How slow internet connections affect your business

The internet is essential for business. It allows companies to access powerful communication tools, run eCommerce websites, and search for information. That’s why being disconnected from the internet for even a minute can cause serious problems.

Internet user growth accelerated in the past year with more than 366 million new users. People go online first to find solutions to their questions and get information on businesses and organizations that pique their interests or can answer their needs. So if your company has a slow internet connection, both your productivity and bottom line takes a huge hit.

Here are six ways having a slow internet connection can hurt your business.

Lowers workforce morale

The success of a company hinges upon the excellent performance of its employees. Unreliable and slow connections mean employees are unable to perform their tasks and communicate with clients. These issues eventually affect employee morale and result in lower productivity and efficiency. If management is unable to provide them with the necessary tools to do their job, companies experience higher turnover rates and will need to spend more resources to find replacements.

Increases stress

When you see your deliverables and work pile up due to poor internet connection, your stress level rises along with it, too. Workplace stress is a major contributor to mental health issues. In any week, 5,000 Canadians call in sick due to some degree of mental health issue or illness. Companies will have to shoulder higher costs of sick leave, short- and long-term disability, and workers’ compensation claims, which will all go into more added expenses.

Operational failure

Employees need the internet to do research, send emails, and access the cloud-based applications they need to do their jobs. Without an internet connection, however, users won’t be able to do any of this, causing operations to stop. Worse still, your company will hemorrhage money every second your workers are idle because they don’t have access to mission-critical tools.

VoIP lag

Most Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services requires at least a 256 kbps internet speed for quality video chatting. The clarity of VoIP phone calls depends on a strong and stable internet connection. Otherwise, it may lead to an echo during the call. This can be unpleasant and won’t leave a very good impression on your clients or potential business partners.

Lost revenue

No business wants to lose money simply because of a slow internet connection. An eCommerce site, for example, can be greatly affected by poor internet. Slower page response time results in page abandonment; 47% of consumers will only wait 2 seconds for a web page to load before they leave. Any delay has an impact on a customer’s experience and they will naturally opt to go to a company with better and faster service. What’s more, Google ranks slow and more unresponsive eCommerce sites lower in the search results, leading to decreased web traffic and reach.

Slow internet connection is unacceptable

Fast internet connection is available. In fact, Canada has the 17th fastest fixed broadband service at 86.92 Mbps and by the end of 2021, it is expected that 90% of Canadian homes and businesses will have access to broadband speeds of at least 50 Mbps for downloads and 10 Mbps for uploads. Until these great strides in better and faster internet availability happen, there are steps you can do to avoid the inconveniences of slow internet connection:

• Optimize your bandwidth by limiting the use of network-intensive activities like video streaming and social media browsing.
• Use bandwidth management software to ensure mission-critical tasks like voice calls, cloud apps, and video conferences get sufficient network resources.
• Run big updates and installations outside of office hours.
• Implement web filtering and intrusion prevention systems to steer clear of threats that potentially affect network performance.
• Set up routers, switches, and wireless access points in optimal locations to get maximum internet coverage.
• Monitor your network for any anomalies that cause serious drops in internet speed.

If these solutions seem too tedious and complicated, the smartest move is to get a reliable managed IT services provider (MSP) who can monitor, maintain, and optimize your network. They can help your business avoid downtime because they can spot problems quickly and act on them efficiently. Quicktech offers cutting-edge network solutions and services to make sure your internet is always lighting fast. Call now to learn more.