Want to offer Wi-Fi at your business? Here are a few things to know

Small businesses looking to offer customers and employees a professional, managed Wi-Fi hotspot can do it easily with Viasat

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Surveys show customers with free Wi-Fi access spend more time and money at a business. For today’s business owners, that makes offering a quality Wi-Fi service vital to the bottom line.

The problem? Managing a Wi-Fi service can be time consuming, and most small business owners can’t afford to hire additional staff to do the job — or spare the time to do it themselves. Ensuring a good online experience for customers that also provides the security the business needs demands expertise many owners and managers don’t have.

Going with a managed Wi-Fi service is a cost-efficient and hassle-free way to provide a smooth, satisfying service to both staff and customers. And it goes way beyond simply hooking up the kind of router you might have at home.

So what is managed Wi-Fi? In short, it’s a service similar to what you see at a hotel or airport: a login page greets the user, and the Wi-Fi is gated with some kind of login. Although the trend is toward free, a managed Wi-Fi service also offers the option of charging. Either way, the user knows through a custom splash page that your business is the one providing the service.

The advantages are many. Once you’ve done the simple setup, a third-party provider monitors its performance, troubleshoots any issues and stays up-to-date on changing technology.

Wi-Fi specialists also offer security provisions to protect your business’s and customers’ data. Whether yours is a large business or a mom ‘n pop, data breaches can be devastating. It’s a particular headache for retailers; a recent report said nearly 90 percent of attempted logins on online retailers sites were from hackers using stolen data. Many of them were traced to weaknesses in payment systems – flaws hackers are constantly seeking.

On a more basic level security-wise, a managed Wi-Fi setup lets you easily separate the network you and your employees use from the one offered to customers.

A professionally managed service is also easily scalable, so as a business grows and adds locations, the service can expand with it. Multiple storefronts don’t require multiple systems, just an adjustment to the existing service.

The best managed Wi-Fi services also leave plenty of room for customization, adding features specific to individual business sites, filtering content and incorporating customized splash pages that can easily be updated with, say, a daily special or other timely notice. These features let businesses not only advertise but inform their customers, and keep employees up-to-date about what’s going on with the business publicly and behind the scenes.

Ideally, managed Wi-Fi is an easy-to-use service that lets business owners and managers focus on what they know best – their own customers, products and services.

Viasat Business Hotspots offer just that kind of assurance, and can be used with Viasat Business Internet or with any other internet service provider.

Viasat Business Hotspots include:

  • Separate business and customer Wi-Fi access
  • An encrypted and password protected business Wi-Fi network for additional security
  • Customizable splash page that can be changed to reflect promotions and special messages
  • Indoor and outdoor hotspots
  • 24/7 technical support
  • Web content filtering to prevent security threats and malicious sites
  • Wi-Fi usage reports on both business and public networks

More information about Viasat Business Hotspots.