Dawn Henderson is Managing Director of IT Training and Development Ltd, an international training consultancy which she runs from her home office in Kintore, Aberdeenshire. Dawn set up the business in 2012 after 20 years’ experience as director of an IT company. Clients are based around the globe, including the United States, Dubai, Australia and Singapore.

Reduced travelling

“Superfast broadband is a terrific boost to my business in so many ways. It allows me to add value to clients and work more productively, streamlining the way I deliver my services”

Dawn has previously spent around 75% of the year travelling overseas and she is delighted that her new superfast broadband connection will enable an improved work-life balance as she can now carry out work remotely using video conferencing over Skype. Dawn expects this to halve the amount of overseas travel she will need to do, saving her time and energy and allowing her to focus on further new business development.

Video conferences with international clients

Dawn says: “In the past, I simply could not rely on Skype as it would often break up. My new 60 Mbps fibre connection means I can now be certain of a crystal clear connection, so I can hold video conferences with people on the other side of the world just as effectively as if we were in the same room. My clients and I can share the same desktop screen and look at it together. Reliable Skype is transformational for my business.”

As well as providing IT training to her clients, Dawn also resells HR software. This involves working as part of a global project. She says: “I often need to make a software demo online, involving customers and colleagues overseas. Again, I can now confidently carry this out from the comfort of my armchair at home. Previously, I would have had to travel to the client’s office, wasting time and decreasing productivity.”

Fast reliable connection, however many people are online

“It is also fantastic not having to worry about bandwidth anymore” Dawn adds. “I usually work in the evenings as typically I am out all day visiting clients or a client is in a different time zone. In the past, the broadband connection was really slow in the evening, so it is great that this is no longer a problem. What's more, when my family come to visit they can enjoy many online activities including online gaming. Before fibre broadband, we had to constantly negotiate with each other who would go online next as it was practically impossible for more than one person to be online at the same time, without affecting the other’s experience. I found it really inconvenient juggling these needs with those of the business and it is a huge relief that this is no longer an issue.”

New opportunities

using cloud technology Dawn continues: “Superfast broadband is also opening up exciting new opportunities to streamline the business and make more use of cloud technology. Having once experienced a bad flood, I am very conscious of the need for safe back-ups and I will be carrying out data backup via the cloud in future. I also use applications such as DropBox for file transfer and I find it is now much faster to use.

Increasing productivity and expanding horizons

“As it is also so much faster to upload videos to the web, I will make more use of video on my website and in my own marketing in future, exploring new ways of communicating with potential customers.

“Superfast broadband is a terrific boost to my business in so many ways. It allows me to add value to clients and work more productively, streamlining the way I deliver services, as well as opening new global opportunities. With superfast broadband, the potential for remote training is limitless, expanding my horizons in a way that I would never have dreamt possible a few years ago. It is incredibly exciting.”