Access Over Ownership: Big Tech for Small Business

Cloud computing has been around since the 1960s, but it wasn’t until the mid-2000s that businesses were able to leverage it thanks to an expansion in broadband internet services. Large enterprises aren’t the only ones who can benefit from these services. Small businesses have a lot to leverage by moving to the cloud. Here’s how.

Big Benefits With a Small Budget

Cloud services continue to be democratized by countless large, established tech enterprises, startups, and other web companies. These web companies’ services and digital hosted products have stretched their reach to a broad spectrum of audiences. Now, small nonprofits and businesses can access these tools to help drive operational efficiency and achieve their business goals and organizational missions, and they can get this all done without requiring a huge budget.

When you use a cloud-based platform, you can be confident that it is secure enough to handle monetary transactions. These managed e-commerce platforms enable small businesses to sell services and products securely across a whole host of devices and sites. Whether your client or customer accesses your services or goods from a mobile device, social media, or a huge online e-commerce retailer such as Amazon or eBay, you can expect to conduct business securely. As trusted Shopify Experts, we take security seriously and that is why we trust Shopify’s platform to power our customer’s stores.

Small business owners can be as busy as large competitors. In fact, they can be even busier. You often wear different hats as an entrepreneur or small business owner, so it’s crucial that you leverage tools that help you make the most of your time while saving time for the business activities that will help you add value to your business and bottom line. Being able to manage systems and processes easily can help you achieve these business goals. When you move to the cloud, you can leverage the benefit of easy user management. You can simplify processes such as removing or adding employees from company systems with the help of cloud-enabled systems, and it can all be done without the assistance of an IT professional or the need to contact the phone company.

Telephone systems that once required multi-thousand-dollar contracts with telephone companies are a thing of the past thanks to cloud-based business telephone services. With the help of these services, you can save on the costs of maintenance trips for servicing on-premise systems. You can also leverage the help of cloud-based service support such as Advancify, a RingCentral Expert , to manage your systems.

Hardware can take up much-needed space, which can make a difference if you are in a small office. When you utilize hosted services, there is no need for additional hardware. The hardware is virtual for you, but your information is securely stored on a server hosted by your cloud service provider. This not only frees up space but also makes it easy to access your data from virtually anywhere, including your smartphone, desktop computer or tablet with an internet connection. You can often get supported services too. Advancify provides support as part of your monthly subscription service, so you can cancel your maintenance contract for company servers or phone systems and save money.

Email isn’t going anywhere soon. It’s key to have an email system that is reliable but doesn’t drain your budget. But when you use hosted software and services, you can leverage the reliability and cost-effectiveness that it brings to email. Using hosted services typically saves you more over time than using a Microsoft Exchange email server that’s hosted on site. Google’s G Suite is cloud-based and has expanded its reliable S/MIME or Secure Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions , which is the secure way to send emails with encrypted keys. You can also get support for Gmail and G Suite from cloud service providers such as long-time users and G Suite resellers, Advancify.

You can securely store your files on hosted servers. One of G Suite’s cloud storage features is Google Drive, which allows your company to store your vital documents off-site, making it easy for you to manage your content with confidence since G Suite’s Google Drive can be stored securely. You also won’t need to keep your own company servers, which helps to reduce the risk of hard drive failures. You can leverage collaborative tools, including Google Docs to let you work with a remote team of employees on a document in real time and share it easily from the document to your team.

You can save money by allowing your employees to bring their own devices. Moving to hosted services enables you to adopt a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy so that your employees can use the devices they already have and save you money and time on training and equipment in the process.

Switching to the cloud comes with several advantages for small business owners. From BYOD compatibility to saving time and money on contracted services, you can enhance productivity and improve your bottom line when you migrate to cloud services. Advancify understands what it takes to leverage the hosted services you need. Book a free online consultation with us to get the most out of your business.