Characteristics to look out for in your business ISP

Time flies, technology evolves and before you know it your IT network & telecoms infrastructure is outdated, your systems stop working together and you need to keep patching technologies.

Whether you are looking to upgrade your current IT network & telecoms infrastructure or adding a new location to the network, here are a few things you should consider when selecting an ISP partner.

Ensure that the ISP has coverage in all the areas where you conduct business. This should not only be limited to the city metros, but to smaller towns and outlying rural areas as well.

Businesses cannot afford poor network performance. Reputable ISP’s offer bandwidth and uptime guarantees through multiple local and international routes, peering points and peering partners. Data centre peering points provide highly resilient networks with multiple fail-overs and low latency, shortest path routing.

Data and security breaches continue to make headlines and cause headaches for IT managers. These incidents make regular preventative maintenance essential for the IT department. Real-time monitoring of all critical networks and devices becomes an absolute necessity as businesses simply cannot afford the cost and reputational damage that accompany a data breach or a system crash.

As companies and employees decentralise, it’s important to find a comfortable medium where all technologies work together i.e. networking, storage, security, telephony equipment, software and licensing.

Ensure that your ISP can facilitate a hybrid IT and connectivity approach in which your organization manages some information technology resources in-house but uses cloud-based services for others and has multiple connectivity options.

A fibre optic internet connection is not fail proof and causes major stress for IT managers (and all other employees) when the connection is disrupted or broken.

Choose an ISP that offers multiple fail-overs such as microwave wireless internet and mobile networks.

These fail-overs kick in seamlessly when the fibre connection goes down ensuring that your network is always up and running.

Choose an ISP that offers professional SLA’s that define the expected level of service, guarantees and penalty clauses if terms are not met.

When researching what IT solutions will help your business achieve its goals, choose an ISP that has the technical knowledge to understand your organization’s strategic goals and can implement and maintain the connectivity, hardware and networking infrastructure to achieve them.

Choose a specialist business ISP to ensure that you don’t get bundled into the same support stream as millions of residential users. There’s nothing more frustrating than long support queues when critical business operations are at a standstill.

Choose an ISP that has a long history and proven track record of handling complex network upgrades and migrations.

Ensure that your ISP has the capacity to expand networks as your business grows. It’s far easier to manage a relationship with one ISP than multiple service providers in different locations. This also ensures that the same level of technology is deployed across your entire network.

Reputable IPS’s offer more than just a physical connection to the internet. Choose an ISP that has in-house products and services such as cloud networking, VoIP and PBX products, that maximise your business efficiencies and allow you to manage your entire network from a single point.

Ensure that the ISP is registered with the relevant internet service providers’ association in your country.

At Stem Connect we pride ourselves on fulfilling all of the above requirements.

Take your business to the next level. Touch base with us.