TalkTalk Business has a 25+ year legacy of improving UK business connectivity. Since its demerger from TalkTalk Group in 2023, the organisation has continued to strengthen its position as a major market player. Currently, it serves more than 90,000 business customers across the UK.
As AI continues to impact connectivity and telecoms sectors, organisations like TalkTalk Business are seeking solutions to support customers. As sales director, Ian Cairns drives TalkTalk Business’ sales strategy confront complex connectivity challenges.
“We’re focusing on the agile design and delivery of managed network solutions,” he said. “I’m helping to spearhead this evolution, keeping customers at our core and enabling them to realise their full potential.”
Is AI critical to connectivity?
One of the main issues Cairns identifies is that connectivity often isn’t part of AI strategy conversations.
When it comes to businesses preparing to be AI-ready, Cairns argued that many organisations are overlooking their entire connectivity ecosystem. He suggested that, by rushing AI adoption, businesses may not consider the impact of legacy workloads – including if they can support the bandwidth, latency and security demands of the technology.
“The excitement around AI often overshadows the necessary foundational steps needed for responsible and effective implementation,” he explained. “Reliable, secure and high-speed connectivity forms the backbone of a successful AI strategy and ensures businesses feel the value of any AI investment.
“Without it, data won’t flow efficiently, AI models underperform and systems are left more vulnerable to attacks.”
The consequences of poor connectivity can be severe. When connections are unstable or fragmented, they can heighten AI security risks and make it harder to maintain consistent security policies and visibility across a network.
“Unstable connectivity in edge AI devices can delay or prevent critical security updates, leaving them exposed to malware,” Cairns said. “As organisations adopt AI-driven tools, reliable connectivity needs to be a priority to ensure that new software, devices and data don’t become a new entry point for attackers.”
To ‘enter into the future,’ Cairns suggested that implementing software-defined networks will help businesses to improve end-to-end visibility, greater agility and more centralised security.
“These solutions can also offer 24/7 monitoring and easy user-control through a central cloud platform that allows organisations to track data movement, flag bottlenecks and identify vulnerabilities before they become critical problems,” he told Capacity.
What businesses should watch out for
To mitigate AI security risks, Cairns said businesses should embed security into networks instead of adding it on top. He argued that moving to a software-defined network (SDN) and secure access service edge (SASE) model can integrate security and connectivity and enforce zero trust principles.
He added: “This approach eliminates implicit trust for networks, requiring every device and application to be verified continuously.”
TalkTalk Business continues to position itself to deliver SDN solutions that are designed to empower organisations with real-time visibility and management of their entire estate through a cloud dashboard. These solutions also enable easier control over network operations and performance, changing routing and capacity as needed.
“This allows [businesses] to see every connected endpoint, from WiFi-enabled devices to AI-powered smart technology like sensors,” Cairns explained. “This visibility is a crucial first step toward becoming AI ready.”
He added: “Internet connection used to be a cost of doing business. Today, it’s evolved into a strategic asset, underpinning digital transformation and business growth.”
For TalkTalk Business, AI-ready connectivity means having reliable, secure and fully visible networks in place – ones that Cairns said protect businesses from the risks of unprotected and disrupted AI.
“Solutions such as Secure Access Service Edge can help organisations extend their networking and security capabilities while they embrace innovation,” he explained. “This ensures networks and security act as a single service – a vital step for the responsible implementation of any new AI technology.”
Enabling the future of connectivity
As AI becomes more embedded into business operations, Cairns suggested that, as predictive analytics, AI agents and generative AI (Gen AI) scale, connectivity requirements will too.
He argued that, in order to take advantage of these opportunities, the telecoms industry must adopt strong network foundations and ensure their networks are scalable, flexible and future-proof –in addition to ensuring they can be easily integrated with newer IoT and AI connectivity technology.
“A total rehaul of legacy network infrastructure can seem a daunting barrier, but smaller pilot trials, which run on a couple of sites, can help to build business cases for further connectivity upgrades,” he added.
“Futureproofing means investing in adaptive, software-defined network architectures with strong security at every layer. Those who build flexible, intelligent connectivity foundations will be best positioned to harness AI’s full potential.”
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