It’s never been a more exciting time to start a small business. The huge advances in technology mean that so much more is achievable than in previous decades. Make the right choices and there are plenty of options for your new business that allow you to optimize growth and succeed in today’s competitive marketplace.

Big online players like Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and eBay Inc. (EBAY), of course, have huge resources and budgets at their disposal that give them a large share of the current market. That hasn’t meant smaller businesses are being left behind, however. Small businesses have capitalized on outsourced services to optimize budget allocations and drive organic growth.

Access to faster broadband through leased lines, for example, allows startups of all kinds to get the comprehensive cloud-based IT infrastructure that is vital for strong growth today. While standard ASDL lines can limit the speed of internet and telephone connections, leased lines enable small businesses to go up a step without impacting in a big way on their overall budget. With more and more of us communicating nowadays over the internet, the biggest issue is not how many telephone lines you have but what your bandwidth is.

How Outsourcing Has Changed the Business Landscape

The biggest trend in business at the moment is the concept of outsourcing. This has delivered huge benefits to smaller business that wouldn’t normally have the budgets to install vast amounts of onsite IT infrastructure.

• You can, for instance, outsource your security to an online third party who is able to ensure that your systems are optimized and your data kept safe.
• You can download cloud-based services such as Microsoft Corporation’s (MSFT) Office 365 which enable your staff to collaborate and communicate wherever they are in the world.
• You can market on social media and engage with a vast number of potential customers and tailor your campaigns to the budget you have available.

You can even get access state of the art tools and AI that many large corporations use on a daily basis to attract customers. You can make suggestions like Amazon, build in automation for helplines like Apple Inc. (AAPL) or Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG ) Google or conference with your network halfway across the world without any interruption in service.

Underlying all this provision, of course, is the need for a stable IT infrastructure. That’s why many startups decide to move away from traditional phone and internet systems to more cost-effective, speedier and reliable leased lines. It allows them to operate on a potentially level playing field and enjoy the capacity for expansion that many have been denied before.

Investing in Growth Quicker

The key to how all this great outsourced service provision works is in the way businesses are charged. Most startups can’t afford expensive systems and software, especially if they have to develop it themselves. Today’s providers, however, deliver tailored solutions. That means you can pick and choose what you need when you need it.

The bigger point is that most services provided by these new technologies are scalable. They react to individual needs. So, if you take on extra staff, you simply add on a few more monthly licenses for Microsoft. You put in a virtual phone line, operate a BYOD and ensure everyone is protected through comprehensive security measures. You introduce productivity measures by sharing tech and information.

More importantly, you can do all this almost instantaneously. For many small businesses, the prospect of growth has, in the past, depended on building up capital and infrastructure. That immediately put new startups on the back foot. They couldn’t compete in the same arena as the biggest competitors, either, which made growth slower and more difficult to achieve.

That’s all changed in the last decade or so. Smartphones allow us to operate on the move. Faster internet connections deliver the power we need to reach out across the world and sell our products. A whole host of low cost, easily available tools also bring the prospect of greater collaboration and improved productivity.

If you are building a startup, making sure you have the latest technology working for you right from the start is important for growth and success.

One area you need to cover is the speed and reliability of your internet and phone connection. That’s why leased lines are becoming more and more important in running a business because they provide faster and more reliable connection as well as the bandwidth we need to communicate at all times. For many businesses, they are the digital lifeblood on which everything else runs.