Back to ArticlesThe Business Case for an Internet Leased Line in Fintech Companies
- Published on - Jan 06, 2022
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By applying scalable digital technology for financial services, fintech companies make monetary transactions more flexible and improve the last-mile reach of BFSI products. The startups entering this domain need reliable data connectivity solutions that are vital to execute their planned operations and serve customers. With its advanced security features, optimised performance and enterprise-grade service, an Internet Leased Line becomes a suitable option for fintechs in India.
‘Digital transformation’ is no more a buzzword – the likes of Amazon and Flipkart have been remodelling the retail sector for over a decade now. The financial technology (fintech) revolution, however, is a more recent phenomenon that gained traction in India after the demonetisation announcement of 2016 and is now riding the growth wave. A report titled Digital Payments 2020 by Google and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) predicts that digital payments in India will exceed $500 billion by 2020, up from $50 billion in 2016.¹
From payment gateways and digital wallets to online lending and insurance underwriting, fintech companies are driving into different service segments offered by the BFSI industry and redefining its conventional business models.
In addition to a team of commerce-savvy individuals, seamless and secure online connectivity is a key ingredient that new businesses need to brew their operations in the fintech domain. They serve their customers directly over the Internet and cannot afford the uncertainties of slow ADSL connections based on standard copper phone lines.
More Reliable and Secure Data Connectivity with Internet Leased Line
If you plan to start a business leveraging the financial technology model or expand your existing presence in this industry, it is crucial to leverage a private and high bandwidth data solution. Your cloud-based operations must always be secure, reliable and have an optimal uptime. With such requirements in focus, an Internet Leased Line (ILL) turns out to be a suitable option for your fintech business.
And why is that so?
An ILL is a direct, private data connectivity solution between a business location and the service provider. It is an uncontended service – not shared with any other entity in the neighbourhood – for high-speed and secure communication.
The top features that make ILL a good choice for fintech companies include:
Symmetric Bandwidth - With ILL, users get dedicated bandwidth with symmetrical upload and download speeds, enabling them to execute daily operational process efficiently. The back office team of a fintech company typically uploads and downloads multiple heavy files on their workstations daily. They use tools such as Office 365, mission-critical enterprise apps and VoIP services and share rich media content to promote their services on social media.
The fibre optic-based ILL is capable of carrying massive amounts of data for such processes and does not cramp the Internet usage style, no matter how it is leveraged for business operations. Moreover, the exact data transmission speed is constantly delivered as promised and is not provided on a ‘best effort’ basis.
Unified Threat Management Abilities - A managed ILL service comes with added security features and can be integrated into unified threat management (UTM) for a business. This attribute is particularly useful for a fintech entity that must pay close attention to the integrity of its operations and keep all data safe against viruses, intrusions, malware, spyware and other cyber threats. If a bug infests the very apps that its customers use for financial transactions, it can spell disaster for the organisation.
UTM appliances have evolved from firewall and VPN frameworks to integrate a range of security functions and defend networks against combined security threats, phishing attempts and spamming content. They are connected to the company’s network deployed by the ILL and can run like a software program on the existing servers or as-a-service in the cloud environment.
Uptime Commitment - Unplanned downtime can result in significant revenue loss for a business. According to a research published by Dell EMC in March 2019, companies in India that on an average experienced downtime of 29 hours in 12 months, lost $958,583 as against 20 hours of downtime experienced by global companies costing them about $526,845.² Productivity loss due to poor data connectivity is an even more challenging issue for new enterprises that have limited resources to stabilise their affected operations.
With an ILL, fintech companies need not worry about non-productive time caused by network outages. Both standard and managed ILL connections come with a 99.5% uptime guarantee, backed by a documented service level agreement (SLA). Complete technical support is offered round-the-clock to help in troubleshooting and for quick restoration of services if at all the users face any issue.
QoS with Low Latency - Internet leased lines have lower data transmission delay (latency) than standard broadband connections. They also have fewer variations (jitter) in such delay. This feature holds value for digitally-driven BFSI enterprises that use their data connectivity in financial trading, database mirroring, web conferencing and online marketing.
On subscribing to an ILL connection, a fintech company also gets a better quality of service (QoS) with feasibility for traffic prioritisation. Furthermore, the organisation stays in control of its bandwidth and can increase it at any time during the contract period if its needs change.
Ease of Management - Being a private and dedicated connection, a managed ILL connection gives its users web-based portal access for detailed performance reports. A business can easily monitor its uptime and traffic patterns, device health and get reports on threats prevented by the integrated UTM devices. The network monitoring and proactive support also come from the service provider that jumps into action if there is any concern on speed, bandwidth or uptime.
For a fintech, this ease of management offered by ILL makes it better than broadband connections wherein vendors do not even notice if their service goes down, unless the (subscriber) business informs them.
Offering credit products and enabling financial transactions is a big responsibility for any legally registered company. Fintechs essentially count on flawless data connections in such operations. A point-to-point, dedicated, secure and high-speed Internet connectivity source, therefore, becomes their prime requirement.
As a trusted provider of communication and security solutions, Tata Tele Business Services offers high-performance Internet Leased Lines that come with multiple last-mile options, ring protection and IPv6 protocol.
To know more about our ILL connections, download the brochure at https://www.tatateleservices.com/downloads/products/resources/brochure/Internet-Lease-Line.pdf or connect with our customer service team.
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