Maslow's Needs Revised For Today's Technology World

Do you remember learning about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in high school? For those who may not remember, Abraham Maslow was the social scientist who wanted to understand what motivated people to action. He believed people possessed a set of “unwritten needs” and, if understood, could explain why a person would make a particular choice. It started with the basics – air, water, food, and shelter. As each need was fulfilled or secured, a person could start working toward personal self-fulfillment.

Recently, I saw this chart on LinkedIn and I couldn’t help but laugh. The person who created this chart knows me pretty well… I am a connectivity junkie. I need continuous access to the Internet or I go through withdrawals.

CONNECTIVITY KILLED THE CAT

Want proof? Here are examples of just how bad my addiction has become:

1. At a family reunion a few years ago, we were staying in a cabin near Mt. Rushmore. Every morning, I would drive my rental car two miles west, pull to the side of the road, and read my email and take business calls. It was the only place I could get a 4G signal.
2. While in New York last year, I walked down 40 flights of stairs rather than get in an elevator so I wouldn’t drop the call I was on.
3. Just a few weeks ago, in-between connecting flights, in a suit and tie, I sat on the dirtiest carpet you can imagine so I could use the only open power outlet for my laptop.

I might have a problem…

Thankfully, I am not the only one with an addiction. It seems the world has decided connectivity is just as critical as food, water, air, and shelter.

WE CAN’T GET ENOUGH

Enough speed. Enough power. We always want more. According to a recent article in Crain’s Detroit Business, “At the rate mobile is expanding, the number of devices connected to IP networks will be nearly triple the size of the global population by 2017. Most of them will connect to these networks to upload or download information—and even faster speeds will be required to keep information flowing without disruption.”

Excited yet? Check out these global connectivity trends:

1. According to Cisco, global consumer Internet traffic doubled between 2012 and 2014.
2. Video is still growing and is overpowering traditional bandwidth. Video made up 64 percent of total Internet traffic in 2014, up nearly 10 percent since 2012 and still growing. Facebook users in 2015 watched four billion videos per day.
3. There are now 2.8 billion Internet users worldwide. In 1995, there were 35 million people on the Internet… (Euromonitor).
4. Bandwidth requirements have been doubling every three years and it is likely to accelerate as new technology is developed.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND

In 2014, Michelle Pluskota from Comcast said, “This increase in speed, coupled with the reduction of bandwidth cost, has opened up a whole new world for SMBs because it enables them to compete with large enterprises in a way they couldn’t do before now. With greater speeds, today they have access to the same tools and technologies that only large enterprises recently could afford. They are able to run applications (including Oracle, SAP, and others typically thought of as “enterprise” applications) that a few years ago they simply couldn’t handle with their slower bandwidth. Furthermore, greater bandwidth at lower cost will continue to be a game-changer for SMBs because of three growing trends with wide-ranging implications.”

There has never been a better time to sell connectivity. Business Internet powers EVERYTHING in business—mobile, big data, voip, cloud services. The list goes on and on.

At FreedomFire Communications, we focus on helping you determine what you need, how much you need, and who can provide it. With more than 200 suppliers, we can find a great fit for your bandwidth and connectivity requirements.  Simply ask us at Network Design Solutions

You’ve heard us say it. Let me say it again: Bandwidth is the new oil.

How Do You Know What The RIGHT Business Internet Solution Is....FOR YOU

It goes without saying that businesses today, small and large, need to have a reliable and rock-solid Internet connection to enable them to do business effectively. Choosing the wrong business Internet service provider will do your business more harm than good, and can cost you customers that you can never get back. Even a small business today cannnot afford to try to make DSL or cable suffice; while the price may be attractive, the service from DSL or cable is more often than not exactly what you pay for — cheap, and is that the message that you want to get across to your customers? Your customers are going to think that if you cheap-out on your business Internet service, that you will also cheap-out on the quality of the products and services that you are offering. You need to understand that with DSL and cable, the only way they can achieve the price points they quote is because those circuits are designed to be over-subscribed to the hilt, and if your DSL or cable is not over-subscribed today, you can bet that your provider is trying to over-subscribe it, because they offer NO guarantees for DSL or cable servivce. A smaller business can usually get by with the reliability offered by T1 or bonded T1, but if Ethernet services are offered in your area, it is definitely something that you should look at closely and consider, as it can be an extremely cost effective solution.

Keep in mind that the Ethernet services being offered here are Carrier Ethernet offerings. The term “ethernet” is tossed about by DSL and cable providers but that is not true Ethernet. The services offered here are Carrier Ethernet offerings, meaning that the service is a dedicated service offered by the actual carrier, not a shared service being resold on someone else’s network.

When it comes time to choose and make the tough choices for your business, there will undoubtedly be lots of different options available. This is especially true when talking about telecommunications, where the market is full of things that look good on the surface. You could go with T1, Ethernet, DSL, cable, or something else. With all of these things staring your business in the face, you have to consider the costs and the weigh the benefits of each choice. This choice is one that shouldn’t really be a contest, though. Business Ethernet offers many advantages over the other choices out on the market.

WHAT IS SD-WAN?

SD-WAN is one of the newest technologies to come out and the efficiency and cost efectiveness of it is becoming clear to companies worldwide. SD-WAN is a revolutionary process for improving operational efficiency when accessing mission critical applications that need to always be available.  SD-WAN connects the end-users at a site to cloud services and/or colo centers and data centers by employing the use of inexpensive broadband links. This reduces costs for redundancy, failover, and load balancing and still allows a great deal of flexibility in deployment.

NOW PROVIDING INTERNATIONAL CIRCUITS, INCLUDING MPLS AND SD-WAN

Providing international circuits used to be a cost and pricing nightmare but with the latest technology, we are changing that.  We can now provide various types of international circuits virtually anywhere in the world. That can include international Ethernet, or for those foreign offices where you need to share data frequently, international MPLS may be the key for you.  And combining SD-WAN with your international circuits can provide even greater cost effective productivity in a robust and flexible telecom solution.

Contact us today and talk with one of our telecom experts to find out the real cost of Business Ethernet services or other dedicated high speed Internet offerings for your business, and how that can improve your bottom line.

To learn more about what the best options are to meet your network needs....simply ask us at the link below. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3.

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