We’re not afraid to say it…We love the cloud!!!
Paul Pritchard
Director at Abacus Accountancy specialising in Taxation and Accounting. If you are a self employed or run a Limited Company I can help you run your business more efficiently and pay less tax. Contact me for more info.
At Abacus Accountancy, we love the cloud, we do – it’s true. We are evangelical about it. We’re saving our clients a lot of time and money by ensuring they too see the benefits and embrace cloud based packages like Xero, Receipt Bank and Crunch Boards. if you’re not looking at how the cloud can benefit you and your business, you are missing out.
Don’t fall behind with your tech, go on take a look and see where you can start, don’t be afraid of the cloud!!! The cloud is just another way of talking about the internet. When your business moves to the cloud, you don’t need to buy expensive hardware like servers and phone systems – you use a shared cloud infrastructure and only pay for what you need, when you need it.
Here are seven key benefits of moving your start-up to the cloud.
1. Cost
The best thing about the cloud for start-ups is ‘pay as you go’ pricing. How you spend your budget in the early days is going to be critical to your success, so it’s a key advantage to only have to pay for what you use, rather than invest in a lot of expensive equipment. When you don’t have to buy a lot of hardware and licenses, or commit to long-term contracts upfront, you can set up your business cheaper and faster, with much less risk at the beginning.
2. Time
Cloud-based systems are quick and easy to manage. You won’t need to arrange any time-consuming engineers’ visits to install, upgrade or maintain your software and equipment. It’s all plug and play. Everything is managed online, so whether you want to see your latest bill or add a new user, it’s just a mouse click away. By shifting the emphasis away from hardware, you’ll spend less time on IT issues and more time getting your business off the ground.
3. Security
The provider responsible for your data will keep your files more secure than your small business ever could. Losing access to your business records, your computers or even your office could potentially be a disaster. With the cloud, all your data is safe and fully accessible anytime, anywhere, no matter what happens.
4. Flexibility
If your business grows, your cloud resources will immediately grow with you. If you cut back, it’s easy and simple to streamline. Plus, you can pick and choose your services and see what works for your business.
With cloud-based communications services such as VoIP, for example, where phone calls are routed over the internet, you can have extra lines connected or disconnected straight away, whenever you need them. You don’t need to sign a long-term contract or buy extra capacity upfront to cope with possible future growth. You just pay for what you need.
5. Anywhere, anytime
Whether you’re a small team or a solo entrepreneur, the cloud is the best way to encourage collaboration, information sharing and flexible working in your business. When your data and software is in the cloud, all your team can access it wherever they are, at any time of day. They don’t even need to be in the same part of the world.
6. Unlimited storage, instant sync
The cloud began with data storage. With the amount of data we generate these days the idea of storing files on hard drives and network servers is fast becoming out of date. Cloud storage means you can store virtually unlimited amounts of data in the cloud and access it using any device at any time. Your files will automatically synchronise too, so you’re always seeing the latest version no matter what device you use.
7. Future proof
The cloud is only going to get bigger and better in the next few years, as businesses all over the world move away from upfront investment in IT and telecoms equipment on their premises, in favour of remotely hosted solutions. There are likely to be far fewer landline telephone systems, for example, as business VoIP communications becomes the norm. So maybe it’s time to future-proof your business and adopt the latest technologies today.