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Why Slow Internet Speeds Are Negatively Impacting Your Business

Why Slow Internet Speeds Are Negatively Impacting Your Business
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Most businesses need a fast, reliable internet connection. Some business owners think lightning-fast internet is only a matter of convenience but that’s far from the case. When you have a dependable connection, you can improve productivity, communication, customer service – all functions vital to your business’ success. With new ways of doing business emerging constantly, you need the right infrastructure in place to remain competitive.

Slow Internet Speeds Are Negatively Impacting Your Business

Let’s look at some of the ways your limited bandwidth could be harming your business and limiting its growth.

It Limits Productivity

When you have a slow internet connection, workers may find everything grinds to a halt during peak business hours. When websites fail to load or remote servers take a long time to respond, this affects overall productivity. With businesses increasingly relying on the cloud for data storage, fast connections are necessary. Workers are also using a larger number of devices and this increased load requires more bandwidth.

It Compromises VoIP Phone Systems

Voice over Internet Protocol makes unified communication a lot easier. It makes your business more accessible to customers, partners, and suppliers thanks to features like call-forwarding. VoIP also allows for seamless conference call setups involving voice, video, and document sharing. This type of integration means your business can run smoothly even if only half of your team is on location. However, it only works well if you have an internet connection which is fast enough to support it.

Your Video Conferences Will Lag

The world has gotten a lot smaller thanks to technology. Many businesses need to communicate with clients and partners from around the world and video conferencing is the preferred method of communication. It provides many of the benefits of a face-to-face meeting without the need for travel. However, you need to give your team members the speeds they need to support this technology. Think of how embarrassing it would be for a conference call to drop out when you’re wooing a big client. Slow internet speeds will not support video conferencing.

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It Impacts Your Customer Service

Customers want to engage with your business on social media, use live chat features on your website, and even share their screen with you so you can assist them. If you want to respond to their questions and solve their problems quickly, the speed of your internet connection can make a big difference. If a user’s connection drops while they’re trying to relay product information or bring up a customer’s account details, both parties will be frustrated. With a faster internet connection, you’ll be able to serve customers in the way they expect.

Files Sharing Speeds are Reduced

When your bandwidth is limited, even sharing a simple file can take a long time. If you frequently need to upload and download photos, graphics, or videos via DropBox, WeTransfer, or similar programs you need a strong, fast connection. Not only will transfers take a long time, but your entire internet experience will be impacted. This means there’s little you can do while you wait for your files to be shared. If this happens often, your business’ productivity, efficiency, and ultimately, profitability will suffer.

You Will Process Payments Slowly

When customers decide they are ready to make a purchase, the last thing you want to do is frustrate them. If your internet connection is extremely poor, you can be certain they will go elsewhere. Improving your upload speeds can speed up your cloud-based point of sale system so payment is quick and easy. It may seem like upgrading your internet-only shaves off a few seconds but these will quickly add up. You’ll be able to serve more customers in the same period of time and create a better overall experience for both your team and your customers.

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Slow internet speeds can spell trouble for your business. While you will need to spend more to upgrade your bandwidth, the investment will quickly pay for itself when you improve your productivity and efficiency.

Author Bio: Emily Jacobs is Happiness Ambassador for SpeedCheck.org.