5 Benefits of a Backup Internet Connection

Name: Xplore Business
Address: 5 Granite Road, Brandon, MB, R7A 7V2, Canada
Telephone: 855-638-7381
Price range: $

Why seamless Internet service — even during a network outage — matters to your business.

Person smiling at desk while looking at a tablet

Modern businesses — from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to large-scale corporations — rely on the Internet to get their work done. Whether you work in retail, manufacturing, service or something else entirely, the Internet likely helps you achieve your business objectives.

But sometimes Internet networks fail. It can happen for a variety of reasons. Whatever the cause, though, a network outage can have a huge impact on your business.

That’s where a backup — or redundancy — Internet connection comes in. A backup connection ensures your business is always connected — even when your primary network goes down. If there’s a service outage — whether it lasts minutes or hours — your backup connection is ready to take over.

Not sure your business needs a redundancy solution? Let’s look at the benefits a backup connection can offer.

It Helps Deliver a Better Customer Experience

Your customers expect a seamless experience at all times. If they don’t feel like they’re getting one, they may just take their business elsewhere. In fact, 54% of CEOs see customer experience as a competitive differentiator for their business. And whether your customers are buying online, looking for information from your customer support team or making a digital transaction in your store, a great customer experience often requires a reliable Internet connection.

A less-than-stellar customer experience doesn’t just put your future customer interactions in trouble, though — it threatens the interactions already in progress. In 2022 nearly 90% of payments were digital. For retailers, then, a backup connection means you don’t have to lose out on all but 10% of your customer transactions.

It Helps Save on Costs

It’s clear from the above that a disruption in your Internet service can have a real impact on your bottom line. In fact, Gartner estimates network downtime costs an average of $5,600 per minute, or $300,000 per hour. When Facebook faced a 14-hour outage in March 2019, it cost them an estimated $90 million. A 12-hour outage of Apple’s iTunes Store and App Store in March 2015, on the other hand, cost about $25 million in lost sales.

Obviously the size of your business, the industry you work in and how much you rely on online and digital sales to fuel your bottom line will all play a part. But the loss of sales revenue is just the start — costs may also include pay for staff who can’t do their jobs offline and any money owed back to customers for not being able to meet your commitments. A backup connection ensures you don’t have to worry about any of that.

It Keeps Productivity Going

Whether they’re working in an office setting — relying on the Internet for software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, video conferencing and data stored on the cloud — or in a service-based business like a restaurant or retail, chances are your team relies on the Internet to get their jobs done.

So what happens when your Internet goes down? In many cases, they’re unable to do their jobs effectively or as productively as they would otherwise. A backup connection keeps the momentum going, allowing them to keep working towards their goals — to help your business stay on track.

It Keeps Your Reputation Safe

If your customer experience is interrupted you may not be able to meet your deadlines. Your sales team may need to cancel video calls or presentations with prospective clients. Or your customer support team may not be able to access the answers they need to respond to clients’ questions. Your reputation could suffer as a result. And that’s not good for business.

With a backup connection, your business doesn’t just continue as usual, even in the event of an emergency outage. But your reputation also stays safe from the possible hit a service disruption could have.

It Helps Keep Your Business Secure

To keep your network safe from cyberattack or other threats, monitoring, network maintenance and data backup are key. But depending on the processes you have in place, it may be hard to keep up with those processes if your Internet goes down. And that opens up your systems to possible risk.

A secure backup connection, then, can keep those security protocols running as usual. And that’s good news for the safety of your business.

Conclusion

A backup connection can give your business peace of mind — keeping you on track. It can save you money and prevent lost revenue. And it can help ensure your business and reputation remain safe.

All of that is good news. But how do you know you’re choosing the right backup connection? What should you even look for in a redundancy solution? We’ll look at that in our next blog post.

Find out more about Xplore Business’s backup solutions.