Every business is examining the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) right now. There is as much uncertainty as there is excitement: what are the best tools currently available? How will they impact productivity, collaboration and security in the future? What human input will they require? How will it work?
It’s not just chatbots like ChatGPT capturing the imagination. Technology historians will point out that for every Facebook, there was first Myspace; for every YouTube, there was first Metacafe. Being first doesn’t always mean being the best.
From photo editing and personal assistants to website coding and work automation, there is a whole host of AI tools and services under development or already on the market.
Your business can benefit in a multitude of ways from AI, but have you stopped to consider how the broadband infrastructure underpinning all of this may hold you back before you even dip your toes into the AI pond?
Full fibre to fulfil AI potential
A quick recap of full fibre broadband. This is the future-ready infrastructure being designed, built and deployed around the UK to support both present and future needs and catch up with the rest of the world. As rural specialists, we are turbocharging our full fibre rollout across rural and remote areas of the East of England, connecting thousands of businesses and homes.
Full fibre provides access to superior network reliability and gigabit speeds of 1,000 Mbps that can be upgraded to 10,000-plus Mbps in the future.
The current copper-based superfast infrastructure dates back to the famously industrious Victorians but was originally designed for telephony, not modern business needs. That’s why it’s infamously unreliable, slow and suffers from network congestion.
In contrast, the fibre optics technology in full fibre broadband delivers directly into premises the transformative reliability and speeds that you need for what are now the basics of any workplace in 2023: remote work, video conferencing, cloud storage, and hybrid events. Even speedy emails with moderately sized attachments are now expected by your customers and stakeholders to arrive before you hang up.
So you can see why full fibre is more than just a fast and reliable internet connection. It’s a priority for your business goals, and is also now a gateway to accessing and leveraging emerging technologies like AI to gain a competitive advantage over your competitors – or to at least keep pace.
Areas of focus for full fibre powered AI for your business
Credit: Matheus Bertelli / Pexels
What does AI actually mean for your business? In simple terms, AI is the ability of machines or software to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as speech recognition, image analysis or decision making. It could represent a bigger evolutionary shift in how we work than even the internet at the start of the century.
We’re just at the beginning of the new zeitgeist and early adopters backed by full fibre broadband stand to benefit the most and gain crucial early momentum along with market share.
So here’s a snapshot of where you should gaze your early focus. It is by no means exhaustive but it should stand the test of time for the foreseeable future.
- Cloud – you can easily and confidently run AI applications via the cloud with full fibre, meaning you don’t have to install or update applications on devices. This will save you time and money by reducing the need for physical devices and maintenance while improving your experience with faster, smoother and more personalized services.
- Video editors – text-based video editors like Descript simplify the process of video editing such as asking for parts of dialogue to be removed and automatic transcripts.
- Training and Upskilling – with rapid change increasing, staying up-to-date with the latest initiatives and best practices that can benefit your business is ever more crucial. The pandemic led to a surge in online training, such as Coursera and Udemy along with Google’s own workshop, and learning new skills related to AI will be no different. So not only will full fibre overhaul how you deliver training, but when AI attaches itself to how training is delivered, you’ll be more than ready to take advantage.
- IoT (Internet of Things) – AI is ready to integrate with the already established IoT setup – a network of physical objects with which you can communicate and collaborate with each other. The power of full fibre will not only enable or enhance IoT, but support the AI fusion with IoT. From the office smart thermostat to security in the workplace and at home.
To take proper advantage of AI for your business, you first need full fibre broadband – whether that’s in the office or where your staff remote work. Find out if our network is available in your area or if we’re planning to connect your village.
