get your business into the cloud

5 Ways to get your Business into the Cloud

Cloud computing can help level the playing field for smaller firms, it allows them to access sophisticated IT services that were previously out of reach. For example, it can allow small firms to manage and monitor their sales, operations, and finances in real time.

Cloud adoption is steadily growing and onboarding your organisation will be a key differentiator that will keep a competitive edge in today’s fast paced market.

We have outlined 5 practical ways for small firms to embrace cloud services to improve business ROI and optimise workflows.

Cloud Storage

The main benefit of cloud storage is the access the employees have to content when and where and however they need it. Concerns over security in the cloud is a thing of the past as data storage is regulated by the highest standards so you never have to worry about who can access your private data.

Email and Office Tools

Forget the hosting and servers, licensing software, or upgrades to your infrastructure. If you're not hosting your email, calendars, contacts and chat through either Google Apps for Business, Microsoft's Office 365 or a similar service provider, then you are wasting your time on unnecessary hassles and expenses.

Data Warehouse

Traditional on-premise data warehouse solutions are expensive and so it is not surprising that this area has multiple offerings. These offer users highly scalable and cost-effective ways to analyse company data using business intelligence tools, with solutions that enable businesses ways to scale up, store and analyse without the costs and space needed for on premise resources.

Virtual Desktop

Offering small businesses numerous ways to save on hardware expenses, maintenance and other hassles Virtual Desktops have now entered the cloud. The advantage of Virtual Desktops is that they can be tailored to the end-users needs and as headcount increases more can be created. Solutions can provide a fully customised virtual desktop environment that is cloud hosted and maintained without the headache of hardware installation and standalone software.

Project Management

With the growth in collaboration tools and resources, organisations have concluded that proper project management is critical to business ROL. Without it, workflows get muddled, employees and customers frustrated and communication delays resulting in lost revenue and negative impacts on brand reputation. Tools offer integrated project management compromised of to-do lists, web-based text documents, milestone management file sharing, time tracing and messaging systems.