CBTS is helping many single-site retailers including restaurants, salons, and other establishments overcome connectivity issues with standard ISP (Internet Service Provider) service. The CBTS Network as a Service (NaaS) solution mitigates many of the most common problems these retailers face, and provides useful amenities that add value to the broadband connection.
Single-site business challenges
Broadband connectivity offers single-site retailers a more affordable solution than an MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) connection. However, broadband doesn’t always cover all of these retailers’ needs. For example:
- Most broadband providers do not offer Service Level Agreements. Instead, their contracts include “best effort” language that limits their responsibility in the event of a service interruption, and requires only that they make a good-faith effort to restore connectivity as soon as possible. Retailers know that every minute counts, and that connectivity issues can create negative customer experiences that ultimately impact the bottom line.
- Many single-site retailers provide free Wi-Fi to customers. Standard network configurations that allow for unrestricted customer access can slow down the overall network, and cause problems for the retailers’ mission-critical operations such as Point of Sales (POS) applications.
- Most broadband providers offer only a stateful firewall that doesn’t scan adequately – or at all – for malware and other hacker intrusions, which means the Wi-Fi connection these retailers offer to customers may not be secure.
- These retailers need actionable analytics to better serve customers. Standard ISPs don’t offer this service, and don’t support push notifications over the Wi-Fi connection that are useful for targeting customers with special offers.
CBTS Network as a Service solution
The CBTS NaaS solution is built on Cisco Meraki technology, and is a cost-efficient way to deliver the broadband connectivity services that single-site retailers require.
- The CBTS network architecture offers a second, failover broadband connection to ensure that mission-critical operations never go offline.
- NaaS allows retailers to regulate guest Wi-Fi usage, limiting access to more bandwidth-intensive content like video. This helps smooth usage over the network and gives customers a speedy connection that won’t adversely impact POS and other vital business operations.
- NaaS Unified Threat Management (UTM), which includes malware protection, anti-virus, intrusion detection and prevention, and application or content filtering addresses security issues under a fully managed service offering. ISP firewalls simply don’t provide this level of protection.
- Finally, the CBTS NaaS solution turns Wi-Fi networks into a powerful tool that retailers can leverage to enhance customer offerings and provide a stronger, more personalized customer experience.
Conclusion
The CBTS NaaS solution offers a significant improvement over basic broadband services from standard broadband providers. The NaaS solution allows single-site retail customers to leverage these lower-cost connections and still benefit from a fully-managed service with strong network security protocols, redundant connections for zero downtime, and actionable analytics to improve the customer experience and drive business outcomes.
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