Flexible connectivity has become the name of the game for businesses: customers now crave a consumption-based approach across their entire technology suite. Hybrid working, remote access from anywhere in the world and the ability to scale your bandwidth are all now strategies that key IT decision makers are beginning to adopt. In our own research that explored the CIO mindset, we found that on demand networking has the highest group of CIOs assessing or piloting the technology – though many are yet to upgrade.
If only some have adapted to the changes, what’s holding others back?
Some are still struggling with balancing a hybrid working model, debating how much flexibility to offer. Do they encourage people to return to the office, close or reduce office space, or offer a mixture?
Earlier this year, we compared network traffic pre- and post-pandemic in our London office. Though physical attendance has dropped by almost seven times’ the amount we saw in 2020, in 2022, bandwidth consumption had grown by 26% – with unified communications (UC) software like Microsoft Teams becoming hugely popular. So popular in fact, that in 2020, UC took up only 3% of our office’s bandwidth; now, it contributes to 35% of our connectivity usage.
The office swells in attendance midweek. This spike in bandwidth consumption is the perfect example of when a scalable, on-demand network would be ideal: it reduces costs, consumes less energy and provides our workforce with the bandwidth they need while decreasing it when they don’t.
Among the CIOs surveyed in our research, on demand connectivity ranked as one of the highest strategies for their short-term plans with 45% already utilising the service. On demand also ranked closely behind 5G as a network-related service with the most impact on businesses, revealing that CIOs who have adopted flexible connectivity have already future-proofed their business with a valued network provider.
On-demand connectivity gives them the flexibility of not having to lock down bandwidth allocations in yearly contracts, solving the challenge of a changing bandwidth consumption: like we’ve see in our own offices. If you’re signed up to a flat rate connection but use the lion’s share only a few days a week, having a scalable approach means you don’t need to guess how much you’ll need at any given time.
On-demand will also free up bandwidth for more network-critical applications, amplifying the efficiency of other systems.
If you’d like to find out more about our On Demand service works or learn about our privately owned IQ Network, contact us today.
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