Cloud Computing Smart for Many Small Businesses

Omri Erel is Marketing Director of WalkMe.

Any business enterprise, be it small or big, is always on a lookout for improving their productivity by performing tasks faster, quicker and in the most economical way to increase their profitability. In the case of small enterprises, the challenges are many, above all to be competitive, constantly improve quality standards and price their product competitively in the increasingly cutthroat business environment. Yet in today's times it has become very easy for small businesses to constantly improve without going too far. More than 30 percent of small business owners are increasingly reaping the benefits of cloud computing, to study, organize or lead their enterprise by using the cloud based software.

Every small enterprise aims to achieve more effective business goals. This is possible by implementing more and more cloud based software to assist in running the day-to-day business. Software solutions catering to all requirements of a small business are very easy to find. But, the main problem is how do you identify the best business software suitable for your small business? Why should you go for a cloud-based application?

The best way to identify the perfect and suitable cloud-based software for your small business is to first make a list of all the departments in your firm, and then make a list of applications, which each department heads would like to use more often if they are based in the cloud. Each department head will most probably be aware of the resources that they would like to use if they had the correct resources ready. Just in case they are not aware of their requirements it would be wise to make a list of requirements, which they would love to be included in a cloud-based application.

Some of the advantages of cloud-based applications include:

Saves money and is economical
It is makes a lot of sense financially for a small business to rent software that is more robust, rather than to own it. Apart from the local purchase of hardware such as PCS or physical site modifications to business, overhead and operational costs are shifted to the cloud provider — through a predefined package of both general and specialized services. Additional reduced costs come from the lack of need to employ staff to take care of internal servers. There is only a need to pay for the capacity you need at any given time. It will also help in saving money by benefitting from the tax advantages. Your tax consultant will be the correct person to guide you on how to save money on taxes by renting software than purchasing them.

Increases productivity
A detailed study conducted by Microsoft has revealed that small enterprises that have implemented cloud-based solutions have seen a drastic increase in sales as compared to those businesses that have not implemented cloud-based applications in their business. It allows for easy updating of CRM data and alleviates the worry of waiting for internal server issues, allowing workers to focus and be more productive. Additionally, there are reduced training times, as cloud applications are either browser-based or are presented to the end-user in a familiar GUI format. Training time is usually only a matter of a few hours.

Increases innovation
By implementing the cloud-based applications into the business, small firms have been able to free up their resources and time of their employees and contractors thus engaging their valuable time on improving research and production.

Helps in increasing responsiveness
Cloud-based applications are more responsive to the ever-increasing needs of the IT industry. A small business need not invest in the depreciating systems since they are now run and managed by a cloud hosting service provider. This gives you ample free resources at your disposal that can be utilized efficiently and effectively.

Allows more flexibility
A cloud-based application not only provides additional time and flexibility of space, but also helps you scale up and down the resources in terms of space and functionality with any one cloud-based software solution. This increasing flexibility makes the cloud based solution most economical for small firms.

Easy access to upgrades
Instead of having to deal with updating or migrating to other software, the small business always has access to the latest version of everything it needs to stay on top.

Some business owners are unconvinced about cloud-based solutions, but the reality is, they are economical, very effective and can be integrated very effortlessly into most businesses. You cannot differentiate between a normal system and a cloud-based system except that you can access your information from different devices and from any location as far as you have access to Internet connectivity and usability access. Small businesses that decide to switch to cloud-based applications will reap their benefits and be successful.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BusinessNewsDaily.