“I just wanted to take a second to thank the sponsor of this video, [insert VPN provider here], for supporting the channel!”

If you’ve been on YouTube in the past few years, this message likely sounds pretty familiar. Virtual private network providers have been taking advantage of the trend of influencer marketing to spread awareness of their largely obscure product—often, offering an enticing deal. While we have and will continue to promote the use of a VPN for business purposes, we wanted to clarify something here: these are not the VPNs we’re saying you should use.

Let’s explore why all VPNs are not the same, and what this means for your business’ use of one.

What Does a VPN Do?

This is the crux of the issue, actually. At its core, a VPN hides your IP address as you access a network. That’s…basically it. A virtual private network really just does what it says on the box: creates a virtual network that helps to keep things private.

However, many of the talking points that these influencer sponsors often make—with the VPN companies providing them, of course—are relatively meaningless. This is especially true when you compare the use case of a business to the use case of an individual user, as these online personalities are speaking to.

The Needs of a Business Just Don’t Line Up with What an Individual User is Seeking Out

The key consideration to make here is the intended use. While commercial VPNs allow you to access a random network anonymously, a business VPN specifically provides your team with access to your specific network. In short, the commercial VPN isn’t doing what your business needs a VPN to do…and it goes even deeper than this.

In the case of a personal VPN, as you see pitched by these online personalities, the purpose is for a single user to be able to access the Internet via less-than-secure networks. However, when these VPNs are pitched to be an all-inclusive security panacea, this is where it becomes problematic.

In addition to this, there are other reasons that a personal-use VPN is a bad fit for a business, especially as compared to one that is specifically intended for a business’ use. Multiple users can simultaneously use a business-grade VPN, for instance, and it’s more specifically intended to ensure that each of these users are able to access the resources they need that are stored on its in-house infrastructure.

In Short, You Need to Be Sure Your VPN—Like All Your Business Tools—Can Be Trusted

Picking the tools that your business needs can be a challenge, especially when you also need to deal with all the other goings-on at your business. We can make that challenge a lot simpler for you, by stepping in and helping you manage not only your network connectivity, but your entire IT strategy. Give us a call at (704) 895-0010 to learn more about the many ways we can assist you with our trustworthy and business-appropriate tools.