Datasouth Business Solutions

Opportunities and risks for business with ultra-fast broadband

Wednesday, 21st July 2010

Get ready with the virtual buckets and bilge pumps. Ultra-fast broadband is set to deluge New Zealand business in streams of data. What are the implications of the government move towards ramping up our internet connectivity, and what can you do to prepare your enterprise now?

New Zealand's National government was elected in 2008 with a promise to accelerate the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband to 75 percent of New Zealanders over ten years. This 'ultra-fast broadband' (UFB) is defined as a fibre-to-the-door broadband service providing downlink speeds of at least 100 Mbps and uplink speeds of at least 50 Mbps. The countries' 22 biggest cities should be covered by 2015.

Australia is pushing a similar scheme, with the federal government injecting $A43 billion into a National Broadband Network to realise the goal of fibre to the home/business.

What are the implications for business IT?

The ability to access rich media like video on demand or steaming live could potentially impact many areas of business. Internally there are huge opportunities to use video to improve staff training and communication, especially across large and geographically diverse companies.

Externally, the potential, especially for businesses, to use video streaming cost-effectively is exciting. Plugging in rich media to a sales cycle with offshore prospects has the potential to ease and speed the process. Product demos, customer references, detailed technical conferences and so on would all be possible.

Customer service could also be improved. The enhanced communication would enable quicker, more accurate diagnosis of problems and a greater ability to remotely resolve problems.

The limit will only be people's imagination. But something most enterprises want to start planning for now, so they are ready to use it competitively once online.

The flip side of this deluge of data is greater access to less productive or appropriate pursuits such as gaming and pornography. Corporates need to go through the process of assessing the best approach to controlling these aspects of ultra-fast broadband. Clear, well communicated policies work in some organisations, while tracing technology is required in others.

Telecommuting has long been predicted to grow, but has been restricted by connectivity issues. As our major Australasian cities become more and more congested, employees will increasingly look for a more flexible working environment, including home-based options.

Ultra-fast broadband will make that a much more attractive proposition. Companies need to assess all of the network access and security contingencies involved in having a significant number of employees working offsite and accessing highly sensitive data.

Communication is a major cost area that will be under review as UFB becomes a reality. Cost and functionality advantages on Unified Communications will become more distinct so IT teams need to be prepared to assess and implement the best strategy for their business situation.

Channels for customers will also change. Customer expectations around online transactions will grow. Being able to engage, order, purchase and track delivery online will become more and more mainstream and less restricted to e-commerce type businesses. That has downstream implications for many parts of your IT infrastructure which requires careful planning.

The nature of that infrastructure will also change, as the range of applications, platforms and services available in the cloud will proliferate. UFB will fire vendor's imaginations to deliver all kinds of products and services, and for enterprise IT that will mean a dizzying array of options.

UFB is an exciting development for New Zealand. It has the potential to diminish the tyranny of distance to some degree, and help improve the productivity and efficiency of many businesses. The risks also need to be carefully thought and addressed in advance.

With capability and experience right across the information technology landscape, Datasouth are well placed to provide advice and services as your business considers the challenges of UFB.

Datasouth provides technology solutions that assist organisations in enhancing their business by improved information flow and productivity. As an organisation that has been giving advice to government and corporate clients for over fifteen years, we can advise, design and implement solutions that truly provide a competitive edge and reduced cost structures.

To better understand how we may help you to drive your business forward, please contact Datasouth to discuss your specific requirements.