Poor connectivity costing small businesses billions

Research from Three Business UK has show that connectivity has never been more important for the nation’s smallest businesses, as owners look to navigate the perfect storm of the soaring cost of living, fallout from the ongoing war in Ukraine, the pandemic and Brexit. About 71% are keeping an eye on costs and considering where they can make savings to run as efficiently as possible, while a fifth (20%) of SMEs are worried they could be left behind without embracing the latest mobile technology and knowing how to use it.

UK micro businessesand small to medium–sized businesses (SMEs)1 are concerned about connectivity for good reason. The companies providing their employees with work phones (57%) can see they lose more than one hour per employee a week on average as poor connectivity means staff cannot get online or complete work effectively. For medium-sized businesses, this equates to up to 250 hours of working time a week.

This lost working time for SMEs equates to reduced business revenues of £18.77 billion in 2019, according to ONS data, meaning that more than £7.7bn of output was lost to the UK economy.

Ros spoke to Snehal Bhudia from Three Business UK.