Brewing a better way to communicate for small businesses.

The benefits of Vodafone Business’ doubled network for expanding your business.

When expanding your business into a new territory there is obviously a lot of things that need to be considered before taking the leap. Anything from the location of your office/premises to flow of traffic (both road and foot), and the need for your service or product in that area.

At least, that’s how it use to be in a time not that long ago. Now, with the internet being a bigger part of almost every business, and mobile phones the preferred tool for communication, network coverage is one of the bigger considerations when branching out into regional or remote locations.

That’s where we come into it. With the recent expansion of the Vodafone network to 1,000,000 square kilometres, businesses can do business in more places across Australia.

So, what are the benefits of partnering with a telco with one of the largest networks in the country?

Coverage

Let’s start with the obvious. Doubling our network from around 400,000 to 1,000,000 square kilometres has allowed us to provide coverage to 98.4% of the Australian population, which obviously includes businesses.

While those numbers look and sound amazing, what are the real-world benefits for businesses? Craig Milton from Brewtech can shed some light on that:

“Every day we have technicians driving throughout regional areas of Australia, whether it be Uluru or Mildura, and previously we may have lost comms with that technician for a period of days.

We noticed the extended coverage immediately.

Now we're able to communicate consistently wherever they are as the world of IoT grows and develops.”

Efficiency

Being able to easily communicate with your team and customers means work and processes become more efficient. The constant back-and-forth communication ensures issues are resolved quickly and information is passed along for better planning and keeping everybody in the loop. This is not exclusively for people, but equipment as well.

Craig told us about how a recent change to their business practices, with the help of Vodafone of course, has improved how he runs his business:

“We're now connecting coffee machines through Vodafone to a central database where we can monitor the machines and the performance of the baristas locally without having to visit the cafe when we arrive on site.

Sometimes the diagnosis is the longest part of the job for a technician when they arrive on site.

Having seen how the machines performing prior to arriving and knowing what he or she needs to do means we can get the machine up and running again quicker and get on to the next one.”

Partnership

What a lot of small businesses aren’t aware of, is there are Vodafone Business Centres (VBC) in most states across Australia. What is a VBC? Where a Vodafone retail store can provide assistance to businesses with simpler requirements, our VBCs are perfect for businesses requiring a more tailored solution through a personalised consultation.

The consultants are highly trained and experienced within not only telecommunications, but business as well. They’re aim is to get to know you, your business and your goals for the future, and then take that information and craft a solution that fits. That and make your life easier as well:

“Dealing with a local account manager is one of the best things about Vodafone. From one business owner to another.

Sending a text after hours about some new hardware you need or asking to question a bill, for example. The speed at which Vodafone can respond to requests of a small business, I wouldn't go anywhere else now.”

Flexibility

We understand that business needs can change quite rapidly. That’s why our Business Flex plans are designed to change and adapt to your business's needs. With a Business Flex SIM Only month-to-month plan you get:

        -  Shareable data and international minutes

        -  Unlimited national calls and texts

        -  Your own Personal Account Manager for 10+ connections

        -  $5 international roaming (in over 100 destinations)

You can find out more about our Business Flex plans by visiting our website.

With access to our recently expanded network, Vodafone Business Centres, and Business Flex plans Vodafone Business is doing everything it can to back the power of Australian Small Businesses.