The most successful businesses are using technology to facilitate their growth.
Technology helps you increase productivity, make more informed decisions, address the ever-growing security and compliance needs and compete more effectively in your market. More often than not, technology paves the way to do more business and bridges human resources gaps.
The cloud is a highly accessible solution that can scale up or down as needed, making it a go-to resource for businesses looking to increase revenue, add new locations or expand their operational capacity.
Cloud technology comes with a lot of other benefits, too: wider selection of features, logical pricing models and improved security.
3 Shortcuts to Growing Your Business Via the Cloud
The most successful organizations are using technology to grow their business with the cloud, like you, they need access to more features that make sense for their company. Those options must be affordable, and they must keep data secure.
Here are three advantages to growing your business with the cloud:
1. More features at your fingertips. You’ll access features that aren’t bound by location, including more self-service features. The cloud opens up a world of services that can be tailored to your specific needs. Deerwood Technologies can help you create a shortlist of the best options for your business, then show you how to use each one in-depth.
2. Pay for only what you need. The cloud offers pay-as-you-go or pay-as-you-need cost model, which is more realistic for smaller businesses, and you can avoid a massive outlay of capital. Plus, even the most innovative cloud software remains up-to-date as upgrades are rolled out. This enables businesses to grow without being held back by an unaffordable price tag.
3. Hands-off protection. Even if your business isn’t part of a regulated industry or subject to compliance requirements, you still have customer data and proprietary information that you need to protect. Enterprise cloud platforms can provide interlocked security at any level, whether your security and compliance needs are complex or on the simpler side. These security features need to be validated and integrated into your Business Continuity plans.
Top Cloud Recommendations
Cloud services like Office 365 can streamline general business processes:
- Power BI presents important business data in a way that makes it easy to customize, share, and take action.
- Secure Score analyzes security by considering normal activities and security settings, then assigning a score to show how well you’re protected.
- Compliance Manager helps with tracking and verifying regulatory compliance.
When we worked with an international toy and furniture manufacturer Guidecraft, we moved them from a hosted Exchange platform to a cloud-based Office 365 environment to facilitate teamwork and collaboration, something they were struggling with on their existing, on-premise technology.
We deployed ServicePoint365 (from ClougAG) which runs on top of Microsoft SharePoint to improve teamwork by helping teams share and manage applications, content, and knowledge, and to quickly find what they’re looking for. Through these technologies, Guidecraft immediately realized improved employee collaboration, across their international employee base, with enhanced network health and security.
How Much is This Going to Cost?
When choosing a cloud provider, the biggest change business owners face is moving to a new cost model. At this stage, it’s important to understand your total cost of ownership (TCO).
Compare the TCO of your current solution to a cloud solution, taking into consideration the return on investment. There are several things to think about when predicting the investment horizon, including software licensing, cost per month and maintenance per year. Also, include how you’ll amortize your investments (for physical equipment). Will you write it off in 5, 10 or 20 years?
When migrating to the cloud, monthly costs may in fact increase marginally because capital expenses are built-in. However, in the long run as you’ll pay less than the cost of capital, even with depreciation. You’ll also always have the latest technology and won’t have to run systems into the ground or sacrifice productivity.
Deerwood Technologies can help your business identify cloud solutions that deliver the biggest benefits to your growing business. Contact us for a consultation.