Entrepreneurs building their budding empires often wear many hats to keep the lights on and the cash flowing. While it’s part of the hustle, one of the “hardest hats” can be moonlighting as your own tech support. From setting up entire office labs to troubleshooting video conference glitches before that important VC meeting, fast and reliable Wi-Fi access marks the difference in competitive advantage and winning and losing at business.
Startups in particular often face connectivity challenges due to a lack of dedicated IT support. Whether you’re getting the ball rolling or expanding, getting online is mission-critical. This process can take days on end to set up with the wrong network technology. It’ll cost you employee productivity and put end-customer and partner business relationships in jeopardy—right at the seed funding stage.
Thankfully, there are a number of network solutions available to help CEOs stay ahead of hiccups without breaking the bank. Here at HPE Aruba, we’ve created wireless and wired network tools purpose-built for fast-growing small businesses and startups with Aruba Instant On. Our portfolio of small-business-focused Wi-Fi access points and switches offers reliable, fast Wi-Fi that is easy to set up and manage – all with no hidden fees.
Manage your business, not your Wi-Fi network
Take the video call scenario described earlier. With Instant On indoor and outdoor wireless APs, business leaders can rest assured that their Wi-Fi is set up to automatically prioritize important voice and video calls, making sure critical business calls won’t drop at the worst possible times.
Also, the free Aruba Instant On mobile app allows you to manage your network from the palm of your hand. With an intuitive dashboard and support for up to 50 devices, the app allows you to monitor Wi-Fi performance. Monitoring from anywhere at any time – no recurring subscriptions needed.
Network that scales with your business
As the geographic footprint of your business expands, including the prospect of adding more team members, additional Wi-Fi devices may be needed to ensure proper coverage for your competitive advantage. Instant On switches offer up to 48 ports. This ensures that the growing number of bandwidth-heavy devices connect to a foolproof wired network. One that offers consistent connectivity. Devices like this include desktops, surveillance cameras, and printers.
Say goodbye to those “dead zones” around your office space that can ruin the best-laid plans for business expansion. Instant On APs support Mesh Wi-Fi, which empowers entrepreneurs to simply connect and build out a network of APs without the need for additional cabling and its associated complexity. When the first AP is connected, a second AP can be connected to an AC power source. With one click in the Instant On app, you link to the primary AP over Wi-Fi automatically. It’s an easy way to get Wi-Fi indoors, outdoors, and anywhere else a growing business needs a wireless network and internet access.
Lock down Wi-Fi Security
Bad actors increasingly target small businesses and startups. So, it’s more important than ever to ensure the Wi-Fi network is secure. Here again, those with varying levels of technical expertise can still build robust security around small business Wi-Fi programs. Instant On offers critical built-in security features such as:
- Two-factor authentication: Adding an additional layer of verification beyond the username-password paradigm is foundational to improving IT security. 2FA can be easily implemented with a few clicks within the account settings of the Instant On app. That way, if a nefarious actor manages to guess or phish the Wi-Fi password, additional authentication can prevent a breach.
- Role-based Wi-Fi access: Instant On also provides users with a method to create separate employee and guest networks. It takes access controls a step further by preventing Wi-Fi use outside of business hours and controlling traffic usage on the network. That may include the ability to limit the bandwidth of the guest network to prioritize bandwidth-hungry voice and video applications for employees.
- Up-to-date software: The threat environment is dynamic, changing rapidly as clever would-be hackers respond to increased security. Therefore, it’s important for entrepreneurs to ensure their respective software is up to date. This is whether for Wi-Fi or other critical software applications. Take advantage of automatic update settings to keep up with software releases.
With Aruba Instant On, CEOs can build a blazing fast worry-free network without having to hire expensive IT consultants. So you can grow your business without growing your IT budget and keep your competitive advantage.
The post What Entrepreneurs Need to Know About Wi-Fi’s Competitive Advantage appeared first on Under30CEO.
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