The benifts of cloud software for small businesses

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

It's strange how technology evolves sometimes. Years ago during the age of the mainframe you would be accustomed to using a simple, low spec machine that let the server do all the 'heavy lifting'. Then along came the Personal Computer (PC) and the new trend was for each machine to be entirely self reliant. Now we find ourselves retreating back to a similar model as before, only in a much more powerful way.

Cloud Services are the new big thing. With broadband speeds every increasing and wireless connections becoming available almost everywhere, why wouldn't you want your software available to you everywhere? Cloud services allow users to just get on with their job without any hassles:

Initial Cost Saving:
For many small businesses surplus capital is in short supply and paying up front for a large, expensive software solution is sometimes not an option. In these cases a business can become over reliant on Word documents and spreadsheets which will decrease productivity in the long run. The majority of cloud software solutions are available on an easy to afford monthly subscription plan, and normally at a reduced rate to their boxed-software alternatives.

Compatibility:
Have you ever found what looked to be the perfect software only then to realise it wasn't compatible with your IT infrastructure? Many have experienced this problem but this is not the case with cloud software as the solutions are built on common web standards which only require a modern browser to function. Windows, Linux Mac Os? It's not a problem for the cloud! You also have the benefit of being up and running in literally a few seconds with no installation and very importantly no upgrading to the latest version or trouble shooting problems.

Your data is safe:
How many small businesses would be able to carry on trading if their office burned down tomorrow? The answer is probably not many. Keeping your data safely backed up off-site is essential. Cloud services ensure all your data is safely backed up for you, giving you the peace of mind that if the unthinkable happened you would be protected.