USER FEEDBACK: Value added features like location based services and network analytics help enhance customer experience and increase the efficiency of business operations, according to Wee.



Internet connectivity continues to improve in leaps and bounds as wireless networking standards such as IEEE 802.11ac come to the fore. This standard was first introduced in January 2014, and its adoption rate is expected to grow even further this year.“2015 will be the year for IEEE802.11ac and we foresee more organisations migrating to it because it provides greater capacity, bandwidth and speed,” says Maureen Wee, country sales manager for Ruckus Wireless Compared to its predecessor standard, the IEEE 802.11n, the 802.11ac WiFi standard, which is also known as 5G WiFi, boasts maximum data rates of up to 7Gbps, and is said to be three times faster and six times more power efficient. Hence, in terms of its capacity and performance, it is considered much faster and more reliable.“These features are critical in enabling mobile video and voice applications that are bandwidth intensive,” Wee says.Besides that, the use of that standard will contribute towards reducing WiFi network congestion significantly.“For consumers, this will translate into a better user experience for them with faster streaming of multimedia content. From the enterprise perspective, their networks would be able to support a higher number of users at the same time so it gives them greater capacity to offload data traffic,” explains Wee.“This enables more simultaneous connections and also means that organisations no longer have to deploy as many access points as they used to in the past.”So far, she notes that the education sector has been more receptive towards this technology as compared to other industries.As a nation, Malaysia’s adoption rate for the standard has been more or less on par with the progress Ruckus has observed in other Asean countries lately.One of the factors that Wee believes has led to the growth of WiFi usage is the competitive pricing that is now being offered for products and services which run on that WiFi standard.Furthermore, she points out that many companies have begun to realise the benefits of using 5G WiFi for high density environments where networks need to be able to support more clients while also providing a good online experience for each user.“A lot of businesses are seeing growth opportunities through wireless networks. Through WiFi powered cloud applications, organisations are able to transform their business processes and the way they communicate, both externally and internally,” she says.In addition, she also sees the rapid increase in smartphone usage as another contributing reason for the switch many are making to the standard.According to a report by Google, Asia’s Mobile-First World that was published in October last year, 51% of Malaysian respondents said they owned smartphones.“Organisations are also implementing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies nowadays,” she says. “This is basically to increase mobility amongst employees and this also drives the demand for better WiFi.”According to Wee, in the past, the monetisation of WLAN (wireless local area network) had mostly been done through charging for its usage. However, she says the situation is different now.“Today, a lot of organisations have the option to add services such as analytics, location based services, advertising and marketing features to the WLAN as a means for monetisation,” she explains. “There is greater diversity now in terms of the avenues in which they can monetise.”She says the inclusion of these additional services in a company’s WLAN can help businesses to better understand basic things about their network such as usage trends, customer demographics and movements.Wee says she expects to see continued growth in monetisation methods as well as in infrastructure investments in 2015.She also points out that the increased interest in diversifying monetisation methods is driving the demand for virtualisation.“Virtualisation provides another level of resiliency for datacentres and also lowers the capital expenditure for many technologies being used today. Such needs have opened doors for the managed services market,” Wee says.As a result, she says there is also an increase in interest in deploying Cloud solutions.“The Cloud provides value added resellers with services that are easier to deploy for their wireless customers,” she says, adding that use of the Cloud has helped reduce the cost that’s required for setting up a WLAN.“This also simplifies the provisioning, management and monetisation of public WiFi access, enabling it to be set up effortlessly. It also removes the need for skilled IT personnel to set up and manage it.”Consequently, Wee says it is now easier for companies to carry out both small and large WLAN deployments and to support the presence of thousands of devices on their networks through a pay-as-you-grow service model.Meanwhile, Wee notes that analytics is another useful tool that businesses ought to look into.“A lot of organisations with large deployments or a huge user base tend to ask for analytics nowadays as it helps them decide whether their WiFi coverage is sufficient. It also enables them to track customers’ visits, performance issues and more,” she says.Integrating location based services (LBS) into the network is also a move that she recommends.“It enables businesses to increase profitability while at the same time enhancing the online experience of users,” she says.This is especially useful for those in the retail industry whereby it is at times hard to obtain data about consumers.“LBS enhances customer services and encourages higher engagement levels by providing retailers with business intelligence. It helps them to measure things like shoppers’ dwell time and buying trends,” says Wee.“They can also use the data they have compiled to analyse the effectiveness of marketing and merchandising activities, besides using LBS to push promotions to customers based on their demographics.”She expects to see greater growth in demand for LBS moving forward, but adds that “a lot more education and awareness” would be required.So far, she says she has seen LBS making a significant impact in three business areas: education, hospitality and the provision of public WiFi services.For the latter, she says many service providers have opted to set up HotSpot 2.0 connectivity which allows users of mobile devices to enjoy an automatic connection to WiFi services whenever they are in a zone that has a HotSpot 2.0 network.“It’s very similar to the experience you get on a cellular network,” Wee explains. “This is especially crucial for users who are travelling as it enables them to roam seamlessly and securely on WiFi networks.”From an end-user perspective, she says this benefits them in terms of the convenience they experience. As for enterprises themselves, it can serve to increase employee mobility and hence, their overall productivity regardless of their actual work location.All in all, Wee feels the demand for WiFi in Malaysia has been encouraging and expects it to continue growing.“Everyone wants to be connected wherever they go. With the presence of WiFi, this will become very easy,” she says.