The Helpful UK Connection Vouchers Guide

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1 The Helpful UK Connection Vouchers Guide Are you eligible for a grant of up to 3k to boost your business broadband? Does your business need it? Why should you bother? Where should you begin? Registered Supplier of the Connection Vouchers Scheme

2 The UK Government want to boost your business broadband SuperConnected Cities is the name of the scheme. There are 50 eligible cities in the UK where the infrastructure is there to let businesses get on board with ibre broadband. A Connection Voucher is the name given to the grant that is available to eligible SME s across those 50 cities. Each grant is up to 3k per eligible SME. It s all part of progressing the UK s digital capabilities to fuel business growth and to grow UK presence as a leading business centre. GROW 3000 GRANT FIBRE FAST CONNECTION VOUCHERS INSTALL SMARTER WORKING CLEVER FTTC, FTTP + LEASED LINE

3 How does fibre broadband fuel business growth? You may well think that you don t need better broadband to increase your turnover. Because that comes down to more customers, right? And more customers come down to the right staf, the right product and the right marketing, yes? Sort of. Most businesses are now trying to do much, much more online. How you mobilise your staf and organise your working practices depends on your connectivity. How you engage with customers and promote your product depends on your online presence. So, imagine your connectivity as a tube. The narrower it is, the less you can do online. The most successful businesses in your category will most likely not only have a digital presence but digital working practices. With poor connectivity, your business may not be able to adapt to the modern market, make the most of time saving operational practices, or tap into cost saving IT and communication solutions. Put simply, faster broadband means more opportunity for growth.

4 What activities will fibre broadband help with? Building a more flexible workforce - Staf accessing the server, s, contacts, calendars etc from wherever they have connectivity, increasing productivity and lexibility. VoIP - Running your telephones over broadband for smarter call systems and often, reduced costs. Video Conferencing Bring together any number of people together, face to face without the premium rate numbers or travel expenses. Collaborative Working Practices Real time document sharing with suppliers, partners, staf and clients. Cloud Storage Solutions - Securely store part or all of your business operations in the Cloud for reduced capital expenditure and online back up. Future Proofing By embracing ibre connectivity now, you will have the connectivity you need to grow in a way that enhances your customers experiences. We can provide you with examples from our own clients, but you can also visit the UK Government website for some quick insight.

5 What do the Connection Vouchers cover? The grant covers the installation costs for either the upgrade of an existing Internet connection, or to connect new business premises. You will continue to pay a monthly cost for the services that you choose. You could see that monthly amount go up, come down or stay the same depending on your current connection and your requirements.

6 About Fibre Broadband The technology is straightforward yet powerful. We can work out what your business actually needs but here is a quick guide to the options: FTTC is the most common and stands for Fibre to the Cabinet. The connection from the exchange to the roadside cabinet is ibre and then a copper line connects to your premises. With FTTC, you can achieve download speeds of up to 80Mbps. Download speed refers to the rate that data can be transferred from another network or the Internet to your end of a broadband connection. Upload speeds (you connecting out) of up to 20Mbps can be achieved with ibre. The speeds can vary depending on your requirement and can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. FTTP stands for Fibre to the Premises and runs the ibre all the way. It s more expensive but ofers even higher speeds. A Leased Line is the fastest business broadband possible. It s fully dedicated to your business meaning consistent speeds and reliability. Available at symmetrical speeds from 2Mbps up to 10Gbps, they provide completely reliable, high performance connections for carrying voice, data and Internet access regardless of the number of users.

7 What are the 50 Super Connected Cities? Aberdeen Edinburgh Milton Keynes Sheield Belfast Exeter Newcastle Southampton Birmingham Glasgow Newport Southend on Sea Bournemouth Gloucester Norwich Stirling Brighton and Hove Hull Nottingham Stoke on Trent Bristol Inverness Oxford Sunderland Cambridge Ipswich Perth Swansea Cardif Leeds Bradford Peterborough Swindon Chelmsford Leicester Plymouth Wolverhampton Coventry Liverpool Portsmouth York Derby London Preston Derry / Londonderry Manchester Reading Dundee Middlesbrough Salford

8 Eligibility Checklist At Abica, we can check everything out with you and handle the whole process but here s a guide: Your business should be within an eligible area in one of the 50 SuperConnected cities. You can check this at You should be a SME, registered charity, social enterprise or sole trader. Changing your broadband service should deliver a speed or performance improvement. Your installation cost should be greater than 100. Your application should be for your main business premises. You can still apply for a connection voucher if your main place of work is at home. You should not have received more than around 200,000 in grants in the last 3 years. Are you willing to sign up for a minimum six-month contract with your broadband supplier? Fibre broadband is not available in my area. What can I do? Talk to us. Good connectivity is key to business growth and we will work with you to ind your best possible connectivity.

9 Why Abica? At Abica, every product and service starts with a simple guarantee to make technology meaningful and cost efective for the businesses using it. We are a Glasgow based business telecoms and IT provider, providing businesses throughout the UK with a full range of high quality telecoms and IT products and services, tailored to it around your business. We love what we do. Business Telecoms and IT is a fast moving industry. Products and solutions are advancing every year. The way that businesses work and the need to use technology is advancing at the same pace. Our job is to help our clients work out what is the best technology for their needs and to make sure that it is cost efective. The technology simply needs to deliver. Our award-winning and UK based team have a proven track record in delivering innovative, it-for-purpose solutions with the serious lexibility and scalability you would expect from the national organisations. It means your business will have the highest level of quality and expertise; but with a more tailored and cost efective approach. How does my business apply? Applying is simple. You don t even need to work out your own requirements. If you think you might be eligible and want to learn more, contact us and we ll guide you through the process.

10 abica.co.uk Keeping business connected