Reliability backed by SLA (Service Level Agreement).

Broadband costs will range depending on your connection (ADSL, VDSL, UFB and Premium Fibre) from $39.00 - $1049.00 per month.

Overall, fibre is more expensive than copper in the short run, but definitely less expensive in the long run, costing less to maintain and has much less downtime for a business’s staff.

“The internet solution that is best for your business really comes down to size of your company (internet users) and type of use," Stewart says.

"Thinking long term and future – fibre needs to be the end goal and should be seen as an investment for your business."

For more information on Digital Island, click here