We’re a migrant workforce, or mobile if you prefer. Regardless of semantics, people are more comfortable than ever taking their to-do list and hitting the road. Armed with smartphones and tablets, iPads and phablets, employees and executives alike are taking meetings, joining calls and doing work wherever they can take refuge — at a coffee or sports bar, a restaurant or retail store.
That’s why its so shocking to me, as a card-carrying member of the mobile workforce, to find so many SMBs that don’t have a Wi-Fi network to offer its customers access to the Internet. Are these operators trying to save a few bucks on the cost of setting up a “guest network?” Is it possibly the threat of intrusion – so a security issue? Or are these business professionals unaware of how many people in their establishment are disappointed (or not going to their businesses) because they don’t offer Wi-Fi?
My guess is that most of the companies today not offering Wi-Fi are just clueless, regardless of why. Any small business that is trying to recruit retail customers and wants new customers in their store and is not offering Wi-Fi to its customers for free is losing customers.
Before you throw the proverbial red flag for further review on this bold recommendation, let me add that yes, security is an issue. There are, of course, ways to set up the right kind of Wi-Fi network and have a simple means for providing ‘guests’ access without letting them be part of the official business network. For anyone who has basic networking skills the setup (and the cost) are pretty minimal. So that objection is overruled, and you lose one timeout.
Network professionals, mobile workers unite — and tell your SMB friends to set up a secure Wi-Fi guest network with good equipment — so that you can work where you want to and when you want to, while honoring the entities that allow you to do so with your attention — and your business.
