Professor Russel Griggs lives with his wife Liz in a traditional sandstone house in the village of Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway. He has a number of high profile roles in the financial and energy sector as well as for Scottish Government and Government in Northern Ireland. Professor Griggs says fibre broadband is transforming his use of the internet.

“Fibre broadband is enabling me to work in new ways and opening up brand new possibilities”

Before the couple had fibre broadband installed, their internet was quite slow and unreliable. Now they have fibre broadband, they can rely on internet speeds of 60-70 Mbps download and around 16 Mbps upload.

Video conferencing

Professor Griggs says: “I can now attend board meetings in London via video conferencing, rather than having to travel to London. It works brilliantly and allows me to take part in the meeting just as effectively as if I were there in person. As well as saving me travel time and travel costs, it really improves the quality of my life.”

Professor Griggs continues: “Because the fibre connection is so crystal clear and reliable, I can also now use video conferencing to carry out interviews of job candidates. With fibre broadband, it opens up the possibility of interviewing candidates overseas; it is shrinking the world and opening up a potential global talent pool for businesses, which can help make them more competitive.”

Overseas collaboration

“I also use applications such as Go To Meeting for video conference and other applications, whereby I can work with colleagues on documents, wherever they are based in the world.”

He adds: “Of course fibre broadband also radically changes how fast and easy it is to transfer files by email. I regularly produce huge reports which include many graphics. The files are very large and they used to take ages to upload. Now I can send them to my clients instantly. I no longer experience the frustration I used to have when I was using the internet.

Improved work-life balance

“The upshot of all this is that fibre broadband is helping me achieve a better work-life balance. I can carry out business productively without having to leave my home in Sanquhar and the time saved means that I have more time for my hobbies and interests. At present, we are working on our large garden and fibre broadband is freeing me up to spend more time gardening and enjoying the other good things in life.”

Professor Griggs’s wife Liz agrees. As Chair of Dumfries and Galloway Embroiderers Guild and board member of a local arts centre, Liz too is appreciating the benefits of fibre broadband.

Faster uploads

Liz says: “I sometimes work with graphic designers elsewhere and it is great to know that this can now be done instantly. Because uploading is now so quick and easy, it has encouraged me to start making more use of video in communications for the organisations with which I am involved. For example, I recently made a video for an event and uploaded it to YouTube. With our fibre broadband connection, this was instant.

Keeping in touch

“Russel and I both use FaceTime to keep in touch with family. It is fantastic to be able to keep up face to face contact with our grandchildren, despite being hundreds of miles apart. With fibre broadband, the quality of the video connection is loads better as well, which makes it easier to have really natural conversations with the children.”

More options for leisure

Liz adds: “I am an avid photographer and it is great being able to store photos and videos securely in the cloud. We also love the way that Netflix and Amazon Prime are such perfect quality, thanks to fibre broadband. So it really increases the options for our leisure time.

Professor Griggs concludes: “With fibre broadband, the internet is now a brilliant and effective tool for us in so many ways, allowing us to get on with our business and get more out of life.”