The days of businesses lining up PCs equipped with costly software packages in new offices when they launch are long gone. In-house servers and off-site back-ups are also just options rather than essentials. Thanks to the cloud, startups are spoiled for choice when it comes to setting up their technology platforms.
Software as a Service (SaaS), which sees software centrally held and licensed on a subscription basis and accessed via web browser; managed hosting; and cloud based solutions are fast gaining traction, bringing cost savings, flexibility and efficiency. A recent survey by Vistage found that 49% of SMEs in Britain are making use of cloud-based services.
Starting up lean
When Nicky Rudd launched PR firm Padua Communications nearly five years ago she set out to do it differently to any business she had worked for before. “Everything we do is in the cloud now,” says Rudd. “From the start we planned to work with specialist freelancers, and doing everything online using cloud-based solutions means that any document that needs to be shared can be easily accessed by everybody regardless of location.”
Padua Communications uses Google Drive as a central library for documents that need to be shared. Cloud-based software Quickbooks is used for accounting and presentation software Pressie is used in addition to PowerPoint.
The company has embraced online software fully. The most recent addition is Dropbox. “We have used it for the last 18 months. We started using it because clients are using it so we were getting asked to share files, logos, videos and images,” explains Rudd. “Because I liked it we now use it as a back-up for our client system.”
All employees and freelancers have a company-specific email address and this again is a lot easier than it would have been before. “When we work with someone, even if it is just for one project, we can set them up with a Padua Communications email and a login to the system – we’d be able to sort that out in 15 minutes and I could do it from my phone, it is so easy,” she explains.
Reach for the cloud
But it’s not just new startups that are making the most of online solutions. Many businesses that launched using traditional working practices find themselves switching to the cloud. One of them is financial advisor Russell Gibson Financial Management – they have started to migrate systems to the cloud by adopting Zoho CRM, and it’s only the beginning of a bigger project, according to operations director Alex Orban. “I’d love to move everything to the cloud, I would like to not have one server in the building – that is part of the project we have called declutter,” he explains.
Previously client meetings were documented in written notes on Excel docs and scheduled via Outlook calendars. “There was a lot of paper flying about but that was combined using Microsoft Outlook. There were a lot of disconnects when it came to seeing an overall view of a client and what, if any, actions had been taken,” says Orban. It is early days and so far Russell Gibson is 20% cloud-based, but already it is making a big difference in working practices.
“Because we are working with shared data the efficiency is improved. In the traditional linear set-up you’d say to someone, ‘I’d like you to take a look at something, I’ll get you the file tomorrow’. That way you have already lost a day,” explains Orban. Now I can send my colleague a link to a document and say, ‘Here’s the link, if you can take a look that would be great’.”
Like Rudd, Will Pain set up his business to work specifically with a group of freelance suppliers, but when he launched he had a server in his home that everybody dialled into. He has since changed this using managed servers from cloud hosting provider Memset. “We used to have people dialling into the server in my home but it is not really set up for the job because the bandwidth isn’t great and it is not in a proper centre. If my Internet connection went down at home it was game over,” he says. “Centralising our system has resolved that because the data centre is very well equipped to deal with those situations and the Internet is very unlikely to be down at Memset.”
Savings and efficiency
So what are the benefits of ditching the traditional path in favour of the cloud? Well, for starters there are cost savings. Many cloud-based applications such as Dropbox and Gmail are usually paid for by subscription per user so you don’t need to spend a lot on software packages. Business applications such as Microsoft Office 365 from O2 are ideal for remote and mobile workers who need to access their firm’s cloud-based IT system.
Servers and other hardware offer other potential cost savings. “Not having to get all of the hardware is a big deal. It is much more cost-effective than having the piece of hardware and ensuring it has all the software you need on it,” says Rudd, but adds that the benefits extend beyond cost savings. “I think more than that it is the speed you can be up and running so quickly and efficiently. The speed with which we get people sharing files and access documents is great.”
Another huge benefit, according to Pain, is that using a cloud provider has removed the worry about unexpected costs from failing equipment. “It is hugely attractive to me that if anything goes wrong with the hardware it is totally Memset’s responsibility. They have the spare hardware and they will just replace it instantly if it goes wrong. If I have a server in my office and it breaks it is a big problem,” he explains. “I found that I went from worrying about hardware failures and not getting a back-up, and now our only concern is whether we have an Internet connection where we are and is it good enough for the cloud. And it doesn’t tend to be a big problem wherever you are.”
Content on this page is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with O2 Business, sponsor of the supporting business growth hub.
