And here's why it matters… In one African market, a large mobile financial services provider had built out its mobile banking platform, enabling peer-to-peer transfers, remittances, and deposits for millions of users. During a recent period of social unrest, the government suddenly introduced network filtering and service blocks, impacting all mobile financial platforms. Users were suddenly unable to access core services, or subscribe to the tools needed to restore connectivity. Transactions stalled, and customers were left effectively stranded.

As a SaaS provider, your business is your business, but your ability to deliver services, on time, every time, is everything to your customers. Your brand, your reputation and your revenue is something you just can't afford to gamble with.

Yet increasingly, many providers are doing exactly that, because the global networks their services depend on are no longer as stable or predictable as they once were. From Southeast Asia, to the Middle East and Africa, the accelerating and unpredictable use of regional internet filtering, throttling and even shutdowns means you’re gambling on the availability of a stable digital infrastructure. When you lose that bet, you and your customers pay the price.

Many regions, such as parts of Africa, have experienced an increase in the number of intermittent and unpredictable internet blackouts, throttling or degradation, especially during elections or periods of social unrest. The result is that financial organizations and users are confronting a simple reality: connectivity for them or their customers is never guaranteed.