by Marcus Faithfull, Construction Lead: Business Services, Telefónica UK

Whatever line of work you’re in, starting a new project can be daunting.

But starting a project without an internet connection can be near impossible. In the digital age, connectivity is no longer a nice to have – it’s an essential. How are you going to send files? How will you share complex information? How will your team communicate?

If you don’t get connected, it can lead to a whole host of problems. It becomes impossible to deliver on your commitments and deadlines. Projects can be delayed due to a lack of productivity and things can get pretty stressful. As a result your revenue, reputation and your sales targets could all be impacted. And, the longer the problem goes unsolved, the greater the losses can be.

As employees are often spread far and wide in the construction and engineering industry, keeping in touch can be difficult. Combined with increased competition, rising costs of raw materials and regulatory pressures there is often a need for a quick, and cost-effective, connectivity solution.

This is where Cellular WAN comes in.

Cellular WAN provides a secure wifi connection via our 4G network and is perfect for giving connectivity to temporary sites. It covers 99% of the UK population so can reach even the most remote locations where it might be difficult or expensive to deploy a fixed line. Better still, it can be operational in just 5 days.

Connectivity brings with it a whole host of benefits – the main one being flexibility. Workers can connect from various locations across the site. As the site grows, the Cellular WAN device can be picked up and moved without any implications. It can support anything from 1 to 100 connections and if something should go wrong, Cellular WAN is backed by UK customer service teams.

Employees will benefit too. With the right connectivity, it’s not unheard of for construction workers to move between sites or work from home on project planning. This means employees can have more freedom and often a healthier work-life balance. As flexible working is a big attraction for many jobseekers, it’s never been a better time to consider how technology can help to digitise your business.