What is Cloud Computing
Firstly, what is cloud computing? Cloud computing is accessing an application (software) over the internet. For instance instead of a document you are writing sitting on your PC it is stored on a server somewhere else in the world that you are accessing over a web browser. As the location of the server is nebulous and non-specific it is referred to as The Cloud. It is similar to lodging your money into your bank account. You can access it from any ATM machine, but you don’t actually need to know where “your” money is physically located.
What does this actually mean for your business? As with ATM’s cloud computing is more convenient. Have you ever had the experience of being away from your desk and needed a file that was on your PC? Or said to your customer I will send that invoice to you when I get back to the office. When your data is stored in The Cloud you can access it from any internet enabled device. A PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet. Cloud computing costs less too, generally having a small monthly or yearly subscription fee for using the software.
Technology Problems for Small Businesses
As small businesses we face many challenges on a daily basis. Cloud computing brings technology to us that helps solve these challenges. In the past this technology was available only to large corporate enterprises, but The Cloud makes it accessible to everyone. Let’s take a look at some common challenges for small businesses and some cool cloud based applications that help us solve them.
Collaboration solutions
Whether it is with our colleagues, contractors or customers collaboration has become essential to how many of us work. Here are some great tools that can help you share documents and work with others.
Dropbox is one of the world’s most popular document sharing application. It syncs your files to multiple computers, backs them up online and gives you access to them via your smartphone. It has a free version and is a great first step towards using the cloud.
Google Docs allows you to collaborate with others on a live, online document. This means that you can see what others a typing as they are typing it. You can be in Ireland and the other person could be sitting next to you, or in New York it doesn’t matter. To do this all you need is a Google/Gmail account. If you already have a gmail account but have never used Google Docs then you are missing out!
Accountancy/Finance
Freshbooks is an online invoicing and billing system which allows you to send out invoices to your customers, track expenses and get basic accounts information. Freshbooks has some amazing features such as the ability to automatically send out reminders to customers, log expenses on their FREE iPhone app and give your customers a login so they can see all their invoices, estimates and an account statement. The most dramatic change we noticed when we moved to Freshbooks was that we got paid faster and who wouldn’t want that.
Xero is a full accounts package online and goes one step further than Freshbooks. It lacks some of the cool automated reminder features, but is great for companies that have more complex accounting methods.
CRM Solutions – Customer Relationship Management
We all have customers and they all need managing. Whether it’s tracking emails, calls, potential sales or simply recalling when was the last time you contacted them. Every business gets to the point where you can no longer keep all of these things in your head. Before choosing a CRM system it is important to decide what you need out of a CRM. Like anything in life you only get out what you put in, so make sure it is easy to use. For the small business user choosing a CRM system is like buying a car, it’s a personal choice. Some people like big cars, some people like fast ones and there is always the balance to be struck between what you can afford and what you need. It is also important to test a few out before committing. Here are a few of my personal favourites:
Capsule CRM integrates with a some of the other web based tools mentioned here such as Freshbooks. It also pulls in information from Linkedin and Twitter, allowing you to see a potential customers’ social media profiles from within the app. They have a good iPhone app which gives you access to your data out on the road.
Nimble is the worlds social CRM, they focus all their attention on the social media content and integrations with these platforms. If social media is important to your business then check out Nimble!
Nutshell CRM has a really nice interface and is easy to use. Definitely a good started for those not familiar with CRM systems. They integrate with products like Google Apps and have an excellent mobile app. Worth a look before committing.
Project Management
Project management is something that doesn’t apply to all businesses, but many service oriented companies have ongoing projects that they need to be able to monitor and manage effectively. The project management space is very crowded and like CRM it can be very personal depending on your preferences and business requirements.
Smartsheets is an amazing project management tool. It is like spreadsheets on steroids. If you are familiar with spreadsheets it means the learning curve is fairly light and you should get the hang of it easily. You can share your projects with your customers and actually allow them to collaborate with you on a project sheet. Within Smartsheets you can attach documents, setup reminders, add comments and much more.
Do.com is a great little project and task management app. It was recently bought by Saleforce and is currently FREE! They have a great iPhone app and it is really simple to use. For those of you that don’t need the complexity of Smartsheets Do.com is perfect.
Video Conferencing
Many of us now work from home or travel for business. Video conferencing is a great way to collaborate with colleagues and customers from any location without the need to travel. A lot of my business comes from London, but before I hop on a plane I always arrange a video call with a potential customer before investing the time and money to travel. Thanks to applications like Skype and Facetime (for iPhone) people are much more familiar with video calls. Here are some great apps to start with:
Skype is probably the best known brand in video communication and many people have Skype accounts. This makes it easy to connect with others. You can setup a Skype account in a few minutes, install the software and start testing it out. Multi-person video calls require a paid account.
Go to Meeting does professional level video conferencing and webinars for a reasonable price. It gives you the type of capabilities you would expect from Cisco’s Webex but without the price tag. That said it still isn’t cheap and can set you back €59 per month for Webinar edition. However, if you are planning to deliver online training or presentations with customers it will pay for itself in no time.
Google Hangouts are a great way to try out the video conferencing world at no COST! With Google Hangouts you need a Google+ account and you have access to full video conferences with up to 10 people. You can share your screen for presentations and even do a “Hangout on Air” where Google will broadcast your hangout to the world. This hangout will then be available as a Youtube video afterwards. This is great for online presentations or perhaps a Q&A session with an expert. People have used Google Hangouts on Air in very interesting ways, such as doing cookery demonstrations and musical performances. This year Google hosted a Hangout with Barack Obama that was broadcast to the world. Watch this great video on Google Hangouts: http://youtu.be/NQLhOdTHoXA
Conclusion
The Cloud and the proliferation of tools available can be overwhelming for small businesses. The key is to choose the area that is most important to your business, or that will have the most immediate benefit. Whether it is getting organised with a new project management system, connecting with customers via video call or sending out auto payment reminders with Freshbooks, take your first step into the cloud.
Author
Fintan Murphy is CEO of Damson Cloud a leading cloud computing integrator for enterprises. Damson are one of Google’s top partners in Europe. Here is a link to a recent presentation Fintan gave at Google London on Google’s cloud platform for businesses: http://youtu.be/dtnjWCHwlO4
Contact details
Fintan Murphy
Irl: +353-1-685 4666
UK: +44-2034111175
Email: fintan@damsoncloud.com
Website: www.damsoncloud.com
