Cloud technology is rapidly disrupting how we work. Savvy entrepreneurs know that leveraging technology is key to driving a fast-growth business. Entrepreneurs who understand that cloud is a tool used to accelerate the growth of their business are taking action and ensuring that the adoption of cloud technology is a key strategy.
#1 Think cloud-first
The idea of buying an expensive and unreliable small business server to run our business applications in-house is dying. Applications such as Xero have changed the way small businesses purchase and use technology. When choosing new business tools, we have the flexibility of signing up for a trial of a new application (via our internet browser) and evaluating it ourselves. If we decide that it doesn’t fit our needs – we have only wasted a month of fees. Gone are the days of expensive and time-consuming implementations requiring teams of IT consultants, and exorbitant software maintenance fees and upkeep costs.
The power of control has now shifted to the business owner in choosing which business applications to use and implement as many cloud applications are easy enough to work out how to use.
Choosing cloud technology first when making business software decisions should be a core part of your strategy, as server-based applications lag behind the curve of innovation and integration with other cloud-ready apps.
#2 Work in real-time
Business owners and employees now demand the flexibility to work together irrespective of location or device. Unreliable VPNs and buggy remote desktop connections are soon to be left in the past in favor of businesses adopting real-time collaboration tools such as Google Docs and Sheets.
Instead of emailing files back and forth as attachments, having to create new versions each time an edit is made, you can collaborate documents and spreadsheets live with a single version that each participant can work on together simultaneously. This is a great way to share a common project plan between your clients and team without wondering who’s got the latest version or manually merging changes into one document.
No more conflicting copies from a Dropbox that’s out of sync, or ‘read-only’ documents locked by someone else using the server. Arming your team with easy-to-use, yet powerful remote work tools give your team the flexibility to work from home or while traveling – meaning a sick day from a key staff member doesn’t stop your business in its tracks.
#3 Clean up your emails
Do you currently have more than 1000 emails in your inbox? Is the inbox overload part of your Monday-itis? Managing the daily barrage of emails is becoming an ever increasingly difficult task as we receive upwards of 100 new emails per day.
Intelligent inbox management tools such as Yesware can help get you much more productive managing the flow of emails into your inbox and keep you focused on more important tasks. Yesware allows you to set intelligent follow-up reminders on emails that you send so you can remember to follow up on a sent proposal or chase that overdue invoice.
Using email as a primary communication method for staff within your own business is also particularly inefficient and adds to the email to-do list in our inbox. Companies that make use of team-based instant messaging applications such as Slack, Hipchat, or Google Hangouts see a dramatic reduction in internal company emails, as these real-time communication tools allow you and your staff to keep connected and communicate more effectively.
#4 Mobilise your team
Every business owner and employee is walking around with a fully capable computing machine in their pocket. Empowering your team to connect to their work on their own terms and in their own time may yield surprising results. For example, in our business, allowing staff to access customer support queries on-the-go using Zendesk’s mobile app resulted in consultants going above and beyond to provide customer service to a client emergency on their commute to work.
The idea of the central ‘company office’ where all employees must travel to complete their work is also now changing, as remote work employees are able to work from home or many available ‘co-working’ spaces in city areas. Utilizing work-from-home staff who may have flexible working requirements or staff recruited interstate allows you to tap into a talent pool you may not have considered available to your business from outside your local area.
Don’t forget about yourself either! Entrepreneurs do their best work in a space where they can comfortably create without interruption. Google’s online collaboration suite works across all mobile and tablet devices allowing you to work where and when you are most productive. Working from where you do your best work (which may happen to be home, the beach or your local cafe), is an essential discipline for high performing business owners to complete their strategic work.
#5 Take advantage of the global workforce
Online marketplaces such as UpWork allow small businesses to easily connect with ‘as-needed’ resources from all over the world, often allowing Australian businesses to arbitrage labor rates against developing markets.
Not only does access to a global marketplace of talent reduce your cost in acquiring services from talented contractors on an as-needed basis, but tasks that would otherwise be handled in-house due to budget constraints can now be easily outsourced, freeing up more time for you to complete more high-value tasks.
Tasks such as updating your website, graphic design, back-office administration and even personal concierge services (like booking plane tickets) can be sent offshore to lower-rate workers, reducing your spend on completing those tasks internally (or not getting them done).
Building a global team might mean you can extend hours of availability for customer inquiries or even production, opening your business up to international opportunities.
It’s time to develop your technology action plan, not just for this year but also for the future. Consult your advisors and review your current technology plan to evaluate if it’s serving your business. Beware the ‘boxhugger’ IT consultants with an anti-cloud agenda who would rather sell you another server than help you implement cloud technology (which may eat into their margins). If your IT consultant isn’t helping you make the right technology choices to help your business get the edge, it’s time to change who you’re listening to.
To learn more about our Cloud Support Service, or schedule an IT Systems Check, contact itGenius - the Google Workspace Experts
