Indeed enterprises today need to plan out a different strategy for their businesses. With the firms going digital, from the products to the processes, it becomes utmost important to invest in suitable ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) for businesses. ICTs not only enable firms and stakeholders to connect but also reduce the transaction costs associated with doing business.
One such major domain where ICTs and the associated strategies needs to be relooked at is the consumption of internet based resources. Internet for business is widely being recognized as a focus area for a whole bundle of service offerings. Firms are using applications like email clients (e.g. microsoft outlook), internet security services (e.g. Norton’s internet security or AVGs security), web hosting services, database management services, other technical support related services and hoards of other services. But it is important to that internet would be the common medium which has to be leveraged upon for the access to such services which could provide an enterprise competitive advantage in this knowledge economy. If firms are unable to compete in these ICT driven economy, they would be forced out of the competition soon.
One such example of enabling technology could be the VPN for remote access. This particular information technology, namely, vpn remote access, enables access for the knowledge workers to the digital resources through geographically dispersed workstations. This could be for enabling access to intellectual property, or even computing and infrastructure resources. So in particular, if this is being offered by an internet service provider, it would enable an organization to break free of the shackles of geographic distance and move towards a “cyber office” structure where members could work from their home. Given the spiraling cost of real estate, this would definitely be a huge cost savings and thereby affect the bottom line of the company. Further, digital resources could be better distributed based on real time requirements of individuals.
These benefits can never be realised if a professional internet plan is not being subscribed to, by firms.