globalized world. Thanks to the Internet, small businesses are now competing on a worldwide stage, with competition both down the street and on the other side of the world. Whether this is good or bad usually depends on how well each small business can harness the power of network technologies for their own use.
It's become relatively easy for a small business like yours to provide big business-style networking infrastructure and services.
Investing in new WiFi solutions today can continue to pay off for years to come.
There's a good chance that, like many small businesses, you're still working primarily with off-the-shelf hardware. After all, a one or two-person office really doesn't need much more than a stock wireless router from Walmart, for basic connectivity. It makes sense for an operation that's just getting off the ground.
In our experience, this often leads small businesses to then continue to buy mostly from stores, adding routers when needed in an ad-hoc fashion based simply on current needs. While this Wi-Fi strategy can succeed for awhile, especially if the business is only concerned with maintaining connectivity, but it has significant drawbacks:
Older routers become bottlenecks, preventing newer hardware from functioning optimally.
Each router has to be individually configured, slowing changes to the network architecture.
Security is only as strong as each individual router, giving you uneven protection.
Modern mobile devices struggle to connect to older routers, removing them as business assets.
Many Cloud-based or Voice-over-IP services cannot work with piecemeal networks.
Overall network performance increasingly slows as all these minor incompatibilities add up.
In short, at some point in their growth, an Internet-ready business will need to move towards more unified WiFi solutions, from a single vendor. Rather than being a strategy reserved for large businesses, it now makes sense for virtually any smaller firm that foresees growth over the coming years.
Today, businesses are moving towards unified communications and a single standardized network Operating System much sooner than in years past. An office with more than a couple people can already realize huge benefits from a modern Wireless solution, such as a BlueSocket-ready or Meraki network.
For one, you save money in the long run. Standardizing early on means that you aren't investing money in a network that will have to be replaced in a few years. Standardized systems are also able to compensate for older hardware, increasing each router's lifespan and ROI.
You also gain a number of important new opportunities to leverage the Internet:
In-office Voice-over-IP telephony can ultimately eliminate your telephone bill.
Off-site Cloud storage systems reduce the need for costly servers at your location.
Unified communications brings unified security, providing far superior protection.
Coworkers can use their own mobile devices, from anywhere in the world.
Future Wi-Fi expansions require less time and effort.
Administration can be done securely through single terminal, even remotely.
So, if it's time to expand your network, it's time to consider moving towards a unified WiFi solution. Today, there's simply no reason to rely on older networking setups any longer than you have to.
By moving onto a unified system, you'll see the benefits immediately, and also for years to come.