A survey by Virgin Media has revealed that one of the top priorities identified by businesses in 2012 is to increase their access to superfast broadband.
According to Virgin Media, 31% of businesses canvassed in its annual survey revealed that achieving a connection to high speed broadband was their major investment priority.
36% of businesses however admitted that controlling expenditure was also a major concern.
Commenting on the findings, Virgin Media Business’s managing director, Mark Heraghty said that obtaining access to new technology such as high speed broadband was seen by companies as a key way to secure competitive advantage during challenging times:
“Whilst overall the economy remains cautious, it’s those companies who are exploiting technology that are the most confident”.
The relevance of high speed broadband in helping businesses to increase their power as a commercial force has been well-documented in other quarters; with both business and government leaders openly pressing for superfast broadband to be made universally available to enterprises up and down the country.
As well as providing the obvious benefits which a reliable connection to the internet can bring, superfast broadband also significantly increases the possibilities for adopting much sought-after added value services; in particular, internet protocol (IP) telephony and business VoIP (voice over internet protocol.
Even though the Virgin Media survey identified financial concerns among many companies, the benefits of upgrading business phone systems to be able to make and receive phone calls via IP telephony is often found to outweigh the costs of the original investment.
This is usually especially the case if adaptations of existing business phone systems can be cheaply and easily effected through such means as session initiation protocol (SIP) trunking; or if IP telephony capability is secured and managed at reasonable cost via a third party business VoIP provider or VoIP reseller.
