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Analysts Warn Small Businesses: Cut-price Connectivity A False Economy
03/03/2010
By Claire West
A new report sponsored by leading business Internet service provider, Easynet Connect has revealed how complexity and cost are the main barriers to efficient communication within UK small businesses.
The 'Valuable Business Connections' report, authored by Quocirca, advises businesses on how to create the best and most reliable communications investment plans.
The report highlights how small businesses, many of which have no full-time IT manager, are being held back from making the best use of communications technology due to the complexity and cost of new tools. Businesses also face the challenge of managing the influx of consumer, 'shadow IT' applications like Skype and instant messenger, providing the systems to support remote and home workers as well as deciphering the latest vendor driven services and buzzwords such as 'unified communications' or 'fixed mobile convergence'. This challenge is compounded by the continual need to manage bandwidth and capacity in order to support business critical applications as well as controlling costs and ensuring return on investment from communications tools.
As part of ten expert considerations, the report outlines how small businesses can get the best value for money from their IT and communications investments, advising against short-term deals, low-cost connectivity and to seek out flat-rate tariffs over pay-per use contracts.
Rob Bamforth of Quocirca said of the report: "Small businesses rely upon effective communications tools, but often many are too complex or costly to be worthwhile. There is pressure for small companies to drive reliability
and value, without solely focussing on price. For instance, low cost connectivity can be a false economy when it is an integral and critical component which underlines core business tools and powers applications like e-commerce and conferencing which save other costs such as transport, energy and rent."
Chris Stening, Managing... continued on page two >
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