Businesses today depend on the internet for a variety of functions. Consider just a few of the ways your business may use the internet.
- Website
- Advertising
- Social media
- Web browsing
- Cloud applications
- Customer service
- Sales functions
In some cases, you may be so dependent on the internet that it’s necessary to have redundancy in your system.
Do you run any part of your business in the cloud? Some commonly used applications include Office 365, Salesforce.com, ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning) and payroll. Most companies use email.
Perhaps you run an ecommerce business. If so, you risk losing sales and alienating customers if you’re down for any length of time.
The more functions you conduct online, the more you need an “always on” internet connection. Unfortunately, all internet service providers experience outages at some point. In fact, it’s estimated that carriers experience an outage at least once every 16 months.
Redundancy defined
Redundancy means having a second (failover) internet connection that takes over if your primary connection goes down.
Redundancy is also helpful if your main provider experiences a prolonged slowdown in service.
With redundant connections, your system can be configured to automatically and seamlessly switch from your primary connection to your backup connection until things get back to normal.
It’s best to not use the same provider (or even the same type of connection) for your primary and redundant service. This will protect you in the event your primary provider or connection develops a system wide issue.
How we can help
Even if you already have a primary provider, Future Link IT can support your business with an affordable redundant internet connection.
For example, a cellular backup connection starts at only $100 per month. To keep costs down, you’ll pay usage fees only when you use the connection.
We can also provide a router that will automatically switch between connections in the event of an outage.
Give us a call and let’s talk about setting up your redundant internet service.