Why Businesses Need a Secondary ISP to Prevent Connection Problems
If you want to bring an office to a screeching halt these days, you simply unplug the router. Immediately, everyone comes out of their offices asking what’s happened. Being so reliant on the cloud can be a double-edged sword. You have the capability to run your business and access your data from anywhere; vital in a post-COVID world. The downside is you are completely reliant on your internet connection. Not having the redundancy of an additional internet connection should your ISP go out is not an option. An Internet outage can leave your business at risk of losing access to important business data (including email) and mean costly downtime. Each minute of downtime costs a small business anywhere between $137 to $427. Think about some of the vital business processes you use and what having them go out, even for 30-45 minutes would mean.
- VoIP phone system
- CRM programs
- Intranet Sites (like SharePoint)
- Cloud productivity platforms (Microsoft 365)
- Email & messaging
- Video conferencing
- Task management apps
Businesses put data backup and recovery in place to ensure they don’t lose their data. Losing access to your cloud apps and the data they hold can be just as disruptive.
Adding a Redundant Internet Connection Has Multiple Benefits
Internet outages can happen for a variety of reasons. It can be weather-related, an issue with the ISP’s server, or a problem with a cable or DSL line. You have no control over when or for how long you may lose your internet connection if your provider has a problem. Which is why it’s crucial to add a backup internet service that can ensure your office has uninterrupted connections. There are several benefits of ISP redundancy.
Eliminates ISP-Related Work Interruptions
Sometimes an internet service will go out intermittently when server updates or network infrastructure work is being done. While these interruptions may be just for a few minutes at a time, the constant disconnections can cause frustration and loss of productivity. Even a small interruption can cost more than the time a network is down, because It takes approximately 23 minutes for a person to get back to the same level of concentration on a task following a disruption. Being able to instantly switch over to another ISP can eliminate interruptions and keep your staff online consistently.
Allows You to Better Manage Bandwidth Demands
There are times when you may have more bandwidth needs than your internet connection can provide, leaving everyone waiting on a slow internet while a large process finishes. If you use an SDWAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network), you can bring both ISP connections together into a single delivery pool that allows you to prioritize bandwidth to meet user and process needs. This gives you a much faster network that can seamlessly operate even if one of the ISPs goes offline.
Reduces Costly Downtime/Improves Business Continuity
A 24-hour outage of an ISP can be devastating to a business that is suddenly cut off from customers, communications, and their business data. A redundant ISP is a smart piece of any business continuity plan because it eliminates downtime that results from a single point of failure situation. You have a backup to switch over to that keeps all your connections up and running.
Improves Customer Experience
If customers can’t reach you when they call or email, it can cause them to call your competitor. 49% of consumers switched businesses last year because of poor customer service. Providing a great customer experience in today’s environment requires having a reliable internet connection. Customers expect answers fast by phone, email, or website chat, and a down internet connection can leave them waiting. Using a secondary ISP to ensure you have uninterrupted internet service can make a big difference in how many leads you turn into customers and how many of those customers you retain.
Gives You More Network Security Options with Segmenting
Companies have multiple endpoints on their network, including those that require more security and those that can be more of a security risk. For example, if you have visitors that connect to your company Wi-Fi, their unknown devices can pose a risk to your server which is connected to the same network. When you use two ISPs, you can segment your traffic, putting devices holding sensitive information on one ISP connection and guests and less secure devices on the other ISP connection. Separation of traffic helps keep data protected from hackers or malware that may be coming from a less secure device.
Explore Your Options for a Faster & More Reliable Network
Copperband Technologies can help your business set up a redundant ISP connection. We can help you optimize using an SDWAN to deliver fast and reliable internet throughout your office. Contact us today to schedule a consultation! Call 931.263.8000 or contact us.
