The Cloud’s The Limit

Whether you realise or not, you probably use “the cloud” almost every day. It could be in the context of Hotmail, Dropbox, Amazon, Netflix or countless other web based applications that take advantage of the cloud. All you need to access them is a device capable of running a web browser.

It seems to that cloud computing, and the benefits it brings, have long been accepted on a personal level. You certainly don’t question being able to log into your drop box from any device or location. Big multinational corporations have also quickly become a part of the cloud culture, because they’re able to spend large sums of money on outsourcing entire back office functions.

However, SMEs are still slow to take advantage of the cloud. It could be because of the common misconceptions that are still rife among SMEs:

It’s too expensive; it’s not secure enough; it’s too far beyond my comfort zone.

A lot of these opinions are common among business owners or decision makers, but these misunderstandings of the current cloud offerings can be easily rectified.

As with any technology, the advances of cloud are exponential. These days, offerings are becoming more powerful and much more affordable at a growing rate. For SMEs, this means that cloud computing can revolutionise how they reach customers, develop and market products, and collaborate both internally and with partners – effectively giving companies technological capabilities equal to those of much bigger firms. In this respect, SMEs can truly compete with large corporations in a way they couldn’t just a few years ago.

One of the most advanced and growing areas of cloud technology is in the invoice processing and accounts payable area.

More and more small businesses are adopting simple and cost effective solutions to this common problem area, but there are still those who push back due to a lack of understanding.

Advice to those people is that you need to get on board now, because this push to the cloud is happening with or without you, and your competition won’t hesitate to use your reluctance to benefit themselves.

For more information please contact us on +44 (0) 1962 835053, email enquiries@processflows.co.uk.