Build Your Home Business with Superfast Broadband

Mick Hegarty, Strategy & Commercial Director, BT Business, shares some top tips on how you can you build a professional company image that competes with big business from day one with superfast broadband.

The number of people starting and growing a business from home rose dramatically last year to 2.8 million - an increase of 300,000 people going it alone. This bodes well for an upturn, particularly as last year alone home businesses contributed £284 billion to the UK economy.

Whether you’re starting out from home or looking to extend your reach, operating on low overheads and making the most efficient use of technology is crucial to securing your long-term success. More than 81 per cent of businesses that responded to the 2009 Business Pulse, the largest survey of UK businesses to take place last year, confirmed that technology remains a key enabler to starting and growing a business from home.

As we come out of a recession consumer behaviour is also changing. Living in a tough climate has made people more cautious about their purchasing decisions and they now look for greater assurance that the companies they deal with are professional, trustworthy and proactive at responding to their needs.

So there is no better time to review your operations and ensure you’re supported with the right technology to give your business a solid platform for growth.

Be super>fast
Many small businesses already know the benefits of taking professional business broadband packages rather than opting for a consumer package. These offer the reliability, security, support and business tools you need, such as inclusive business email addresses, to help you ensure effective communications. Taking this a step further, one of the new technologies which will have a tremendous impact on your business in 2010 is super>fast broadband.

High Speed
A step beyond most broadband packages would be setting up high speed DSL internet access

Not only will much faster internet speed support better customer service, but it can bring significant efficiencies. ‘Super-fast’ firms can forget about using couriers to hand deliver large files and databases - they will be able to send a 40Mb/s file direct from an office computer. Remote working will also become even easier, as superfast broadband supports VOIP, high definition video conferencing and more internet based applications. 

According to the Business Pulse 2009 survey, 61% of businesses found that faster broadband speeds have had a positive effect on their operations. BT provides a free upgrade to speeds of up to 20Mb/s technology and the first UK users of speeds of up to 40Mb/s have now gone live. By 2012, 40% of the UK, that’s some 10 million homes & businesses, will be able to access fibre broadband through BT.

BT Business Total Broadband Fibre is available to businesses from as little as £30.00 per month. The service gives business traffic priority at times of contention and the UK’s fastest upstream speeds of up to 10Mb/s*. A dedicated broadband "fast lane" puts business user traffic first at times of contention to help firms continue to work faster, do more, reduce operational costs and boost productivity.

Find out more about Superfast Broadband.

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