Connectivity is no longer just about infrastructure: it has moved from being a utility to being a strategic business enabler.
This is according to Bianca Swanepoel, Head of Connectivity at RSAWEB Business, who says traditional approaches to connectivity do not adequately enable workflows and efficiencies the way modern businesses need – particularly in large businesses and enterprises with differentiated and complex workforce requirements.
“Businesses no longer ask ‘do we have internet?’ – that is the most basic expectation, and raw speed is no longer a differentiator or competitive advantage. Organisations now also require their connectivity to be resilient, consistent, scalable and low latency,” Swanepoel says.
“On top of this, we see a growing requirement for connectivity partners to be able to intelligently enable workflows, so employees can connect and work in exactly the same way – anytime, from anywhere, across any connectivity medium. Now, and into the future, businesses need networks designed for how people actually work.”
The future ISP designs networks around people, desks and workflows – not just buildings, she says.
The end of the line
Key to the future of connectivity is the end of ‘one line thinking’, Swanepoel says. “Fibre to the building is no longer enough – the future is fibre to the seat, desk or individual user. But no single technology can meet every business need and take connectivity to every use everywhere, so hybrid is the new default. The future is intelligently orchestrated connectivity where location is no longer a constraint.
"To enable employees everywhere, organisations need a hybrid and dynamic approach to fibre, satellite and wireless connectivity as a unified solution. This means that forward-thinking ISPs must design connectivity ecosystems, not single access lines,” she says. “They must also become connectivity partners and workflow enablers by building highly adaptive networks with intelligent routing, automatic failover and performance monitoring.”
Swanepoel believes the next decade will belong to ISPs that understand business outcomes, not just megabits, and that moving from selling just reliable connectivity to delivering performance, resilience, security and business outcomes to customers will drive decision-making.
From lines to workflow performance orchestrators
Swanepoel explains that meeting the connectivity needs of individual users at scale requires new approaches to network design.
“For example, firewalls might limit access to systems based on location, so an executive working from a coffee shop might be limited in terms of what work they can do away from the office,” she says.
“Future-proof network design removes the location-based constraints and configures the firewalls in such a way that they enable productivity. They are designed around workflows – not traditional rules. In future, networks must change focus from location to entity, and from network topology to workflow. The modern ISP must consider the character and the workflow over the network topology and become a workflow performance orchestrator.”
Exceptional service by design
Swanepoel notes that ISPs also must be more predictive and proactive in order to deliver the service levels modern businesses expect. She says: “The ISP should immediately detect a problem and resolve it – ideally before the customer notices it – and make recommendations to mitigate the risk of the same problem occurring again. They should also excel in terms of service delivery and relationship management because exceptional relationship-based experiences differentiate who you are as a business.”
She adds: “Ultimately, it’s about adding user experience as a key component of what the network delivers. It’s as important as uptime, consistency and reliability, because a flawless user experience helps businesses service their own customers better and become more competitive.
“The businesses that thrive in future will be those that treat connectivity as a competitive advantage, and the ISPs that lead will be those that help them do exactly that,” she concludes.
* RSAWEB positions itself as South Africa’s leading ISP, providing premium connectivity solutions to the home and business.
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