With the national 4G rollout proceeding at full speed, there has never a better time to consider it for your business. According to Ofcom, 46% of the UK now has reliable 4G network coverage, an increase of almost 10% over this time last year. Now just about every major city in the UK has some form of 4G network with more being added all the time.
The specific business benefits of 4G depends on how mobile your workforce is and how you operate. If you have staff who regularly work out of the office 4G can have a huge impact on how efficiently you operate. Here are what we think are the top five benefits of 4G for business.
1. Reliable communications
While the headline of 4G is all about speed, these new networks are also much more dependable than 3G. 4G networks require advanced network devices which are usually much more reliable. The network also allows for more traffic throughput which avoids congestion. Both of which offer a much more predictable and reliable communications medium.
2. Rural business benefits
Rural areas still waiting for decent fixed line speeds can significantly benefit from 4G as it can offer a productivity boost without the wait. With many smaller towns and villages still waiting for faster broadband, 4G may be either a stopgap until it arrives or negate the need for fixed lines altogether.
3. Productivity
The obvious productivity benefits of network speed aside, there are numerous ways in which a business can get a boost from 4G. Need a document fast? Send it over 4G. Want to know where a truck or van is or need to reroute a vehicle? Use 4G to send instructions to the driver quickly through their phone or an app. There are thousands of uses for this kind of technology and businesses are embracing all of them.
4. Reduced costs
Now 4G is an established offering, prices of both contracts and compatible phones are becoming more realistic. Add to that the ability to have a truly mobile workforce, enable hot-desking within an office, send documents digitally instead of printing them or being able to send business critical data to an employee regardless of their location and you quickly accumulate savings.
5. Flexibility
Faster networks opens up a whole new world of opportunity from mobile working, home working, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) working and more. It lowers the operating costs of disaster recovery by allowing anywhere to be a DR location. It allows you to quickly adapt to change by being able to set up a fully connected office within hours, or react to customer demand by allowing access to company information at any time from anywhere.
As mentioned, the amount of benefit a business derives from 4G depends on how you currently work and how you want to work in the future. If you would like to know more about how your own business could benefit, contact the 4G experts at Excalibur today on 01793 744286!
