Get government assistance on your digital journey

Do you remember the last budget? We all remember when the government directly impact on our personal lives and many of our readers will keep tabs on the impact the Chancellor has on our businesses.

Back in March, the Chancellor announced £67 million of funding to drive faster internet connections here in the UK.

For small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), the benefit is up to £3,000 towards the installation of a Gigabit-ready Ethernet service (leased line). So, if as a business you are eligible (please speak to one of our experts to ascertain if you are), you could gain a 100Mbps internet connection, providing you with a dedicated 100Mbps service to your business. This puts you on the path to your digital transformation journey and allows you to benefit from the services available within the cloud (Think Office 365, Azure, hosted telephony and other cloud platforms) and begin to plan to do things like:

• Mobilise your workforce
• Reduce your server estate by leveraging cloud technologies
• Provide a resilient, reliable internet connection to your business
• Build confidence into the business of connectivity to your key partners/customers

For many who remember the previous scheme, it may send shivers down your spine as previously the onus was on you, the customer, to go and obtain the funding. The new scheme switches the onus onto the supplier. In TSG’s world, this is via Zen, who will manage the whole claim cycle on your behalf, meaning you just need to acknowledge an email from the DCMS when you are accepted for the funding.

Now as a Telecoms Specialist at TSG, I know that internet connectivity isn’t as exciting to talk about as some of our other technology (Office 365, D365, Azure to name a few) but I see it as the motorway to get you to your destination and provide a seamless journey, so it’s essential to any business. My frustration is that it is often overlooked.

As part of any digital transformation plan, the internet connectivity should be a pivotal part of the strategy and discussion as, fundamentally, it will be the factor that will see the project as a success or failure.

To add to all of this, the price of leased line (Ethernet) technology has dropped substantially in the last twelve months. For example, some areas are seeing 100Mbps leased line internet services at 50% of the cost I paid for the first 1Mbps leased line I used some 20 years ago now.

If you would like to know more, please do get in touch with the team of specialists here at TSG who will be happy to assist in checking your eligibility and helping you on your journey.

Read more about Zen and the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme