Enterprises around the world are continuing to grapple with ensuring Internet connectivity for employees who are working from home because of COVID-19. More than 10 million US employees – more than 15 percent of those working from home due to the pandemic – are suffering from daily internet connectivity issues at home.

Likewise, a UK survey found that almost 90 percent of remote workers lose more than 30 minutes a day due to unreliable internet connections.

Since the pandemic began, WBA members have been developing new products and services to improve connectivity for remote workers. One of the most exciting new technologies developed by a WBA member is EQUIPE, a connectivity management platform developed by Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment (ASSIA) that enables the SMB and enterprise markets to ensure connectivity for employees who are working from home.

Tuncay Cil, Chief Strategy Officer at ASSIA said: “The work from home trend has the potential to unlock the next wave of economic growth worldwide. However, lack of adequate connection stability and security infrastructure on residential connections are a big barrier for employers to build productive remote teams.

“There is a big divide between residential and enterprise networking offerings, the enterprise application and residential networking silos. Working from home trends creates a big opportunity for ISPs, enterprise networking companies and application providers to work together and realize new growth because of this collaboration. EQUIPE aims to facilitate this process “.

ASSIA, which specializes in AI-driven connectivity management, focuses on last-mile broadband connections and in-home Wi-Fi connections. ASSIA manages more than 120 million lines worldwide for 38 large ISP customers, including Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom and Liberty. With EQUIPE, carriers act as a channel partner to ISPs to provide the solution to their SMB and enterprise customers, thereby generating new revenue for carriers. ASSIA estimates that carriers can make up to $300 per month for every remote worker whose company utilizes EQUIPE.

Traditionally, it’s been difficult to generate revenue from connectivity to residential customers, who are averse to paying for such services. However, because EQUIPE is sold to enterprises that then use it for employees who are working from home, employees gain better connections so they can focus on work instead of worrying about connection problems, while the employer foots the bill, and service providers earn additional revenue.

Even as pandemic restrictions ease, ASSIA expects more than 160 million people will continue to work from home, as enterprises have realized that doing so generates an average annual savings of $10,000 per worker for their companies. ASSIA estimates that at least 15 percent of those remote workers will need significantly better connectivity solutions to effectively continue working from home.

SMB and enterprise companies don’t have the same visibility or control over the quality of internet connectivity for their remote employees. To help with maintaining business continuity and work productivity in this new era of remote working, EQUIPE is a new way of measuring, monitoring, and optimizing internet connectivity for remote workers.

EQUIPE provides IT administrators with tools to remotely monitor and improve internet connectivity for home-based employees, thereby ensuring business continuity and eliminating productivity loss associated with bad connectivity. Specifically, EQUIPE enables enterprises and SMBs to manage residential connections with:

  • Workput™ metric: AI-driven quality of experience (QoE) and productivity metric and predictor
  • Purpose-built multi-WAN/Wi-Fi management for employees working from home
  • Seamless ecosystem support for work-from-home application connectivity
  • Pre-integration and compatibility with ISP-provided services and hardware
  • Pre-integration with enterprise IT remote support, VPN and cybersecurity tools
  • 24/7 live support, network monitoring and home-technician dispatch options

Moreover, the company says half of remote workers will benefit from work productivity gains through a better connection even if they are not experiencing significant interruptions on a daily basis. Likewise, enterprises can use EQUIPE to foster an environment of inclusion by providing connectivity for employees who aren’t able to work in an office environment because of physical restrictions and other challenges.

The WBA are delighted to host an exclusive webinar with ASSIA on October 8th to share more on this exciting opportunity and the underlying trends – to register for this complimentary event, please REGISTER HERE.