Cheers! Dorset brewery goes superfast

A Dorset brewery has told us how faster broadband has helped transform its business operations.

Piddle Brewery makes beer, cider and lager at its base near Piddlehinton. It sells to pubs, hotels, shops and the general public via the internet.

Managing Director Ian Siddall recently upgraded the brewery’s broadband service.

He said: “We do our route planning on the world wide web, we do our accounts, we do our sales… I think the only thing we don’t do on the internet is brew the beer. This is the future. The world is changing to an integrated computer model and if you’re not on board you will be a dinosaur in five years’ time.”

Piddle Brewery is currently too far from the nearest fibre enabled cabinet to benefit from faster speeds. The business receives its superfast broadband from Wessex Internet, which used fixed wireless technology to provide the service.

Wessex Internet said “Wessex Internet is pleased to support a micro-brewery in the heart of the Dorset countryside. Ironically the Piddlehinton Enterprise Park was not a very well-connected part of Dorset before our arrival. A local Wessex Internet Point of Presence was installed onto a new building on the park in 2014. From this site, we can deliver up to 50 Mb/s superfast broadband services across the park via a fixed-wireless connection, independent of the copper wires. This means we can provide customers on the Enterprise Park with a superfast and reliable internet service for the first time, as the copper lines are too long to support any improved service on the already-upgraded fibre to the cabinet that the park connects back to. It’s fantastic to hear the impact that our superfast reliable Internet service is having on the Piddle Brewery’s business.”

Superfast broadband and its associated technologies can help businesses become more efficient and grow in many ways:

– Work collaboratively. Online file-sharing and video-conferencing mean you can communicate faster with other people wherever they are, and reduce time spent travelling – Work in real time. No more annoying lags when using online applications or pauses for media-heavy files – Higher turnover. Businesses adopting the power of digital experience higher turnover and funding than their less digital counterparts – Reach more customers. People in the UK love online shopping – we spent £52.25 billion online in 2015. You can reach a global market potentially gaining new customers worldwide – Boost the economy. Dorset will be a more attractive location for businesses, providing continued employment and new high tech jobs in rural areas.

A fast and reliable home broadband connection also means staff can be as productive at home as they are in an office.

Piddle Brewery was one of 750 Dorset businesses which benefited from the Government’s Broadband Connection Vouchers Scheme. It was administered locally by the Superfast Dorset programme and provided small and medium sized businesses with funding of up to £3,000 towards the installation of new broadband connection. The scheme has now ended however Superfast Dorset is working to roll out faster, more reliable broadband to businesses and homes in areas of the county which fall outside the private sector’s fibre roll-out.

More than nine out of ten Dorset premises can now access superfast broadband – speeds of 24Mbps and above.

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