SEE THE LIGHT. How fibre optic broadband can transform your life at work. A BT Infinity for business publication

Transcription

1 SEE THE LIGHT How fibre optic broadband can transform your life at work. A BT Infinity for business publication

2 WELCOME. You re busy, so we ve aimed to make this guide as simple as possible. hello If you re reading this, you re interested in ways to make your business more efficient, more profitable and more innovative. And like most people you re probably aware of fibre optic broadband, but aren t sure exactly why or how it s relevant to you. The truth is, the single simplest thing any business can do to unlock their potential is to have technology that works really well for their people. And fibre optic broadband does just that. Every month thousands of companies switch, and you ll see in this booklet - and on the BT Business website - the difference it s made to them. The Government has estimated that a switch to fibre would boost the country s economy by 18 billion 1. And you can have your slice of that from just 30 a month, with BT Infinity for business. Providing much faster broadband speeds is vital to driving investment and equipping the UK to compete and thrive in the global race David Cameron. March bt.com/seethelight 2

3 CONTENTS. What s fibre optic broadband? 4 What fibre optic broadband can do for your business 5 Fibre optic broadband is working for all sorts of companies 8 How fibre optic broadband is already transforming businesses 9 BT Infinity - the UK s most popular fibre optic network 10 What BT Infinity for business gives you 11 Find out more 16 3

4 WHAT S fibre optic broadband? There are two sorts of broadband: copper wire and fibre optic. Copper wire is based on the original telephone network, upgraded to carry internet signals, whereas fibre optic is designed for more bandwidth and higher speeds. BT has the largest fibre network, which carries BT Infinity for business, and will cover two thirds of the country by spring Fibre optic cable consists of thousands of strands of glass fibre. Each strand is no thicker than a human hair, and each strand can transmit the entire contents of the Encyclopedia Britannica in less than a second 2. And it s available to your business if you re in a fibre-enabled area. Click here to see if your business can access the BT Infinity fibre network bt.com/seethelight 4

5 What fibre optic broadband can do for your business: 1. You ll get more done. If you ve been frustrated by how long it takes to download or upload files, you ll notice a dramatic difference with fibre. BT Infinity for business is as much as 10 times faster than the standard UK broadband, so you and your colleagues won t be slowed down by your internet connection. Download big 200Mb files in less than a minute. Upload 30 photos to your website in 25 seconds. Apps stored in the cloud, like Word, Excel and Powerpoint, work better and faster with fibre. Time is money as the cliché goes. And fibre can prove to be a very valuable investment. 2. You get a fast lane for your business on the superhighway. You may find that your office broadband slows down at the busiest times of the day. But as you know, business doesn t. BT Infinity for business is different. It understands that you need to get things done urgently, so it s like a VIP service for your company, consistently fast, even at the busiest times. 5

6 3. Fibre makes businesses more innovative. Fact. Research proves that having fibre makes businesses more innovative 3. People cut down on travel time to meetings, because good quality video conferencing is now accessible to even the smallest businesses. You can speak to colleagues and customers on your laptop, no fancy equipment necessary. In four years time, video conferencing will be normal for well over half of all businesses of all sizes 4. The consistent speeds provided by fibre allow lots of people in the office to access the web at the same time. Faster, more reliable connections to wi-fi mean you can get online from different devices. All this lends itself to better collaboration and ideas sharing. Some businesses have even used this to extend their offering with BT Infinity for business, the free BT Hub can be used to offer wi-fi access not only to employees, but also to customers visiting the office. SPEND EFFICIENCY 4. Fibre can save you money. The majority of businesses we speak to find the relatively low investment in fibre pays off in increased efficiency 5. That s why the government believes it s key to our success as an economy. For instance, BT Infinity for business is available from just 30 a month bt.com/seethelight 6

7 5. Fibre improves cloud computing. What does that mean? The cloud? Effectively it means you keep all your files and information in a virtual cloud outside your office. So anyone can access all the information they need from any place on any device, just as easily as if they were in the office. Because fibre optic broadband gives you much faster connection speeds, you can seamlessly upload and download files to and from the cloud when you re in the office. And, with BT Infinity for business, you can access those files on the move from one of over 5 million BT Wi-fi hotspots. It means you re never tied to your desk so you can work far more flexibly and efficiently. It s secure, and it will reduce those expensive visits from the IT specialists. It also makes remote working easier, so anyone can work from home as well as they would in the office. That means you can hire the best people for the job, whatever hours and from whatever location they want to work. 7

8 Fibre optic broadband is working for all sorts of companies. Perhaps you think fibre won t suit your business, that it s just for more creative, technological or larger businesses. That s just not true. Thousands of businesses are switching to BT Infinity for business every month, and we find customers come from all sorts of sectors; from picture framers to water companies, start-ups to established organisations. And the majority tell us it has transformed the way they work bt.com/seethelight 8

9 How fibre optic broadband is already transforming businesses. These are a few of the many good stories we ve had from our BT Infinity for business customers. Kaamar Tiles: Trebled the visitors to their site. They need fibre simply to exist. Building mosaic tile reproductions of customers favourite pictures, Kaamar s whole business idea is reliant on high speed internet connections. The superfast upload speeds they get from BT Infinity for business mean customers can easily view their bespoke designs online or via . This has attracted 3 times more visitors to their site. Read the full case study here JR Annett Mirrors and Pictures: Opening new markets. Fibre has allowed this picture manufacturing company to upload product images and details to their website quicker than ever before. This means the Northern Ireland-based business has been able to expand across the UK, selling and liaising with customers online. Read the full case study here Chapter Arts Centre: Creating new revenue streams. The high speed connection and free wi-fi hub which come with BT Infinity for business have allowed Chapter Arts Centre to offer free wi-fi to customers in their café, meaning they stay longer and spend more money. Their strong, reliable connection also lets them stream films and live events into the cinema. Watch the full case study here Flow Technology: Keeping clients happy. Flow Technology are a water company who supply, install and repair the pumps and valves which help keep Northern Ireland s water flowing. Now they re growing and are split across three offices, they use BT Infinity for business to allow them access to their new cloud-based server and to respond to clients as though from a single office. Read the full case study here 9

10 BT Infinity - the UK s most popular fibre optic network. BT is investing over 2.5 billion in creating a state-of-the-art fibre optic network: the fastest fibre roll-out in the world. By 2014, it will give two-thirds of UK consumers and businesses access to BT Infinity and BT Infinity for business. The network delivers download speeds of up to 76Mb compared to the average speed of copper wire broadband, which is 5.9Mb. BT is now the most popular fibre optic network in the UK with thousands of companies switching to BT Infinity for business every month. BT Infinity awarded Best Customer Rated Fibre Broadband 2013 by uswitch.com bt.com/seethelight 10

11 What BT Infinity for Business gives you: BT Infinity for business gives you all the advantages of fibre optic broadband, and a unique combination of extra benefits: 1. Superfast speeds, even at the busiest times. BT Infinity for business is as much as 10x faster than UK average broadband, so you can upload or download large files in seconds. Plus you can be sure of consistently superfast speeds, even at the busiest times, so you won t suffer any expected slowdowns. 2. Reliable connections 99.99% of the time. As a business, you can t afford technology breaking down and holding you up. BT Infinity for business is 99.99% reliable, which equates to just one minute s downtime in a whole week. 11

12 3. Hassle-free installation. One of the big barriers for many customers is the fear of changing systems, and the need for support to get up and running. With BT, an engineer will come and install BT Infinity for business for you at no extra cost. They can talk you through the system and answer any initial questions you may have. 4. Technical support, round the clock. BT Infinity for business comes with 24/7 technical support. There s a team of experts at the end of the phone, there to answer any technical questions and sort out niggles. For an additional cost you can also have engineers at the end of the phone to help with general IT issues, whether broadband-related or not. At BT, we have more experience of every type and size of business than any other provider. There s very rarely anything we haven t seen before bt.com/seethelight 12

13 5. Free, unlimited access to the UK s largest network of wi-fi hotspots. When you re out and about it s often critical you have access to broadband, and with BT Infinity for business you get unlimited access to any of BT s Wi-fi hotspots - that s worth 15 a month. They re in shopping centres, stations, airports and so on, right across the UK. 13

14 6. Free wi-fi for your office with a BT Business Hub. This gives you a strong wi-fi connection in your office, which you can also offer as a service to your customers or to anyone visiting your office. Minimising interference, the hub provides a secure connection and a longer range, which is better for multiple users. It s worth 79, and is free to our BT Infinity for business customers. 7. A choice of speeds. There s a choice of download speeds: up to 38Mb and up to 76Mb. The speed you need depends on your business. If you have a small business, and no website, up to 38Mb might suit you. If your business is based online and you need to upload images and video, then the up to 76Mb is probably your best option. Any one of the BT customer team can talk you through the options, having understood the nature of your business and its specific needs bt.com/seethelight 14

15 8. A range of prices to suit any budget. You can have the UK s favourite fibre broadband from just 30 a month. You can combine it with a full communications package too which sorts out all your broadband, land line and mobile needs in one simple package. THE PRICES 30 a month : the basic fibre package, with up to 38Mb download speeds 35 a month : up to 76Mb fibre broadband 40 a month : up to 76Mb broadband plus unlimited usage 15

16 TO FIND OUT MORE. Simply call us on and ask one of our team any questions you may have. Or visit our website bt.com/seethelight, where you will find more details about our service as well as how other businesses are using BT Infinity for business. To switch to fibre optic broadband now, just follow these three simple steps: 1. Call and ask us about BT Infinity for business. 2. Arrange free installation at a time that suits you. 3. A final check of your PC by a BT engineer will make sure everything s running smoothly. It s as easy as that. Fibre broadband is the future, and it s your chance to transform the way you work. We hope this has been helpful. BT Infinity for business Making technology work for people bt.com/seethelight 1Federation of Small Businesses, referenced by Jeremy Hunt, Media keynote speech, 8 June Spokane Chronicle, August Getting up to speed: making superfast broadband a reality, NESTA policy briefing, January Use of video conferencing forecast to increase from 29% today to 63% by 2017, Openreach Market Insight & Analysis, March % users believe fibre broadband has made them more efficient and 53% believe it s saved them money. Openreach Market Insight & Analysis, March % believe it s transformed the way they work, Openreach Market Insight & Analysis, March times faster is based on BT Infinity for business Option 2 average customer speed (24 hours) and UK average standard (ADSL) broadband speed from Ofcom broadband report, May The speed to upload 30 photos is based on each photo being 2Mb (60Mb total file size). Broadband speed can be affected by a number of things: how far your business is from the fibre cabinet as well as the wiring in your building. Not all lines in an Infinity-enabled area can support the service. BT Infinity for business may require a BT line or similar and a fibre compatible router such as the BT Business Hub provided with Infinity. The speeds provided by BT Infinity for business are more consistent than standard broadband, giving you prioritised traffic with 16Mb assured throughput at 90% of the internet busy period. For BT Wi-fi, our Fair Use policy applies. See btwifi.co.uk for details. 30 a month is based on BT Infinity for business Option 1 with a 24 month Minimum Period. 35 a month is based on BT Infinity for business Option 2 with a 24 month Minimum Period. 40 a month is based on BT Infinity for business Option 2 Advance Support with a 24 month Minimum Period. All prices exclude VAT and are correct at the time of publication, but are subject to change from time to time. Terms and conditions apply. 16