Price vs. Performance
UK business investment in IT services has been in buoyant mood recently and with analysts expecting a four per cent increase in IT spend this year the trend looks set to continue. With that increased spend comes the need however to justify the business benefits of that investment, both short and long term.
Businesses need reassurances that the IT services they are buying, not only perform well commercially today but are also scaleable and reliable for good business in the future.
Providers need to be challenged at every point and be forced to justify claims with regard to performance and reliability. No stone should be left unturned when it comes to researching a suitable network provider – questions should be asked of past and ongoing investment in the network and product innovation, of the company’s track record and management structure, of contention rates available and of user profiles.
Beyond having a strong and dependable network though, customers want speedy connections that are constant throughout the day and not victim to the activity of a high number of users. Establishing the network’s contention ratio is key to ensuring customers get a quick and reliable service and are not left disappointed. Often the way some providers cut the monthly costs and remain profitable is by oversubscribing the service and running very high contention rates.
Asking the right kind of questions of network providers is essential for any ISP to ensure they get a service that performs well both over the short term as well as the long term. The smoke and mirror approach some providers take where the focus is on unproven claims and low costs should not cloud the issue. In a market where consolidation and acquisition is high and where providers are here one day and gone the next, the benefits of choosing a provider who not only has a good track record but also forward thinking investment plans are clearly significant.
Switching between service providers is not as easy with broadband as it is with carrier pre-selection. Often the end-users will need to change their username and password and occasionally even re-configure their router, so it is even more important to invest some time upfront in choosing the right service provider. Low grade broadband used for web browsing and email may just about be sufficient now, but as businesses demand more from their IP connection you will be faced with having to migrate all of your users to a more suitable network provider.
Never has the old adage ‘buy cheap, buy twice’ been more appropriate.
Andrew Dickinson, sales & marketing director, Griffin Internet