Fiber optic technology has revolutionized the way companies handle data and communicate. Compared to traditional copper cables, fiber optic connections are faster, safer, and more reliable. Glass fibers, as thin as a human hair, transmit data using pulses of light. Data can travel uninterrupted at the speed of light over long distances and even around corners.
High-speed fiber optic networks enable companies to achieve the level of connectivity needed to modernize their approach to IT. Connectivity enables companies to work smarter and gain real-time, actionable insights from data.
Here’s a closer look at 5 ways connectivity can enhance your business:Â
1) High Availability
In today’s customer-centric marketplace, customer experience is the key to success. If clients and customers can’t reach your business when and where they prefer, they may turn to your competitors for products and services. If your fiber optic service provider is doing it right, they’ll have built layers of redundancy into the network, helping to keep your company connected and resilient to outages.
2) The Internet of Things (IoT)
The rate of IoT adoption is gaining momentum. Statista predicted that this year the number of connected devices will reach 440.8 million in industrial settings and 125.4 million in the health care industry. Organizations use machine-to-machine communications between connected devices to track supply chains, conduct proactive maintenance, and improve business processes.
In the 2000s, companies regarded Internet access as a simple commodity and the goal was to get as much bandwidth for as little money as possible . Today, organizations that understand the way networks are built are examining the details of their provider’s offering a bit closer. What are the peering relationships like? What content is cached on the provider’s network?  What is the SLA like? Answers to those questions can be the difference between a successful IoT strategy and disappointment.
3) Business Collaboration
Unified communications (UC) opens up myriad ways for employees to communicate with clients and each other. Voicemails can be converted to email, and calls can be transferred to mobile devices so that clients can reach your employees no matter where they are.
Employees are empowered to collaborate on projects even when they are located in different offices or working remotely. Members of a project team can send instant messages, emails, or voicemails. They can schedule meetings using video, white boards or other collaborative tools to discuss the project face to face.
The transformative benefits of collaboration tools can’t be realized without a strong connection. It’s important to have a service provider that can guarantee these tools will work as designed by ensuring a low-latency, low jitter, high bandwidth connection is in place to control quality.
4) Cloud
Connectivity is key to ensuring that you receive the best experience possible when users access your cloud-based applications or data. A high-speed fiber optic network enables your data to move quickly and securely from your business to the cloud. Using fiber optics provides the capacity you need to ensure the cloud can handle peak workloads and that your applications will run smoothly over a low-latency network.
5) Artificial Intelligence (AI)
McKinsey Global Institute’s Notes From the AI Frontier paper predicted that AI will add between $3.5 trillion and $5.8 trillion in value to the global economy annually. AI uses machine learning and natural language processing to recognize complex patterns and draw conclusions based on tons of data. McKinsey researchers found that the visual recognition capabilities of AI have surpassed the human level of accuracy.
AI can undertake time-consuming tasks in a wide range of industries and professions. Law offices can use AI to review case law and conduct eDiscovery, freeing their paralegals to focus on more rewarding work. AI can be used to detect anomalies that signal errors in a production line or a possible data breach.
To process huge volumes of complex data, AI applications need access to a high-speed network. A fiber optic network provides the bandwidth necessary to transmit the data needed to perform advanced analytics. A low-latency network eliminates bottlenecks that slow the process of analysis and rob your business of timely insights.Â
Discovering New Potential Through Connectivity
Companies shouldn’t miss out on trends such as business collaboration, IoT, and advanced analytics because they lack the ability to move data quickly and reliably. Switching to a fiber optic network opens new possibilities for gathering, transmitting, and analyzing data. Employees gain more options for communicating with each other and working on projects.
For companies in the Northeast Region, FirstLight is the leading provider of fiber optic network, cloud computing and UC services. We have over 14,000 miles of fiber optics in the region, enabling you to connect geographically diverse sites and remote workers with extremely low latency connectivity. Our network is scalable up to 100 Gbps and we have experience designing connectivity solutions for organizations in multiple industries, including health care, law, finance, education, and manufacturing.
Learn more about what connectivity can do for your business. Reach out to the experts at FirstLight.
