Timely on the Gig
By
September 10, 2018
After selling their tourism software BookIt to Trade Me, entrepreneurs Ryan Baker and Andrew Schofield established Timely, scheduling software for small business. With Timely staff working from home in Dunedin, Wellington and London and its customers spread across the world the Timely team love their ultra-fast broadband. Digital Marketing Manager, Louise Blakely works from her Dunedin home and explains how gigabit fibre has improved her world.
[caption id="attachment_233" align="aligncenter" width="7360"] Timely Digital Marketing Manager Louise Blakely.[/caption]
What attracted you to upgrade to gigabit fibre?
I’d been waiting and watching out for access to the gig. When it came I was delighted and signed up and I’ve had it since August 2015.
Explain your role?
As the digital marketing manager I spend most of my working hours online with contacts in the United States and Australia as that’s where the majority of our customers are. I’m testing online advertising and organising major online campaigns in those markets. I’m also tapped into my Timely colleagues via a number of platforms including Slack and Google Hangouts.
How has gigabit fibre made your work more efficient?
It didn’t take me long to work out that to make the most of the gig I need to plug directly into the router rather than use it wirelessly. Once I worked that out uploads and downloads became instant.
The main thing I notice is that everything is more reliable and stable. Gone are the days when I’d be uploading digital campaigns into an online advertising platform and it would time out, forcing me to start again. Now everything just happens. That’s great for me, as I tend to work with multiple tabs open at one time – now my work flows effortlessly and there’s no downtime.
What opportunities is it opening up for the way you do business?
The gig allows Dunedin business to operate the way we would if we were a company based in the United States, the United Kingdom or Australia. Our customers are often surprised to learn we’re based in New Zealand then surprised again to find out we’re almost at the bottom of the country.
What would you say to other people considering connecting to a gigabit fibre broadband?
It’s definitely worthwhile. The thing about broadband is that when it works perfectly you don’t take any notice.