The internet has become an integral part of running a business. Many businesses rely on it for communication, customer service, running eCommerce websites, and as a source of information about trends and emerging ways of doing business so they cannot tolerate poor network performance.
However, poor network performance is more than an inconvenience; you can lose money and business to your competition in several ways, and here are some of them.
But, What Defines a Good Internet Connection for Your Business?
Different businesses will have varying internet needs. This means an internet connection that is good or sufficient for one may not be the best for another. But an internet connection must meet specific standards to be considered reliable for business.
One of these standards is speed. Sufficient internet speeds can vary based on your needs. For example, if running your business involves uploading or downloading huge files, you will want a speed that will handle such tasks fast.
Typically anything between 100mbs to 500mbs should be enough for a small business. If you are unsure about your network performance, you can check it here using one of the most accurate internet speed checkers.
Other factors to consider include uptime, pricing, support, bandwidth, etc.
Impact of Poor Performance on Performance
Slow Response Times
Typically, any network connection should be sufficient to give timely replies to clients. If your connection slows down your response times, you need to change your ISP ASAP.
Consumers expect a speedy response to their queries in today’s digital age. According to a recent study, 57% of internet users will abandon a page if it does not load in three seconds.
Other studies show that a one-second delay in replay decreases the chances of making a conversion by up to seven percent.
Therefore, if you notice increased time to load a page, you can be sure that it could affect your response times and needs an upgrade or a change of ISP.
Collaboration Disruption
A stable internet connection is critical when collaborating with different team members on a file or project. A poor connection can mean working on older versions of projects, mainly where your poor connection results in problems refreshing a page.
It could also mean missing out on timely communication requiring certain actions, leading to frustrations for all team members working on a project.
Lost Work Hours
When doing a task on a slow or unstable connection, you will spend much more time on a task that would otherwise take seconds to complete with a fast connection. This means that some of the high costs of doing business you are experiencing could be a result of a poor connection.
While a high-speed connection could cost you more than a slow connection, the cost can be worth it in the long run.
Unreachable Cloud
Cloud-based file storage has gained much acceptance in the last few years. However, getting the most out of your cloud storage will require a fast and reliable internet connection.
A poor connection or extended downtimes could mean you stay locked out on systems critical to running your business, which could cause many other problems such as customer frustrations, employee frustrations, and ultimately losses.
If you are having problems accessing business data from your cloud storage, the problem could be with your internet connection.
Employee Frustrations
Nothing is as frustrating as a slow internet connection in the office or home. According to a study by Deloitte, poor internet connection was cited by most employees as the most frustrating thing in the workplace.
This can be especially significant if your employees have quotas to meet. Frustrations lead to dampened morale, leading to a high employee turnover.
Also, your productivity largely depends on your employees’ morale. So you may need to survey your employees’ satisfaction with your connection to ensure it doesn’t hamper their productivity.
If you are experiencing problems downloading or uploading an item on the internet, there is a chance your employees are facing similar problems, and it could be time to upgrade.
Overall Slow Business Growth
All the impacts listed here point to one thing, poor performance. Poor performance ultimately leads to slow business growth. Gone are the days when starting and running a business was enough.
Today, you will need to fight for your space against the competition, which a poor connection may not allow you to achieve. So before looking for other ways of enhancing business growth, look for problems with your internet connection and solve them.
Final Words
The internet is indispensable in business. But having a connection is not enough; it has to be reliable. While many factors can cause poor network performance, it usually comes down to your ISP. If you are relying on a poor network connection, you could be missing out on the true potential of your business.