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Journey to the Cloud

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Journey to the Cloud

By Lin Fisher
Vice President, Sales and Marketing Operations
Baker Communication

The two biggest IT imperatives for business right now revolve around cloud computing and virtualization. Both of these technologies are valuable because they help businesses save money and increase the efficiency of their IT capabilities. However, if you are a small or medium business and you have to choose between the two, it is likely that cloud computing presents the fastest and most affordable way to boost the productivity of your IT processes, because it will allow you to deploy sophisticated software applications at a far lower front end cost than you would incur by purchasing it, installing it and maintaining it in house.

Cloud computing is an elegant, simple solution, because it allows you to access and use these applications via the Internet. The applications are installed on a website hosted by the software solution provider. Instead of paying for the software and installing and maintaining it on site, you purchase monthly licenses for each user on your team that you want to access the software. You purchase the number of licenses you need, and you can even customize a suite of functions within the software application so that you only pay for the features that you need. You can adjust the features and number of users each month, so that at any given time, your IT spend is perfectly aligned with your needs at the moment.

This subscription approach to accessing software hosted in the cloud allows small and medium business to deploy new technologies and more robust solutions at a fraction of the cost of traditional on-site IT programs. It is the perfect solution for any business that needs powerful IT capabilities but doesn‘t have the budget to develop a large, in-house IT department.

The cloud is expanding

In 2010, Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group surveyed 510 small companies in the U.S. and found that 75 percent currently use a cloud service. Sixty-five percent expect to spend as much as 20 percent of their IT budget on cloud services in the next two years, and an additional 25 percent of these small businesses think they may devote almost half of their budget to the cloud by 2012.

According to Tim Harmon, IT trend analyst for Forrester Research, these figures may be too low. For instance, it is likely that employees in small or medium businesses may sometimes be using cloud applications without even realizing it, citing examples like hosted email or web meeting platforms like Cisco WebEx.

As long as small businesses have a high speed Internet connection, it is possible for them to conduct all of their significant IT operations completely in the cloud. Companies are rapidly turning to hosted cloud solutions to address needs such as security, storage and backup, on-demand computing, desktop productivity, business applications (for example, CRM and ERP) and sales and marketing tools.
It takes a little education and planning to decide what cloud solutions are best for your business. Most cloud computing experts suggest that you start by identifying which IT functions are absolutely critical to your core business activities. For instance, if you are an engineering firm, you probably want to deploy your sophisticated plotting and design software in house. However, processes that aren‘t critical to core business functions – including CRM, security, back up storage, etc. - can easily be accessed from the cloud.

Big benefits for small companies

Without a doubt, the most discernible advantages of cloud computing come from Software as a Service (SaaS) Applications. There are several benefits to the SaaS approach. For instance, cloud versions of most SaaS applications are high-end, full-function versions that are beyond the budget of most small businesses. They are also immediately upgraded to the most recent versions when these upgrades become available, saving the small business user the trouble of upgrading themselves. The SaaS approach is also great for accessing complex, expensive applications that you may only need to use once or twice a year. Since you only pay for what you use, the out-of-reach solution becomes the just-in-time solution.

Because cloud computing provides affordable, flexible, scalable solutions, this can deliver a significant competitive advantage for small and medium businesses. But it gets even better. Since cloud computing solutions are hosted in the cloud – which is to say they are accessed from the Internet – these solutions are available to employees around the clock and around the world. Members of your team can access these solutions from home, from the road, from their laptop, smart phone or tablet, and have access to all the functions and stored information that most on-site applications only deliver from the local office.
Be sure to invest in a stable Internet connection

Cloud computing truly offers a wealth of advantages for small and medium businesses. There is only one caveat: you must have a highly reliable, stable, fast Internet connection. Don‘t skimp on bandwidth and do find a reliable, experienced business class Internet provider to help you deploy a network solution that will ensure that your team can access their cloud applications whenever they need to. If your network goes down, so does your productivity. But once you have solved for that, cloud computing can provide all the all the IT power the big corporations have at a fraction of the cost. That is good for you, good for your customers, and good for business.

  • Are you looking for ways to remain competitive in the small/medium business market space?
  • What proportion of your total IT budget will your company spend on hosted or subscription technology services this year?
  • Would increasing efficiencies and lowering costs boost your competitive edge?
  • Can you name the top three ways small/medium businesses can save money by moving to the cloud?
     

Walter Rogers is the President and CEO of Baker Communications. Baker Communications is a sales training and development company specializing in helping client companies increase their sales and management effectiveness. He can be reached at 713-627-7700.

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