How to Plan Connectivity for Multiple Business Sites

Connecting more than one office, factory, clinic, shop or other business location requires more planning than selecting a broadband package for a single site. Each location may have different access networks, user numbers, applications and operational priorities.

Start with a site-by-site audit

List every location and record its current connection, available services, user numbers and important applications. Include cloud platforms, voice services, large file transfers, backups, video meetings and any systems that communicate between sites.

This helps identify where standard business broadband may be suitable and where a dedicated leased line should be considered.

Understand the role of each location

A head office, warehouse and small branch may not need identical connectivity. A site hosting shared systems or handling large data transfers may require more upload capacity and resilience than a small office used mainly for email and web applications.

Manufacturers should also consider stock systems, operational information and communications between offices and production sites. Read more about connectivity for manufacturing businesses.

Compare access options

• Business broadband: Suitable for many general office requirements where an appropriate service is available.
• Full fibre: Provides a fibre connection to the premises where supported by the local access network.
• Dedicated internet access: Designed for organisations requiring dedicated business connectivity.
• Leased lines: Provide dedicated, symmetrical connectivity with bandwidth selected around the site requirements.
• Ethernet services: Can be used for suitable site connectivity and network handoffs.

Availability varies by location, so the design may combine different access technologies while maintaining an appropriate service level for each site.

Plan capacity around applications

Count users, but also assess what they do. Cloud backups and large uploads can create very different requirements from general browsing. Real-time voice and video applications are affected by latency, packet loss and congestion as well as raw bandwidth.

Consider resilience and fault impact

Identify which sites can continue operating during a connectivity fault and which cannot. Where the operational impact is high, discuss diverse access paths, backup services or alternative network designs. Diversity should be confirmed against the actual infrastructure rather than assumed from two different product names.

Include business voice

A multi-site organisation may benefit from a consistent cloud-hosted VoIP system across locations. Consider extension numbering, call routing, queues, remote users and the process for adding new starters or sites.

Build a documented plan

Bring together locations, services, target capacity, resilience requirements, installation constraints and planned growth. Exascale can review this information and discuss suitable business connectivity services for each site.