8 reasons why the cloud is good for your small business

In addition to staying ahead of your competitors, the cloud has serious benefits for your business. In these days of remote working conditions for most people, the cloud is central to our ability to perform.

The cloud offers enhanced security measures, supports remote teams, provides up-to-date information, and enables access from any device.

You are likely already using cloud-based applications to power your business. For example, you might be using:

• Skype for Business, Zoom or GoToMeeting to hold online meetings.
• Box, Google Drive, Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive to store your online documents and files.

• Sage Business Cloud to manage your invoicing, cash flow, and payments across all of your devices.
• Trello, Basecamp or Asana to allocate tasks to each employee and track their work progress.
• Marketing automation software like HubSpot, Mailchimp or Active Campaign to track and nurture leads.

Here’s how the cloud can save you time, money, and effort.

1. Increase in productivity

Cloud-based systems ensure your business data is available at any time, and from anywhere.

This means you and your employees become more productive and efficient, because you’re not chasing a file that’s located on someone else’s computer.

Plus, you can search for what you need much faster.

2. Cost savings

There’s a real economic advantage to adopting cloud systems. While on-site hardware and software required for physical data storage is costly to install and maintain, the cloud offers a budget-friendly solution for business owners.

You’ll likely pay a small set monthly subscription for a cloud-based app, with customized packages designed to fit a small business budget.

Plus, many cloud-based tools are designed to serve multiple functions—making it even more cost-effective.

3. Secures your data

You don’t need to worry about your sensitive business data sitting on a server in an unlocked room and protected by an easy-to-crack password.

Cloud-based providers take security to a much higher level with secured data centers, encryption, authentication, and other security measures. If you still worry, put protocols in place to change your passwords every month.

4. Collaborate remotely

Sharing information online can improve productivity and efficiency for business owners— especially those now working with remote teams.

Like the apps mentioned earlier, there are cloud-based solutions for every business activity, from project management tools to customer relationship management (CRM) systems to accounting systems.

Most solutions are designed to integrate seamlessly with other online services for improved collaboration and customer service.

5. Files are updated in real-time

Wonder if you are using the most recent file? When you update your files, they’re synched across all devices that are using the cloud application.

With cloud-based data you always know you’re looking at the latest version of a document in real time, helping to minimize errors when file sharing with a team.

6. Improved business continuity

Should a physical disaster strike, your data remains safe and sound.

For example, if you suffered a fire in your premises or theft of your devices, your business data would remain safe in the cloud. You could run your business from alternate devices without interruption.

7. Room to grow

Cloud-based storage can scale up instantly, so you don’t need to worry about running out of space.

8. Phase in your operations to the cloud

Look over your business operations to identify functions or processes that could be made simpler with an online app.

Then, do some online research to find an app capable of performing those functions, read customer reviews, make sure the price is affordable and when you’re ready, begin a free trial to test it out.

It’s best to switch one area of your business at a time to the cloud so you and your team can adjust. Take advantage of free customer training offered by most app companies to help decrease your learning time.