5 Important Considerations for Finding WiFi That Meets the Needs of Your Small Business

Fast and reliable WiFi is the key to keeping up with customer demands and making your business run smoothly. Connectivity is what makes your business run efficiently and get things done.

The WiFi space is crowded, and with so many options to choose from it can be hard to figure out where to start to figure out what will work best for you. Here are some key factors to consider.

What Are Your Needs for WifI Now, and In the Future

If you want to get the best WiFI solution for your business, you need to understand what normal usage looks like. If you can get a picture of your company’s standard day-to-day needs, you can figure out what WiFi will work best for you.

Start by getting answers to the following questions:

• Does your WiFi need to support activities such as video conferencing and live-streaming?
• Will the WiFi be private or public?
• Is your WiFi used by both employees and customers?
• If the WiFi is just being used by employees, what functionality do they need in order to get their jobs done most efficiently?
• If your customers use your WiFi, how will do they access it?
• Do you want your customers to have enough bandwidth to be able to watch videos or just enough access to check emails?
• Will you be using your WiFi to collect customer information to help with marketing efforts and business decisions?

Walking through these questions will help you think about how your WiFi informs your overall business strategy. Make sure that you’re not just meeting expectations but exceeding them, with an eye towards growth in the future.

What Is Your Budget?

If you’re a small business, one of the biggest factors you make in any decision is cost. You want to make sure that you’re getting the most bang for your buck. When you’re looking at setting up business WiFi, however, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all price point. It all comes down to your objectives. However, before searching for a solution that’s right for you, putting a budget together can help narrow down your search.

How Secure Will Your WiFi Be for Your Business, Employees, and Customers

Security considerations are essential when choosing WiFi for your business, because of the sheer amount of proprietary information that passes over your network every day.

As part of your business plan, your company should have an IT security policy with clear protocols and procedures established. Creating security standards will help you be better able to judge whether a particular WiFi setup meets or doesn’t meet your needs.

With the growth of the mobile workforce, many businesses have seen the need for allowing employees to access important information on their own decides. To ensure your employees’ personal devices are protected, your company will need a BYOD policy that is factored into your WiFi solution.

If you’re also connecting customers to your WiFi in addition to employees, you need to have guest usage security features and settings so that they can use your Internet without the chance that someone could access valuable company information.

What Equipment Will You Need? What Equipment Will Your Internet Service Provider Provide?

When you’ve used free public WiFi as a customer, have you ever found after logging in that the connection is unusually slow? Your connection is a part of the customer experience, and a slow connection is just as damaging to your reputation as a rude employee or bad service.

Having the right equipment for your business is critical. Low-quality hardware or limited bandwidth can cause your free WiFi offering to backfire. Work with a trusted Internet Service Provider to make sure that your WiFi setup and bandwidth are able to exceed expectations, and make sure that you have the support you need to solve problems quickly.

Can The WiFi Solution Grow As Your Business Grows? What Scaling Options Available?

A lot of questions about how to meet your WiFi needs have to do with what your business is doing today, but you also need to think about tomorrow. What happens if your business suddenly grows? If you need to rapidly expand your team you’ll need a WiFi network that can keep up and a provider with the ability to scale to meet your needs. You need to make sure that your WiFI has the flexibility and scalability to grow with your business.

WiFi is a fundamental part of how you get business done effectively, no matter what you do. You need something that is fast, secure, and consistent. Get a WiFi network that allows your business to reach its fullest potential, but don’t overlook the critical first assessment of your evolving wireless needs.

Learn more about WiFi options from Cox Business for your business.