Cloud Computing: 3 Game Changing Benefits

In the process of selling our home, we were required to have a mold inspection. During the inspection, I started speaking with their agent and he began to describe how they were looking to hire as business was growing monthly; which I found surprising in this economy. So I asked what was contributing to this growth? The answer was simply, technology. They had build a new web site and incorporated SEO and lead generation tactics to bring in new leads. But the main reason was the cloud: they moved all their services online which allowed the agents to  input data in the field, from their cell phones, tablets or from home. Utilizing this new technology, he was able to double the number of cases he handled in a week.

I asked him how he felt working in the cloud and he looked confused. Not unusual with so many mixed messages about the cloud that we are inundated with. Notwithstanding the ‘to the cloud’ mantra promoted by TV ad campaigns from Cisco and Microsoft, cloud computing is no different from electricity, or as Siamak Farah, InfoStreet's CEO said in a recent article, like water.

And, will provide 3 game changing benefits to your business.

A century ago, farmers used the water from their well and generated power from water wheels. Today, we purchase our utilities from our local municipality, paying on a PAYGO basis- pay as you go. We don't think about how it works, where it comes from or concern ourselves with the technical glitches. We simply flip a switch. Cloud Computing is similar to a utility:  consumers buying  server power from various companies, like Amazon, Google or InfoStreet, and running their processes off their platform. You can run your own applications on your cloud or ‘rent’ applications from providers such as, yes, InfoStreet.

Either way, your business will realize 3 immediate and game-changing benefits:

• Cost savings:

PAYGO:  Think of the cloud as a utility; pay for what you need when you need it.

• 24/7 availability:

Turn a light switch on and you expect your lights to turn on and cloud computing works exactly the same. Your cloud stored data is available anywhere you have an Internet connection.

• Back end ‘invisible’ support:

Your business doesn’t spend their precious time fixing the electric grid, checking on the water’s fluoridation process and the cloud frees them up in precisely the same way. Crashing servers, incompatible computers (common with growing companies), software that needs updating or network headaches are issues that take your team away from their core competency.

The agent from the restoration company gathered information from the house, inputted the data as we chatted and before I got back to the office I had a report and a detailed proposal in my email. The agent told me that their increased efficiency combined with new leads turned them from a stagnant company to an expanding one. And their operational costs are down.

Unfortunately, their prices aren’t.

Read here to see how one Commercial Real Estate agency moved to the cloud and turned a nightmare into an opportunity and feel as though they are on Cloud 9.

Contact Us to see how the cloud can turn your business around.