As a business owner, you know that continuous, steady growth is an essential part of success. Several vital actions must happen when you start to scale your business – documented workflows and processes, streamlined hiring, onboarding and training, and well-oiled marketing systems top the list. One key, but often overlooked, element of successful scaling is leveraging technology to enhance operations quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively. One resource necessary for growth is the cloud. The cloud allows you to streamline and automate your operations without a large investment.

In this article we’ll cover what the cloud is, the benefits you should be taking advantage of, and how to leverage it to grow your business without overspending.

Simply put, the cloud is a global infrastructure of servers that gives remote, on-demand access to computer system resources. This includes data storage over the Internet instead of on a computer’s hard drive. These capabilities allow businesses to pay only for what they use when they use it, which means businesses may not need to invest in their own hardware or software licenses. Hardware and software can be expensive, making this a great solution for businesses in growth mode who do not have an unlimited budget.

How can the cloud help your business? Here are 5 benefits to consider:

  1. Economies of Scale –Most cloud-based programs allow you to expand the services as you grow. When revenue increases and you take on more clients, you can choose to upgrade your services or invest in new features and capabilities. This allows you to never pay for more than you need.
  2. Enhanced Collaboration – In a digital world, we need real-time access to collaboration tools no matter where our employees are. Cloud-based programs can usually be accessed simultaneously by multiple team members anywhere in the world on any device. This empowers colleagues to work together on projects even if they are not in the same location or time zone, increasing productivity all around.
  3. Increased Automation – You can save both money and your employees’ time by having cloud-based programs automate certain repeatable tasks. These tasks include regular backups, logging and monitoring networks, resource allocation and more. Most business owners don’t know how many tasks they can automate or how much time and money they can save until they have an IT professional review their network.
  4. Faster Access to Resources – With the cloud, most tools are readily available almost instantly, so your employees no longer have to wait for extensive downloads or installations. This makes it easier and faster to get work done.
  5. Reduced Disaster Recovery Costs – The risk of a natural disaster damaging cloud-based data and assets that are hosted virtually on servers is less than the alternative. This not only can help get you back up and running faster in the event of a natural disaster, but it could also help alleviate some hardware replacement costs. Your IT professional should have multiple backups of your data, so if something goes wrong, it will be easy to get it back up and running.

Cloud-based programs are a great resource for business owners who want to scale on a budget. They are easy to use, flexible to expand, cost-effective, and great for collaboration.

If you’re wondering whether you’re harnessing all the power that cloud tools provide, you’re probably not. The best next step is to have an IT professional do an in-depth review of your current network to find the areas of opportunity in your business.

We offer a FREE Network Assessment, where we extensively review your network and sit down with you to review ways you can save money and enhance your business operations. If you’re serious about scaling and want to do it the right way, click here to book a Discovery Call with our team or call our office at 281-646-1200 to get a meeting on the schedule.