Tag Archives: Economics

Santa Cruz Fiber: The Top 10 Reasons Fiber Generates a Business ROI

0f35d20e-fd79-41cf-98ea-56c29dee9273

Here at Santa Cruz Fiber, we spend a lot of time talking to businesses about the importance of high-speed internet, and the return on investment (ROI) opportunities that they can expect should they switch to gigabit fiber. After all, for businesses it’s all about the bottom line right? Well if you want to save money and improve the quality of your products and services, here are the top 10 reasons to switch to a dedicated fiber connection. (Hint: Did we mention it’s faster, better and cheaper than anything else out there?)

1. It’s Wayyyyy Faster

How much faster? Try 10 – 100 times faster, at least. And no, you didn’t misplace the decimal point, It Is That Fast. Typically your standard cable connection is going to get you anywhere between 20 to 100 mbps (and that’s being really generous), while DSL gets you 10-25 mbps. Santa Cruz Fiber offers gigabit speeds (that’s 1000 Megabits) and is infinitely scalable from there…. How fast is that? Think of being able to download or upload an entire HD movie in one second.  Woah. It’s also cheaper, but we will talk more about that later.

2. Internet is Essential to the Modern Workplace

Two business colleagues shaking hands across the table in congratulations during a multiracial business meeting at a conference table in the office

It’s pretty much a given now that most white collar jobs (and even many blue collar jobs) have to make use of the internet to be effective. So why wouldn’t you want to maximize their productivity? Just kidding, of course you do.

According to a recent Pew Research Survey, roughly 94 percent of all working adults used the internet regularly as an essential part of their work. Furthermore, greater access to the internet has been found to be directly correlated to higher rates of productivity and the number of hours worked. Bottom line: Your Employees Need It, Therefore You Need It. We All Need It. Even these generic businesspeople in the stock photo above need it!

3. It’s More Secure

One of the lesser known benefits of fiber internet, while still being extremely important, is that Fiber is much more secure than either a Cable or DSL connection. Whereas cable lines have been shown to be capable of hijacking with ease by that one guy down the street with miraculously free television, Fiber can only be circumvented by physically cutting into the line itself. It also gives you the bandwidth for your other security needs, too: cameras and alerts that can stream to your home computer, so you know right away when an alarm is serious.

4. Fiber is More Reliable

Remember that time too many people in your neighborhood tried to watch Netflix at the same time? Or maybe even that one time your internet stopped working for, like, no reason? That just won’t happen with Fiber. Even if every person in your household tried to stream an HD movie on all of their devices simultaneously, you wouldn’t see a drop in performance. Many traditional telecommunications methods are literally dependent on which way the wind is blowing, as the most common type of interference is electromagnetic.

5. Flexibility, On All Fronts

One of the most important attributes of a modern company is its ability to adapt to new challenges and changing circumstances. Fiber provides that flexibility in ways you probably never thought possible. Is traffic to and from work killing company morale? Try telecommuting. Think your sales team needs to live near the manufacturing plant to review product specs? Think again. With fiber you can manage your entire company on the go, avoiding unnecessary office trips while staying on task in the comfort of your own home.

6. New Technology Assumes You Have The Internet to Handle It

This isn’t your grandfather’s workplace anymore. Now, your average worker spends a typical day navigating between word processing, spreadsheets, .pdfs, and video chat, all without closing their internet browser. Add onto this all of the cloud applications and digital storage you are probably using, and the extent of your reliance on light speed ones and zeros should be pretty apparent. And software is getting more dependent on fast internet every day — imagine how it’ll be a few years from now!

7. Symmetric Bandwidth!

First off what is it? It’s being able to download and upload things at the same speed. Why is this important? Well with Cable and DSL connections you can only upload things at a tenth of the speed of your downloads. So what happens if you need to send in an important presentation in advance of a meeting? Or maybe you need to send a large data file to a customer? Cue that Jeopardy music… If you had fiber, you could have uploaded that file 10 times over by the time you finished reading this sentence.

8. It’s Cheaper

While we mentioned this a bit earlier in the article, it’s worth mentioning again how much cheaper Fiber is per unit of bandwidth than Cable or DSL. While a dedicated Gigabit per second of Fiber and your standard business cable option are going to be around the same price (~$100/month), the fiber is at minimum 10 times faster, and comes with infinite scalability (no further installation required). You buy it once, and forget about it. There is no penalty for cancellation. You don’t have to buy a new cable box every year. And we won’t reroute you to Bangladesh to save money on customer service. More time = less money spent.

9. Happier Employees

While this may not seem like the most direct benefit of a fiber connection, it certainly matters to your bottom line. Employees with greater internet access are more productive, and are statistically more likely to be in a better mood in the office. It’s not just about avoiding the dreaded “buffering” message when looking at cat videos. It’s about a seamless work environment where employees can maintain their focus and feel empowered in their jobs. The real bottom line: happy employees means more productivity, which means it’s really you who is the happy one.

10. Happy Customers

This one should be pretty self-explanatory, but just in case you forgot who makes the world go ‘round: it’s your customers. And boy are they something more than sophisticated, and certainly an impatient bunch.

Customers expect “it” (whatever it is you sell or provide), to work perfectly. All the time, every time. The second your website doesn’t respond to a mouse click, or you have to explain that you’re experiencing “technical difficulties” with a shoulder shrug, is the exact moment you begin to lose legitimacy. The customer is always right for a reason, and that reason is they don’t have to be your customer.

The bottom line: Make the investment. Get Fiber. Get Customers. It’s that simple.

CPUC meeting notes

Last week we rolled down to Carmel to speak for our alloted 3 minutes at an open CPUC meeting. This is what we said:

Re: Central Coast Broadband Investment

In the past, telecommunications was classed as a public utility: similarly to electricity, gas or water, infrastructure was regulated and shared due to the high costs of construction and maintenance. Funds were provided or fee structures established to encourage universal service. Following deregulatory trends in the 1990s and 2000s, however, this system no longer exists.
Continue reading

Chris Guillebeau discusses ‘$100 Startup’ @ Cruzio

Chris Guillebeau presented his new book ‘The $100 Startup’ on Monday, January 21st with over 175 people in Cruzio’s coworking space, Cruzioworks. Chris discussed the focus of his new book briefly but a majority of his time was spent as “Q&AA” which stands for Questions andAttempted Answers. Chris took questions from everything regarding his thoughts on self-publishing versus using a publishing company to which country he had left to visit (hint: he has ONE left…Norway!)

More information about Chris Guillebeau and ‘The $100 Startup’ can be found at 100startup.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Cruzio’s Open House Extravaganza 2.0!

It’s BACK!

With over 1,400 attendees last year, we knew we had to throw another awesome party. We always love an excuse to celebrate, promote and support small business growth, entrepreneurs and telecommuters in our state-of-the-art downtown facility. You’ll be able to visit and talk with over 40 new businesses in one spot!The night will be a celebration for the entire Santa Cruz community. It’s also a chance for our coworkers to display their artwork as part of the First Friday Art Tour. Come meet the folks, see our space, enjoy yummy food from three food trucks, tasty drinks, free swag, local music and more.

See you down here.

Open House

Cruzio Launches “Launchies”

We work hard at Cruzioworks. Many small companies and individuals have their own goals but also help each other and find interesting ways to collaborate. We work all sorts of hours, use tremendous amounts of Internet and drink amazing amounts of caffeinated beverages.

And frequently, one of our coworking companies finishes a project. Elegant, useful, creative, marvelous: many products and projects have emerged from the Cruzioworks primordial soup.*

When you’ve met a deadline — finished a manuscript — put together an organization that’s ready to go — it’s a great feeling. A time for the whole community to celebrate.

So Cruzio invented the Launchies. That’s our answer to the Grammies, the Emmies, the Oscars. Every Cruzioworks coworker who launches a product, service or company just needs to let us know. They’ll be feted with champagne and treats, get publicity, and best of all receive the attractive “Launchie” award suitable for display.
Continue reading

Think Local First at Cruzioworks

Wonderful party/showcase last week when hundreds of people came to celebrate local business at the Think Local First mixer at Cruzioworks in downtown Santa Cruz.
Buying locally puts a much higher percentage of your dollars back into your own community where it can be used to foster a safer, cleaner, better environment in which to live in and raise children.

By the way, Cruzio Internet is 100% local. Locally owned, all employees live and work in Santa Cruz County. We understand the benefit of buying from businesses in our own community and we do so whenever we can.
Continue reading