Convergencia Research, Consultoría especializada en Latinoamérica y Caribe
Thursday, May 21, 2020

Corporate Internet: Quarantine triggered traffic in SMEs' VPNs

The Covid-19 forced ISPs to respond to the need for greater connectivity capacity so that companies could operate with their personnel remotely: one of the most concrete impacts is the increase in VPN traffic, between 35% and 40% from the beginning of the quarantine. Furthermore, the internal link between branches or corporate headquarters used to fall into the "drawer" of improvement plans, but in the context of the pandemic, it escalated to a priority level.

The slowed down activity of SMEs meant that during the period of compulsory isolation the balance of traffic for ISPs was offset by the increase in teleworking of those who were able to continue their operations. In fact, only 10% of these organizations are fully operational. In this scenario, the Covid-19 forced ISPs to respond to the need for greater connectivity capacity so that companies could operate with their personnel remotely: one of the most concrete impacts is the increase in VPN traffic, between 35% and 40% as from the beginning of the quarantine

Leandro Tangreti, Commercial and Digital Services Developmment Manager of Telefónica Argentina, told Convergencia that the change in the work ecosystem of its corporate clients doubled the demand for essential Internet services, both fixed and mobile services, to which security services were added. Faced with this scenario, the operator decided to give specific offers for Virtual Office, Online Store, Remote Desktops and different telework tools.

In the case of Iplan, there was a growth in traffic of between 25% and 30%, with a marked increase in consumption in residential customers, which compensates the corporate sector, with a radical drop due to the reduction in its activities, as Damián Maldin, CEO of Iplan, confided. Along the same lines, Metrotel observed an increase in traffic of approximately 30% as from the beginning of the quarantine, due to this "overlap" in the type of use by residential clients using their home network for remote work, as pointed out by the manager of SVA and Telephony, Hernando Maisano.

Teleconferences and messaging. The forced overturn of teleworking to homes also generated an "underhanded" use of virtual meeting tools and video conferencing, for both corporate and social tasks. Telecom recorded an exponential growth of 1,000% in the use of these applications in the first week of compulsory isolation: the most significant increase occurred with Zoom (+4,100%), followed by Webex, more associated with work environments (+320% ). 

The file storage and sharing platforms reached a rise of 600%, as reported to Convergencia from the operator. 

Links between branches, the new priority

The internal link between branches or corporate headquarters used to fall into the "drawer" of improvement plans, but in the context of the pandemic, it escalated to the priority level. Javier de Mingo, manager of Strategic Projects of Grupo Datco, explained that last year this business segment advanced, with plans to leave behind the minimum links and add connections that would allow distance training and fewer employee transfers, among many other advantages. . With the health emergency, these plans became a prime necessity, whereby it is anticipated as one of the greatest growth streaks on the corporate Internet in 2020.

This trend characteristic of the situation is in line with the new focus that Datco took about a year and a half ago: not only to reach local cooperatives as a wholesale carrier, but to collaborate with them to reach corporations established in their localities, and thus expand its capillarity in the country. De Mingo stressed that in this way, the cooperative agrees to provide a service following international standards; On the other hand, from the companies, the contracting model is being modified, with tenders divided by regions, which facilitate the adoption of technology with local suppliers. 

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