September 24, 2014
The introduction of the Internet into businesses brought about a brand new wave of productivity, innovation and creation. Today, Internet connectivity in the workplace is necessary, but you have options on the methods you use. In the past, a hard-wire connection was essential to connect to the Internet; today however, technology makes it possible to connect wirelessly. So, this raises a question, “Is one connection method better than the other?”
Business today is all about flexibility, responsiveness and constant access to information on the web. Your employees can achieve great things with a simple Internet connection, but how are they going to get work done in this increasingly mobile world if they have to be chained to their desks all day? If your business is still relying on a wired network as the backbone of its connectivity, now is the time to switch to wireless, and here’s why:
Scalability
When your business grows, a wireless network offers your company easy and affordable scalability. If you have a wired network, every time you add a new employee workstation you’ll have to run cable to that desk to provide Internet access. New workstations, aka more cable wiring throughout the office, create more work for your IT department. Reduce the clutter of those wires and stop interrupting your IT department with new wiring requirements by switching to a wireless network.
Reduce Time Spent Maintaining Networks
In a wired environment, IT departments have to spend time maintaining those connections and troubleshooting connectivity issues. For instance, if a pin breaks on an Ethernet cable at an employee’s workstation, your IT department has to visit the malfunctioning location and try to diagnose the issue.
In a wireless environment, setting up a new employee account requires very little IT department time. In this network environment, your IT department isn’t stuck running wires, maintaining connection points and wasting time running around the office to solve problems. Connectivity issues can often be settled remotely from an IT workstation, saving everyone time.
Mobility and Collaboration
How many of your employees arrive for daily and weekly meetings with nothing more than a pen and a pad of paper? Newsflash – this isn’t the 1960s anymore. Your employees could be bringing laptops and tablets into meetings to track notes, share information and make presentations. With a wired-only network, doing so is either very challenging or entirely impossible. Wired networks can limit the ability of your staff to travel about the office and have productive face-to-face collaborations with each other as well as clients, vendors and more.
Guest Connections
Believe it or not, there is a good reason to provide wireless connectivity to every guest that enters your business. When a guest enters your business today, whether you are a financial services company or a hotel chain, they expect to have free access to Internet. This not only enables them to be productive, but it reflects well on your hospitality and your technological advancement.
Wireless internet is considered mainstream – everyone expects to have access to the Internet, especially in business settings. When visitors arrive for a business meeting, tour, conference or other event, they need the ability to connect to the internet to access presentation materials, email accounts, social media channels, secure data and more.
Responsiveness
Increased responsiveness and better interaction with your team members and customers are two additional benefits of a wireless network. For example, when employees in a manufacturing facility can access inventory numbers or production progress from a tablet they can respond to internal and external inquiries from anywhere within the facility, without running back to a workstation and looking up the information. Or, if during a conference call with a potential partner you need to reference a document not printed for the meeting, you won’t have to stall the call in order to get to your workstation to access the document.
Wireless networks allow business to flow much more smoothly and efficiently because everything you need can continually be at your fingertips.
Today, wireless connectivity can be considered essential for a productive business operation. If you haven’t already, integrating a wireless network can improve day-to-day operations and prepare your company for a successful future. To create a wireless office or enhance the one you already have, request an assessment of your Business’ IT.
