As the economy becomes increasingly digital the importance of effective internet access has become vital to the running of any business. Used to communicate between employees as well as with clients, allowing for digital sales platforms and automated order systems or maintaining an online presence with a well organised website and digital marketing; making the most use of everything the internet has to offer can give a modern business huge advantages. If you’re a business owner or IT Manager, ensuring that everyone in your workplace has continued and stable access to the internet will allow your employees to perform their work efficiently, increasing your client base and potential revenue. On the other hand this means that poor or weak wifi coverage in your business environment can come with some significant hidden costs you might want to be aware of. We’ve run through some of the problems that can arise from having poor internet in the workplace to give you an idea of how important keeping your business connected can be.
Decreased Employee Productivity
Email led communication is at the centre of modern digital business. Used internally by employees or externally with clients, email will make up the majority of communication in a modern workplace. Businesses that make the best of use of the advantages the internet can provide will have a stable wifi network that allows their employees to connect at a moments notice, able to collate and share detailed information quickly and easily throughout the workplace and externally with employees working from home. Operating a shared digital office space can allow team members to co-edit files at the same time, letting managers supervise projects in real time and generating a co-working environment that encourages creativity and inclusion. Being able to effectively use the internet as a tool in the workplace can massively boost employee productivity, regardless of how digital your business platform is. Obviously if you’re having problems providing wifi or other means of connection in your business environment there will be a detrimental effect to the ability of your team members to fully utilise many of the benefits that being an effective digital business allows. This could result in more mistakes and errors being made by employees on a day to day basis, slower or interrupted communication can increase the length of projects and result in frustration within your team. Employees being the key resource in modern business; worker productivity is in affect business productivity and in today’s hyper competitive markets no business can afford to drop a second of time that could be used more effectively.
Increased IT Expenses
If your wifi network is old or unfit for purpose, maybe not providing full coverage to all the machines in the workplace or dropping signal regularly, then you’re going to end up forking out regularly to resolve problems resulting from these connectivity issues. Over stretched wifi systems will break more regularly resulting in more engineering callouts or an increase in work for your internal IT team. By trying to keep an out of date system running you may find yourself spending more on quick fixes and emergency repairs than you would spend on overhauling the entire network and bringing your digital work environment up to date. If you’re using an old copper cable network the increased cost of switching to fibre optic may seem steep but considering the reliability of more modern materials the increased stability may end up boosting your businesses future prospects. Paying to maintain an old system may seem like a cost effective solution in the short run but future proofing your business now is a great way to ensure long term success and increase potential profit.
Damage Customer Experience
Providing a positive customer experience is at the heart of most successful businesses, as it fosters loyalty, enhances brand reputation and drives long-term profitability. Whether you are providing wifi access as part of a shop front experience, or running a digital platform which needs to be readily and easily accessible to your clients, offering consistent digital services is vital to providing good customer experience in 2025. If you have regular internet issues in your office or shop spaces then client experience will naturally decline. Whether your customers have difficulty communicating with your staff via email, negative experiences at the till as a result of connection problems, or simply can’t access your wifi network when they are in your commercial unit, these issues can have a significant effect on customer retention. Modern customers expect effective digital solutions as part of the client experience in almost all areas of business, so ensuring you have a good internet connection is the first step in providing your customers with high quality service regardless of what type of business you run.
Security Vulnerabilities
Last on our list but certainly not the least, especially as the risk of malicious digital attacks increases, are the negative effects to your business resulting from poorly maintained networks and the potential security vulnerabilities they can expose you to. In the wake of the recent Marks and Spencers hacking attack many businesses are starting to approach their digital security with increasing seriousness. With the potential for leaks of client data, or internal communications as well as interruptions to digital shopping platforms that can seriously affect customer experience, the potential damage to your business of a cyber security break can be very high. Operating basic security protocols such as passwords and firewalls are only the beginning of the measures a modern business must take to make sure it is digitally secure. With older security protocols or materials (copper cabling) that can be more easily breached by potential hackers, having an older, out of date wifi network can leave a business dangerously exposed to cyber attacks. With the potential for intentional disruption from malicious actors at an all time high it’s never been more important to ensure your businesses electronic systems, both software and hardware, are effective, modern and secure.
We hope we’ve managed to highlight some of the potential risk factors to your business that an out of date or ineffective wifi network can bring to your business. It’s a good idea to have these risks in mind when making decisions about how you will invest in the digital future of your business. As the world becomes increasingly dependent on the internet for financial transactions, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve and ensure your business provides the digital experience customers expect in 2025.
