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EDITOR’S QUESTION
RIAAN MAREE, CO-
FOUNDER AND CTO (CHIEF
TECHNICAL OFFICER) AT
WIRULINK
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D
id you know that approximately
seven years ago, a 100Mbps fibre
line would have cost more than R20
000 a month. This means that the fibre
was certainly aimed at big corporates and
entities with large IT and infrastructure
budgets. What did this mean for the SME
market? Simply put, we were compromised
from an accessibility perspective, where
the only option was ADSL. And, even then,
the cost was 10 times higher than that of
other countries, whose line speeds were five
times higher.
The good news however, is that this picture
today looks very different. In fact, fibre is
no longer a commodity – especially for the
SME market, driven largely by the entry of
independent fibre providers.
So, what? Why should I choose fibre for my
business you may ask?
Well the reality is that today we operate
in a highly connected world, one where
our customers are always switched on,
one that demands speed of service and
responsiveness and one that gravitates
towards those organisations that can
offer this. For a SME business then, fibre
becomes a true enabler. With high-speed
connectivity and the ability to run your entire
IT infrastructure through your fibre line, with
no need for additional telecommunications
providers, SMEs can truly revolutionise their
business and their speed to market.
Fibre has enabled SMEs to take advantage
of high-speed, uncapped Internet access –
meaning they are able to ensure constant
connectivity to their clients, make use of
cloud storage and software platforms,
access information much quicker and
able to ensure that any downloads or
uploads of contracts, client material and
information can be done in a fraction of
the time. Business productivity is therefore
a key advantage of fibre to the SME and
www.intelligentcio.com
is placing the business in a much stronger
competitive advantage than a few years
ago – enabling businesses to make things
happen with less resources yet at the same
pace as their corporate counterparts. that fibre is enabling SME businesses to
really consolidate their IT Infrastructure into
a more manageable solution, one that works
well yet saves the organisation money and
ensures ease of use and convenience.
Further to this, cost and affordability – as
well as convenience – has become a catalyst
for the adoption of fibre. Today, there are a
range of affordable, effective fibre offerings
available to the market, starting from as little
as R425 per month. Talk about convenience. How many times
have you run out of data or experienced
throttling on your ADSL line or LTE
connection – having to see it through
until the new month kicks in, or top up
on data, which makes your cost planning
erratic? SME businesses cannot afford
such downtime, which essentially impacts
productivity and service delivery. Fibre
assists in mitigating such risks, affording
you low, to zero, downtime as well as – with
certain providers – 24/7 support, 365 days
a year.
This makes fibre accessible to the smaller
organisations, right from the home office
one-man entrepreneur, all the way to the
small to mid-sized businesses – as well as
corporate South Africa. It is not only fibre
costs that businesses can save on. In fact,
certain providers will move your existing
telephone lines onto their fibre network
– enabling you to reduce your monthly
telephone line spend by as much as 50%
per month.
Many smaller businesses can realise even
higher savings by running their business from
home (or multiple employees’ homes) with
ultra-fast fibre internet access. This means
As an SME business in South Africa, every
minute, cent and decision counts – so
when it comes to connectivity this mindset
should hold true. Think about what you are
paying for, what you are getting and how
your current solution is either hindering or
enhancing your service and time to market,
then decide – ‘can I afford not to join the
fibre movement?’ n
INTELLIGENTCIO
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