NBN Co has announced the launch of a number of initiatives designed to improve the connection, migration and service experience for Australian businesses moving across to services on the nbn™ access network. 

The announcement follows the concerns raised by businesses and business groups across the country. Last financial year saw more than 27,000 reports to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. With the rollout now more than halfway complete and around 20,000 new businesses currently connecting to the network each month, NBN Co saw the need to develop a team dedicated specifically to supporting the needs of Australian businesses.

The newly formed team is working alongside phone and internet providers to deliver an improved customer experience and develop additional wholesale product and service offerings purpose-built for businesses.

NBN Co’s Chief Customer Officer – Business, John Simon, said “We’ve been scaling our dedicated business team and working closely with service providers to optimise our processes and systems in order to lift the customer experience for Australian businesses connecting to the new network.”
 
Mr Simon acknowledged that businesses often require a different level of service, and said that was the motivation for the development of custom-built wholesale product and service offerings and a targeted communications program in order to make the transition to the new network as smooth as possible.

“As the rollout continues to scale, we want to enable businesses of all sizes to embrace fast broadband and tap in to a whole range of applications such as high definition video conferencing and cloud-based tools, which were once only in the domain of larger organisations” he said. 
 
“Connecting a business to the new network may take some time and preparation. With the rollout set to be complete over the next three years, we recommend businesses get in touch with their phone and internet provider as soon as possible to make a plan to move their services over to the new network.
 
Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (COSBOA) CEO, Peter Strong, noted a number of concerns from COSBOA members had been raised with NBN Co regarding difficulties encountered by small business in securing reliable and affordable, high speed broadband services in recent months.
 
Mr Strong added “We congratulate NBN Co on these customer service and product enhancements and believe that they will go a long way to addressing the problems being experienced by small businesses in Australia.”