Akubra case study
Discover how Aussie Broadband helped Akubra boost their productivity and tech capabilities with a business fibre upgrade.
Working with Akubra
What do you get when you bring together two awesome Aussie companies?
In 2022, the Akubra team came to us with a problem. While they are an undeniably iconic Aussie brand with 150 years of history, they knew that staying connected was key to their growth over the next 150 years. That's where we came in.
Rural Setting, Old Copper
Akubra classic hats — whether for the Australian market or abroad — are all made in one factory, based in South Kempsey, regional NSW. The rural setting and old copper technology posed significant hurdles, with a sluggish internet connection that dropped out frequently - sometimes crawling at 20Mbps.
“Without having decent internet connection, you don't have a business these days. And that's what was required - we needed that connection.”
Ron Palin
Operations Manager, Akubra
Upgrades, not interruptions
We had our work cut out for us, and the main culprit for Akubra's slow connections was unreliable copper technology. According to NBN, over 1.3 million premises across Australia are ready for fibre upgrades, but many businesses have yet to use this to their advantage. Slow or unreliable internet can be a major roadblock for businesses looking to expand into areas like e-commerce.
“Akubra were facing a real bottleneck with their old legacy copper technology that wasn't allowing them to perform at their best which meant that a fibre technology was the solution to help them overcome that,” says Jacob Backman, Business Marketing Lead at Aussie Broadband.
What holds many businesses back from upgrading their connections is the threat of being offline for days on end while making the switch. But it's an easy solve with a bit of foresight and planning from the Aussie team.
Knowing how important keeping the South Kempsey site going throughout the much-needed fibre upgrades, we ensured their original connection remained active throughout the upgrade process. This kept the team online, minimising disruptions to their operations.
Aussie helping Aussies
We helped Akubra get connected to 250Mbps symmetrical business-grade fibre, and the benefit was immediate.
With a significant increase in download and upload speeds, employees are feeling the difference. Now able to do seamless file transfers and use web-based applications uninterrupted, their teams can focus on the good stuff.
“Since we went over to the fibre connection with Aussie Broadband all the dropouts ceased. I just don't have to worry anymore,” says Ron.
Akubra's also ready for what's next, knowing that scalable speeds of up to 1000Mbps are available should the business ever demand it.
“We need a partner that's going to be able to cope with the e-commerce that we see we're going to be doing in five to ten years' time, “ says Ron. “Aussies helping Aussies - isn't that what being Australian is? Helping out your fellow mate.”
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