Poor connectivity impacting Australian business growth

Nearly nine in 10 (86%) Australian organisations have been negatively impacted by connectivity loss in the last year, according to a new study. Impacts have business-wide implication and include financial, reputational and talent loss. The findings are not surprising, given that 50% of businesses experienced between one and two hours of connectivity downtime per week, according to survey participants.

The State of Connectivity report from Cradlepoint, in cooperation with Censuswide, found that 88% of business leaders globally agree that good connectivity would make their company more resilient and better positioned to deal with future unexpected changes. This comes as leaders look for improvements to address the years of significant and sudden market challenges including the pandemic, inflationary pressures, supply change disruption and climate change. The report highlights how connectivity is paramount to business resilience, as well as how key decision-makers are placing it as a high priority for the modern enterprise.

Adequate connectivity isn’t just crucial for an organisation’s resilience. Respondents also believe in connectivity as a fundamental element in addressing access inequalities across Australia’s industries and varied geographies. The survey found that more than 83% of organisations feel that rural areas are being left behind in medical innovation due to poor connectivity. Furthermore, over 85% of organisations in the education sector believe that poor connectivity is holding back students from developing the skills they need to succeed in a modern economy.

Lastly, sustainability is high on the agenda for Australians and Australian organisations. This was evident in the survey results, with 68% of business leaders saying that poor connectivity held back their sustainability projects in the last 12 months. This number was even higher for some industries, with 75% of public transport and supply chain/logistics organisations saying that poor connectivity was holding back organisational sustainability projects. Nearly 85% of respondents agreed that the current energy crisis had increased the need for smart buildings and over 82% are considering using IoT devices to make workplaces more energy efficient.

“The findings from this survey highlight how crucial adequate connectivity is for many aspects of life and business in Australia today,” said Nathan McGregor, senior vice president Asia Pacific at Cradlepoint.

“Enterprises desire to be agile and withstand unexpected changes, to innovate and reduce their environmental impact and to eliminate unplanned downtime, which has come at a significant business cost to many of them,” he said.

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