Your bandwidth is like traffic – the more your put through, the more congested it is. Bandwidth is the commodity every business needs, but usually they have either too much or too little. What many businesses overlook is the importance of flexible bandwidth. By flexing and scaling up bandwidth, you get a custom solution that meets your business needs at a moment’s notice.
Traffic Changes Constantly
Internet traffic fluctuates constantly. These Internet rush hours typically occur during work hours and evenings, when families all start streaming and using their devices. However, the volume of traffic is also growing, even in off-peak hours. By 2021, annual IP traffic worldwide will reach 3.3 ZB per year.
Check to see if your bandwidth is prepared to handle surges. For instance, if your business creates an IoT device that’s mainly only used on weekends, you’d need less bandwidth during the week, but you’d want to scale up during the weekend. Having that flexibility helps you meet all traffic changes.
Reduce Overall Network Costs
Bandwidth isn’t the cheapest commodity, but it is necessary. This is where finding a provider who offers pay-per-use billing helps. By having the option to flex bandwidth as needed, you’re not paying for bandwidth you never use. You’re also not getting charged or throttled for bandwidth that you suddenly needed, but weren’t prepared for.
It’s hard to always know exactly what type of plan is best for your business and consumers. However, flexibility is crucial to staying on budget and reducing network costs.
Handle Peak Periods Better
Every business has peak periods. It may be certain hours of the day or certain months of the year. For instance, game development companies may have a few peak months after a new release, but then need to scale back after the initial popularity dies down.
A business that thinks they’re prepared may suddenly have a product or service become popular overnight and discover they don’t have the bandwidth the handle the demand. With a flexible bandwidth setup, all it would take is a few quick changes and you’d be able to handle peak periods with ease without having to purchase more bandwidth than you’d need for normal periods.
Prepare For Special Events
New product launches, special live streaming events, real-time consumer interactions during events and much more all contribute to the need for more bandwidth. Avoid upgrading your bandwidth permanently because it can be costly. For instance, if you’re planning to live stream a major event, you’d only need extra bandwidth during the event. Afterwards, your needs would go back to normal.
With product launches, you’d need additional bandwidth for only a set period. You could scale up temporarily until demand starts to wane. Then, you’d be able to scale back to save money and network resources.
Meet Consumer Demands
While all businesses hope they’ll suddenly grow overnight, the truth is, growth usually takes time. However, most businesses aren’t ready when they need to upgrade to meet growing consumer demands. All it takes is a single successful product or service to skyrocket demand and keep it that way.
For instance, interactive robots connected to the cloud are becoming a must-have item for kids and adults. If your business happens to create the ultimate robot that every kid needs, are your servers ready to handle the sudden influx of data to and from your servers?
You’d need the option to scale up your bandwidth to meet consumer demand. Your customers may leave if they encounter a negative experience. After all, they expect your business to be prepared for whatever they want and need. Flexible bandwidth is the only true solution for keeping up with consumers’ changing demands.
Is bandwidth a constant problem for your business? Contact us today to find out how flexing and scaling bandwidth to your needs creates a better overall experience for your business and consumers.
Image: Denys Nevozhai
