Resellers should expect a significant churn in SME broadband customers with 51% planning to leave their current provider following negative experiences in the past 12 months.
This comes from a study commissioned by Sky Connect which showed that despite nearly three quarters of SMEs investing in business broadband in the last year, 77% of have been impacted by slow speeds.
This has led to an inability to communicate with customers and suppliers (33%), hampered productivity (32%) and even losing customers (32%).
SMEs are now on the look-out for more reliable connectivity and two are planning to increase their investment in digital services such as broadband, broadband security and digital customer offerings.
Sky Connect noted that 74% of small businesses said that they would be more likely to recommend a business broadband provider that delivered a far more reliable connection to someone else if it offered 4G or 5G backup.
Kevin O’Toole, MD at Sky Connect said: “As SMEs continue to adapt to an increasingly digital world and deliver additional online services, more than ever before, broadband providers must prioritise reliability to enable small businesses to focus on what really matters to them.”