Many SMEs are finding that their smaller size is no barrier to taking advantage of new cloud technologies to improve the way that their businesses are run.
As well as helping them to be more flexible and cut down on IT costs, cloud computing, where firms can store and access data remotely, without having to host it themselves, can help them win new business and allow them to compete with larger companies for the same contract. Industry analysts say that rapidly developing cloud technologies allow SMEs to 'punch above their weight', and by pooling resources with other smaller firms, they can save money, time and personnel costs.
This has a knock-on benefit of improving collaboration between firms that may have previously operated as rivals in the same sector. And there are obvious benefits to companies operating across the world.
Employees can share the same applications, information and data online, and collaborate to amend plans or pitches in real time, as easily as if they were sitting in the same office, creating unprecedented levels of flexibility.
Flexibility for SMEs
Sergio Galindo, general manager of the infrastructure business unit at GFI Software, says: "The on-demand nature of many cloud services means there is no long-term commitment, giving smaller cash-conscious businesses the flexibility to deliver IT without taking on cumbersome and expensive physical IT costs of things like hardware, data centre space, power and cooling. The cloud allows SMEs to focus on the day-to-day business rather than focusing on technology."
Mobile phone providers are tapping into this emerging technology, particularly as modern employees are more often than not doing a lot of their work on the move.
O2's Pop Up Office allows a customer to create their own mobile office in minutes by connecting up to 10 other devices to the internet and access email and other business applications. The devices are 4G-ready, using O2's 4G network whether they're 4G-compatible or not.
Help drive productivity
Anthony Foy, chief executive officer (CEO) of Workshare, a file sharing and document collaboration platform, says: "Cloud solutions streamline and speed up the process of winning new business by driving the productivity of employees. They enable SMEs to access and share proposals, pitches and examples of their work instantaneously online and via mobile devices, allowing them to better service customer demands. Modern platforms are easy to use and often require little or no training, allowing users to come up to speed and interact with each other and clients more effectively."
With many incubator spaces popping up around the UK, like Manchester's Sharp Project and cloud-based platforms like Dropbox allowing small companies to securely store and access their files from anywhere at any time via the internet, there's no longer the need for startups and SMEs to have a permanent office space.
"They can take advantage of these collaborative incubator spaces and still have access to their data", says Lawrence Jones, chief executive of cloud and hosting firm UKFast.
Success with cloud technologies
Several SMEs have used cloud technologies successfully including SimplyGames.
Web manager Carl Brooker says: "Cloud fitted in perfectly for what we needed, and we managed to set it up in just 15 minutes which was incredible. Both sites perform very well, and we're known for having extremely fast running websites in terms of site and checkout speed. Some of our main competitors run very slow, in-house web solutions, so the speed of the network and cloud keep us one step ahead of them."
Software company Point74 invested in its cloud hosting infrastructure and managed to increase its customer base from just six, when it started in 2008, to almost 50. Point74 now has 15 of the top 50 UK food-manufacturing companies on its books.
Before a small business starts to use cloud technology software, they should do their homework, says UKFast's Jones, as cloud technology becomes increasing complex.
He says: "It may seem simple on the surface, but underneath there are layers of hardware and software that all need to communicate with each other, and if things go wrong it can be incredibly complex to retrieve the data that has been lost, especially when there are multiple users within the cloud environment.
"There are also issues with data security that need to be considered. A small company driven by the need to keep costs to a minimum may end up regretting relying too much on the cloud without sensible fall back options if things go wrong.
Jones adds: "SMEs need to establish if they can afford this window for recovery if the cloud ever went down, if not I'd suggest dedicated servers with appropriate backup as the best, most cost-effective route."
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This content has been paid for and produced to a brief agreed with O2 Business, whose brand it displays
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