The top 5 mistakes to avoid when you’re setting up your business internet.

There are a few things to consider when opening your office, retail space, or restaurant with the internet. As IT professionals,  there are several common mistakes the businesses we encounter repeatedly make. From using a home internet set up to support your staff, to poor security practices (virtual or physical) to protect your business. 

1). Thinking short term 

Most leases are longer than 5 years. It’s a common occurrence where our clients started with a “duct tape” solution and only called us after it was too late. Late is when the issues are actually costing the business money. You should look at a solution that will last the lifetime of the business. The cost might be heavier upfront but will pay itself off by giving you peace of mind that this segment of your business is running correctly. You didn’t spend countless hours and time on your business to not protect it with the right IT solution. 

2). Bandwidth size

Think of this as water pipes, if you’re requesting more water(data), you’ll have to increase the pipe size(bandwidth). This request would be made to your Internet service provider (Verizon, Spectrum, AT&T). There’s a simple test to determine if you’re at capacity. We’ve found clients overpaying on their business internet bill knowing they will never reach their bandwidth capacity. Rule of thumb, the average 30 person office does not need more than 1 Gig of internet.

3). Equipment needed

Purchasing the wrong equipment early on can be costly in the long run. You’re going to want a system that can grow with your business, keep up with the updates on the market, and serve you efficiently for the lifetime of your lease. Network equipment, security cameras, indoor/outdoor WAP’s should all be chosen with longevity and purpose at the forefront.

4) Backup Business Internet

Downtime can be deadly. If you’re an office and somehow have employees that can’t get connect to the Business internet. Or you’re a restaurant that can’t process credit card payments for its customers. This downtime is never good and can truly hurt your businesss. There’s a way to reduce downtime to nearly 0.001% to avoid costly mistakes such as this. Check out this article for more info on the hidden fees of not having backup internet. Rule of thumb, set up a backup internet that runs on cellular.

5). Security 

Do your customers and employees share the same wifi? This is a recipe for disaster, as your personal bank, business, and other info can be stolen by users on that wifi SSID. There should be layers of security created to protect your business by separating who has access to what. The correct hardware setup can correct this. And later programming it with these security layers needed for you business.

If you’re looking for a “How to” on getting wifi setup for your space, shoot us an email at info@thomdigital.com