How to Purchase a Secure WiFi Network When You're on a Tight Budget

“We just don’t have the budget right now.” Over the years, this has been a very common response when speaking to customers about purchasing a secure WiFi network. However, what if I told you there’s an affordable solution to this problem, that doesn’t require any large, up front capital costs?

Traditionally, enterprise grade wireless networks have been and still are purchased by making a large, one-time capital expenditure—although, even if you can doesn’t mean you should.

For some businesses, this is no problem, however, for many others, they just don’t have the budget to get the WiFi system they need.

So, what are their options?

• They continue trying to make due with a system that’s full of performance problems.
• They use what money they do have to upgrade parts of their network
• They try to do it themselves (this is one of the biggest mistakes we see) or
• They don’t have Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi is a utility, so clearly this isn’t an option)

For most businesses in this situation, what ends up happening is a combination of the first three options. The problem is, each one of these options doesn’t really provide a real solution to the problem, only temporary fixes—if any at all.

Using WiFi as a Service or a managed wifi solution, businesses that don’t think they have the budget to afford the system they need, now have an option to do just that.

In this blog post, we’re going to outline exactly how you can afford a fast, and secure WiFi network—even when you thought it wasn’t possible.

Everything else is a subscription why should WiFi be any different?

More and more business systems today are being purchased using subscriptions. Take Office 365 for example. We used to host our email servers locally, which typically meant steep hardware and licensing costs, security risks and unreliable availability.

Now with Office 365, we have a cloud-based option that not only cuts down on costs but also offers a variety of other benefits, including:

• The ability to scale with you as your business’s needs change and
• The ability to always have the newest solution in place that features the latest improvements

For most businesses (especially SMBs) this type of subscription-based model is a perfect fit; offering lower capital costs and most importantly the ability to focus on what matters most—their business.

Secure WiFi is no different.

Technology, specifically mobile devices, are changing at a rapid pace—typically in 12 to 18 month cycles. After just two cycles those devices will have completely changed, rendering your wireless network obsolete.

Today’s WiFi networks have an effective shelf-life of 3 to 4 years, at which point it’s time to upgrade to support the latest technology.

This is one of the main reasons a managed WiFi system is what’s needed today. Why spend tons of money up front to only have to do it all again in 3 to 4 years—this type of purchasing model just isn’t feasible.

Like Office 365, WiFi as a Service offers all businesses, with the opportunity to get the network components and managed network services they need, to deliver the best class of service to their end-users—all through an affordable, scalable, always up-to-date subscription.

The subscription packages are also flexible. You can purchase the hardware or equipment with a large one-time payment and then purchase managed services using a monthly subscription. Or, you can purchase everything through Wi-Fi as a Service—the choice is yours.

WiFi Design is Everything

However, you’re not just buying the hardware and support—you need WiFi design expertise as well.

When it comes to enterprise-grade wireless, achieving the best results always comes down to how well you planned, or how good your design is.

Wireless network design is both technically challenging and very specialized. Finding a qualified, in-house resource is expensive, hard to come by and very competitive. For most companies, they lack both the time and the money to find, train and keep an in-house wireless specialist.

You can’t just purchase the best equipment and expect it to work properly. Our managed WiFi solution is built on technical expertise and proper wireless network design—not just high-end products.

When you combine proper design, with the right infrastructure, the right software tools and the right managed support, then deliver it in a subscription package like Office 365...well, networking just got a whole lot easier.

If you have any questions about your current wireless network, an upcoming project or want to learn more about WiFi as a Service, simply contact us here—we're ready to help.