Cross-posted from Kimbley IT Blog
For businesses and startups that need an office quickly, the offer of ‘free’ (or heavily reduced) broadband included in the rent seems like a great deal. Your company is reliant on email and Internet access for many day-to-day tasks, so a broadband connection is a business essential. And if the landlord arranges a connection, that’s one less task for you to complete.
Except that most serviced offices are relying on business owners to make that assumption. Because their experience is in property rentals and leasing, not Internet connectivity, their choice of service and provider is rarely what you actually need. Broadband connectivity is a sweetener designed to get you to sign the rental agreement. But because it is eating into the serviced offices profits, the landlord will choose the cheapest option they can.
Not all broadband is the same
The fact is that ‘cheap’ rarely equates to ‘good’. After a few days, weeks or in some cases months of struggling, you will find that insufficient bandwidth, variable connection quality and data caps are affecting productivity. At which point you then have to arrange to have your own connection, specified to meet your needs, installed at the office.
You may find that the free broadband actually costs you several weeks productivity while you wait for a connection that can deliver the performance and reliability you need. Leased line broadband has a lead time of 90 days; can you afford to be without good broadband for three months?
The SuperConnected Cities Connection Voucher
Recognising the importance of the Internet to British business, the government has launched a broadband subsidy program for SMEs based in 14 “SuperConnected” cities including Birmingham. Delivered in the form a voucher, the Super Connected Cities program gives SMEs up to £3000 towards purchasing a business-grade, super-fast broadband connection for their office.
The Super Connected Cities initiative is intended to deliver the connectivity and bandwidth that SMEs need to compete in the global marketplace. And by subsidising initial uptake, the British government hopes to eventually improve infrastructure provisions across the entire country.
How to apply for the SuperConnected Cities voucher
To get your SuperConnected Cities voucher, you need to apply through an approved supplier. Once your application is approved, you will have the funds you need to deploy a true business-class fibre broadband connection that will significantly outperform the one provided with your serviced office.
Your voucher can also be used towards purchasing top quality networking hardware for your office to further improve stability, resilience and bandwidth optimisation. And when your business needs to grow, your broadband can be scaled accordingly, delivering the increased capacity that additional users and services require.
As an approved SuperConnected Cities provider, Kimbley IT can work with you to deploy the broadband solution your business needs. If you would like to know more, just fill in this form and we will help you get started. And, don't forget that by being based in the same connected city as your business, Kimbley IT are always on-hand to help troubleshoot and resolve connectivity problems in the event that you run into trouble.
