According to an investigation done by The Guardian newspaper in their business article “At 8.68Mbps, Nigeria’s Internet speed below global minimum requirement” the article states “Nigeria is ranked 143rd out of 224 countries, whose broadband speeds were surveyed in the 12 months up to June 30, 2021.” This figure was obtained from the survey conducted by cable.co.uk
For a local Nigerian business, the statements are disheartening to those with the ambition to expand and provide world-class services; lucky Cloudflex is here to help businesses pave their path to technological success.
What is Latency?
According to www.ir.com, Latency meaning in networking is best thought of as the amount of time it takes for a packet of data to be captured, transmitted, processed through multiple devices, then received at its destination and decoded.
The Guardian article gives an explanation of what latency is in the situation of Nigeria and states that “In Nigeria, the report noted that at a mean speed of 8.68Mbps, it takes one hour, 18 minutes, and 30 seconds to download a 5G movie, while in South Africa, with a mean speed 19.94Mbps, download of 5G movie takes 34 minutes and 15 seconds. Kenya with 11.27Mbps, citizens use one hour 34 seconds to download a 5G movie.”.
How does Latency affect your business?
As stated previously, latency directly affects every aspect of our daily lives and most especially a business’s network performance. Latency is the invisible hand that is least identified and visibly affects businesses in Nigeria.
Businesses are negatively impacted by the latency from the loading of a webpage to uploading or downloading an important document, to the overall efficiency of internal systems and in the case of tech companies providing quality service via the internet will be below par. If latency in Nigeria is not resolved, there will be a loss of company productivity, reputation, and revenue.
So, Can Your Business Reduce Latency?
There are numerous reasons why latency affects your business, but here are major means to reduce latency for your business
1) Change your ISP
Internet Service Provider (ISP) company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. When you’re choosing your next ISP, you want one that gives you fast speeds and fair pricing. You’ll also want to know if the ISP has a good reputation for customer service, and it always helps if the provider offers extra perks like no-cost installation, no-contract options, and unlimited data
2) Acquire SD-WAN
A Software-defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a virtual Wide Area Network (WAN) architecture that allows enterprises to manage internet and network service to securely connect users to applications. This is an industry-standard that guarantees effective and efficient connection.
3) Move to Local Cloud
The cloud environment is much different than on-premises infrastructure, a cloud provider hosts all the infrastructure and more for your business. This allows companies to pay on an as-needed basis and effectively scale up or down depending on overall usage, user requirements, and the growth of a company. To enhance your insight on this here is an article “Questions Business leaders ask before Moving to the Cloud”
