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What is cloud computing and what can it do to help your business cut their costs and grow? Why do larger companies get the benefits of new software first? When productivity-enhancing applications like CRM, sales management and even accounting software are introduced, they’re typically aimed at big organisations with big IT budgets.
These applications trickle down to smaller businesses eventually. But even then, costs are still high: the software has to be purchased, licensed, maintained and supported. Hardware often needs to be upgraded. And it all serves to distract you from running your business.
However, there are new types of software application that offer even larger benefits to smaller organisations than to larger ones. These are cloud computing applications, (also known as Software as a Service, or SaaS), which can level the playing field and make powerful business software available to any business – from a one-person start-up to an organisation with a turnover of £20m or more.
Cloud formations
How do cloud applications do this? Put simply, instead of purchasing the software applications you want, and installing them on your own computers (with all the associated upfront costs), the applications are hosted on secure servers that you access over the Internet – that is, in the cloud. You use the applications, and input or extract data and files, via your web browser.
This works in the same way as web-based services such as Hotmail, Google Mail and Amazon. These are all methods of storing and accessing data via a web browser, making them classical cloud applications. A major advantage of cloud applications is that someone else is taking care of all the awkward, costly parts of business computing – buying and running servers, maintaining the software, handling upgrades and so on.
With the upfront and ongoing costs of software removed in this way, you just pay to use the applications as you go along – typically a low monthly fee (around £25 per user). And you have the ability to add functions and users, as you need to. You pay for cloud computing services just like you pay for electricity or water – as you use them.
So you access the business applications you want to use – from accounting software and e-commerce to CRM, stock management and so on – online in a single ‘dashboard’ display in your web browser, with their files and data securely backed up on servers in the cloud.
Clear benefits
This has several key advantages, quite apart from the obvious low costs and avoiding upfront investment in new software and servers.
First, you’re no longer dependent on one particular computer to access and work on business data. As long as you have a connection to the Internet, you can retrieve files and access or manipulate business data anywhere – whether at your desk, at home, via a WiFi hotspot or 3G on a laptop or web-enabled handheld device. So you can take your business wherever you go.
Second, the headaches of managing and maintaining the applications are removed – you simply use the applications, without the need to dedicate resources and manpower to support them.
For the first time, this puts the big kids’ toys in the hands of any size of business, so they can get the same benefits, visibility and support that have until now, been simply too expensive for them to afford.
Let’s take a look at a case study of an established business that’s benefiting from using cloud computing applications.
Cloud computing in practice: Allgas
Allgas is a Yorkshire-based specialist supplier and maintainer of gas and electrical appliances and accessories. Allgas carries a large stock of appliances, accessories and spares, totalling some 30,000 items across its two sites, and is building an e-commerce site to enable customers to order parts online nationally.
In particular, stock management was becoming an issue for the growing company. Managing director Elaine Whylde said: “We were looking for a cost-effective solution to provide a single, real time view of our central stock position, both internally to the business and externally to our customers through our e-commerce web site.
Allgas chose the Gooroo application, which gives access to stock information, purchases and transaction records, so stock levels can be managed efficiently. It gives a constantly updated, real-time view of the company’s current position, and can be accessed securely from any web-enabled device at any time, helping with planning and decision-making.
Elaine added: “We evaluated a number of alternatives and Gooroo emerged as the clear favourite as it immediately matched our business requirements at the first demonstration. We needed its flexibility and access to real-time business data as ours is an increasingly fast-moving business.”
In conclusion
Put simply, cloud computing gives a way for smaller companies to access enterprise-class business software applications, and get the same benefits, without the enterprise price-tag or maintenance costs. If you’ve ever wondered how you can afford the tools to help your business run more efficiently, the answer may well be in the clouds.
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