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Connecting Scotland our broadband future: Making it Happen
BROADBAND - making business better
1. Broadband is often spoken of in terms of the benefits it offers to business users, but what exactly are these? In straightforward terms, broadband is the best enabler of e-business.
2. E-business doesn't mean simply having a marketing website or offering e-mail access to your employees; it means gaining a real competitive advantage through Internet technologies.
3. What are the competitive advantages offered to businesses through the effective employment of e business?
To name a few:
- reducing costs;
- allowing customers to order online;
- developing and delivering goods or services in new ways;
- enhancing after sales service;
- checking the availability of supplies online;
- ordering supplies online and gaining fast access to global markets; and
- enhancing the company's image and credibility.
4. E-business means improved competitiveness - and broadband, through its 'always on' capacity and high-speed connectivity, releases the full competitive potential of e-business.
In the words of one user participating in the Crieff trial (pages 13-14): "It can truly be said that, even in a comparatively short time, the anticipated benefits have been
far exceeded." |
5. One recent survey 4 found that more than three-quarters of businesses who enjoyed broadband connectivity had seen enhanced productivity as a result. In addition to this, more than half of those businesses responding had seen improvements in their cost base as a result of the benefits arising from broadband connectivity. These results illustrate that however a business might experience broadband - via ADSL, cable, Powerline Carrier Technology, wireless, satellite or private circuit - efficiency and productivity can be significantly enhanced through e-business conducted over faster, better telecom links.
6. However, providing this connectivity in isolation is not enough. The latest survey of
e-business practices across Scotland 5 indicates that becoming an 'e-business' means enhancing staff skills, fully recognising and understanding the relevance of e-business to a company's processes, committing resources and planning seriously. But those businesses that undertake these measures also recognise that broadband underpins the process.
7. Across both the Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise networks, work is ongoing to accelerate the adoption of e-business practices among Scotland's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to help derive maximum business benefits from its use. And as Scotland's telecommunications infrastructure develops, the difference which broadband can make will become increasingly evident.
- 'e-business' means effective business and broadband helps to make this happen.
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