Is your internet connection keeping up with how you work today?

Many Aussie small and medium businesses today rely on multiple cloud apps, connected devices and online tools to run daily operations.

Cloud software now handles everything from accounting to customer records. We’re using more data and downloading larger files regularly.

Video meetings have replaced many in-person catch-ups, and online sales and digital marketing are now core drivers of growth.

Whether you’re managing projects, serving customers or running an online store, those tools make work faster and more flexible – but they also demand faster, more reliable internet to keep up.

Meeting that demand, nbn® Business Plans offer options for fast upload and download speeds, enhanced business installations, and fast fault restorations – meaning if an issue occurs, your service provider has the support it needs from nbn to restore your connection faster than standard plans*.

Yet for many businesses, the internet plan they’re on hasn’t kept pace with how businesses operate online today. Research shows many small businesses are still operating on residential-style plans, even as their operations become far more data-intensive.

With 45 per cent of small businesses reporting they don’t know their current max upload speed, it’s a sign many haven’t asked whether their plan is up to the task of meeting their business’s data demands.

Cloud and collaboration are changing business internet

The data shows nearly every small business now depends on cloud-based software – around 94 per cent, though roughly two-thirds aren’t aware of how much they use the cloud. And every time your team backs up data, shares large files, uploads content, or joins a video call, you’re relying on your connection’s upload capacity.

However, some basic business internet plans may be the same as residential plans you get for home use.  While they may seem adequate at first glance, these plans may offer lower upload speeds and slower service fault restoration timeframes when compared with nbn Business Plans.

For businesses, that can be an issue. According to research, unlike residential use, where downloads dominate over uploads at an 8:1 ratio, business users maintain a more balanced data pattern – at 2:1, businesses download data at twice the rate, uploading data far more often than residential users.

Why does this pattern matter? Residential-style plans provide fast download speeds, which is ideal for streaming and browsing, but they often have lower upload speeds – which is an ideal set up to suit the needs of most households.

For businesses, this could become a critical bottleneck. Plans that support email or light web use may not be suitable when multiple employees run cloud applications, video conferences, and share large files simultaneously – leading to productivity loss and poor customer experience.

Do more, faster, with better upload and download speeds

Modern business internet plans are built to help keep your business open, operational and focused on what matters most. More balanced upload and download speeds help enable seamless sharing and real-time communication.   

Higher-speed business plans support more people, devices and applications working simultaneously, so teams can share files, run cloud apps, and join video calls without delays. They also help support consistent performance even during peak activity, with multiple users online, each streaming, sharing or conferencing.

For hybrid or remote teams, those higher, more balanced speed tiers also mean real-time communication and responsiveness, making video calls feel closer to face-to-face.

The service difference with business plans

Speeds aside, nbn Business Plans are also designed to help get you back up and running if something goes wrong. They include service-level agreements (SLAs) with 24/7, 365 fast fault-restoration targets that support service providers in restoring faults, and offering options such as after-hours appointments and case-managed repairs*.

Plans that aren’t designed specifically for business, typically operate on longer SLAs and standard support hours. That might be fine for non-business use, but not for business where downtime impacts productivity and revenue.

For growing businesses, downtime isn’t just inconvenient; it can cost real money. Yet recent research found only 26 per cent of complex-needs businesses have an enhanced service-level agreement with their provider.

Setting your business up for the future

Fast, reliable connectivity keeps modern businesses running, with the right plan able to improve productivity, support your team and give customers a smoother experience. If it’s been more than two years since you reviewed your internet plan, your business may well have outgrown it.

There’s no better time to think about what your business needs – business plans are more easily available than ever before, backed by expanded footprint availability. Spanning across close to 90 per cent of nbn’s fixed line footprint on FTTP and HFC technologies, nbn’s Business Plans are available to both regional and metro customers.

Speak with your preferred provider to discover if an nbn Business Plan is right for you to set your business up for the future.

The findings and representations in this article regarding the views and internet activity preferences of businesses in Australia are based on surveys commissioned by nbn and conducted by Ergo Strategy. Ergo Strategy is solely responsible for the accuracy, completeness, and validity of these findings and representations.

*Not all providers offer plans based on the full range of nbn’s enhanced service levels. Faults may relate to matters in a provider’s network, your premises equipment or network resources being accessed rather than a fault with the nbn network.

This article is brought to you by Business Builders in partnership with nbn.

Feature image: AdobeStock