4G Backup for Business: Essential Reliability for Today's Workplace

In today's always-connected digital world, it goes without saying that your business needs a reliable internet connection. And thankfully, modern technologies like full fibre have brought ultra-reliable business broadband to many more businesses across the UK.

But even the best broadband services aren’t immune to outages. Picture this: a potential client can’t access your website, a software update vital to your operations fails mid-download, or a crucial video conference cuts out at the worst possible time. Internet downtime isn’t just an inconvenience; it has real costs for businesses of all sizes.

A solution is at hand

That’s precisely where 4G backup for business steps in as your safety net, leveraging the existing infrastructure of 4G for business networks to offer a dedicated solution specifically designed to minimise those disruptions. Unlike standard home broadband, 4G backup is designed with the understanding that businesses need uninterrupted connectivity. It’s not a fully-fledged broadband solution in its own right, but a vital extra layer of protection to keep your business connected.

How 4G backup protects businesses

While no wireless technology can guarantee 100% uptime, 4G backup for business gets incredibly close. Here’s how that extra layer of protection safeguards your business:

• Maintains business continuity: Employees stay connected, emails keep flowing, and cloud-based tools remain accessible - even when your primary broadband falters, your business keeps running.
• Protects your revenue: Every minute of business internet downtime can mean missed sales and frustrated customers. 4G backup acts as insurance protecting your bottom line.
• Preserves customer confidence: Unreliable business internet damages your professional reputation. By minimising disruptions, 4G backup helps you maintain a seamless, dependable experience for your users and clients.

The best 4G backup for small businesses

Not all 4G backup solutions are created equal. Here’s how Zen sets itself apart to meet the unique challenges of your business.

• Budget-friendly: We understand that cost-effective solutions are crucial. Our 4G backup for business plans start from just £50 per month, excluding VAT, for ongoing peace of mind.
• Reliable coverage: Unlike many other providers, we make use of multi-network SIM cards that enable customers to connect to one of the O2, Vodafone or Three networks, depending on availability in their area. Tapping into the strongest possible 4G signal in your geographical area helps ensure backup coverage even when standard broadband providers face difficulties.
• Flexible support: Our technical support team is here to help. With Zen’s Critical Care option, that support even extends outside of office hours, helping you keep your business better connected at all times.
• Easy install: With our Standard, Premium and Advanced installation options, you choose the right installation method for your business.

Why 4G backup is essential for businesses

Let’s look at a deeper dive into one specific scenario where 4G backup for business proves its worth; retail and e-commerce:

Imagine your online store is experiencing a surge of orders during a big sale. Suddenly, your primary broadband goes down. Without backup, your website becomes inaccessible, payment systems fail, and customers can’t complete their purchases. Lost revenue adds up quickly, and frustrated customers might take their business elsewhere. With 4G backup, your store stays up and transactions continue smoothly, protecting both your profits and reputation.

The loss of service may only last a couple of minutes, or much longer, but your 4G business backup solution is there to keep things ticking over while your broadband issues are corrected.

The cost of business downtime

The financial impact of business internet downtime extends beyond immediate lost sales. Here’s what else is at stake:

• Lost customer trust: Customers may hesitate to use your services again after an outage disrupts their experience.
• Damaged reputation: Negative word-of-mouth or online reviews can have a lasting impact, especially for small businesses. That brief outage could have disproportionately damaging consequences.
• Employee morale: Outages cause frustration and hinder productivity, and beyond the immediate issues that this creates, employee morale can also suffer.

Business failover vs 4G backup

While incredibly reliable, 4G backup is primarily a reactive solution. It is a short term solution that kicks in when your primary connection fails. It is not intended to be a long-term connectivity solution but rather an important backup service that can keep things running.

Business failover can take redundancy a step further with more permanent, higher-performance options available. For example, two fully active internet lines could be used simultaneously, offering near-instantaneous switching for critical infrastructure with zero loss in performance. Zen can advise you on the best solution based on your needs and risk tolerance.

Business continuity beyond 4G

If you’re concerned about business internet downtime or business disaster recovery, 4G backup is a great option. However, businesses that want the very best in performance and reliability day in, day out may prefer an Ethernet leased line service.

With a 99.9% availability SLA (Service Level Agreement) as standard, and up to 100% availability options on offer, leased lines provide the ultimate high-performance, reliable connectivity for businesses. Find out more about leased lines from Zen here.

And in case you wondered why we don’t offer a 5G for business option, here are some of the reasons why a 4G backup may provide the better choice for most businesses:

• Proven reliability: 4G LTE is a tried-and-tested technology that offers dependable coverage across a wider geographical area. 5G is currently more restricted to major towns and urban areas.
• Cost efficiency: By opting for 4G you can have a backup solution that is both affordable and effective.
• No compromise on performance: For backup purposes, 4G provides ample speed and connectivity, ensuring that business operations can continue smoothly without sacrificing performance.
• Great technology: Zen’s 4G backup for business options use a proven high performance router in the FRITZ!Box 6890 LTE.

Choose the right business broadband backup

Even with the most reliable services, business internet downtime will happen. 4G backup for small business in the UK is an invaluable service that can keep you connected even during those (hopefully) rare drops in connectivity, giving you peace of mind knowing you’re protected.

Zen’s 4G for business solutions offer flexible, reliable backup for businesses on those occasions when the internet drops out.

We offer 4G backup options on our Business SOGEA packages, and very soon our Business Full Fibre Broadband connections will be included too. Check out those links and see what speeds and packages are available in your area.