3 Important Areas To Focus On When Growing Your Business

Do you have a successful business that you need to grow?

The good news is that one of the biggest stumbling blocks is already out of the way and for most aspiring business owners the most difficult thing is to actually create a business that works. It’s estimated that 9 out of 10 new businesses fail. So, if your business is working and making you money then scaling it and growing it is the logical progress. Growing your business can take on many forms but certain principles need to remain in-tact to make sure that when you do grow the business your profit margins stay within acceptable norms.

When it comes to growth, there are 3 areas you need to focus on. Let’s quickly look at these and see how you can implement it into your business.

1. The Bottom Line

One thing that you need to work on diligently is your bottom line. You need to constantly look for ways to be more efficient and to improve your profit margins. This is particularly important when you start growing your operation because growing your revenue does not always translate that well into growing your profit.

2. Staff And People

Any successful business relies heavily on the people that work in that business. Everyone involved plays an important role but more than anything success trickles down from the top. You need to be hands-on and you need management that understands the business and who cares about it. You need to spend a lot of time and resources on your staff and your management. When this is in place, growth becomes easy.

3. Innovation

Regardless of the type of business you are in, you need to innovate. Maybe more so now than ever before in history. Companies that continuously innovate their products and services are the ones that thrive. You cannot afford to grow stale and stagnant.

About the Author – DeonDup

Read more about business cash advances and see why you need workmans comp insurance in your business…

Address Verification Technology: Why It’s Crucial To A Courier Business

You probably know the scenario: one of your drivers can’t find the address for a customer’s parcel and has to bring the package back.  Or worse, he delivers it to the wrong address.

Who’s error was it?  And, who loses money for the failed delivery?

It’s an all too common problem happening today, typically due to human error on one or both sides of the taken order.  A misspelled street name, a missing numeral, messy handwriting, etc.

Address Verification virtually eliminates these issues by using a database of addresses across the US, verifying if in fact the address exists. It detects any errors and corrects it before the package goes out for delivery.  A good software program will also be thorough enough to ask whether you meant North or South on Main Street, then pinpoint that exact location to determine if it exists or not.  It can also help in the auto-completion of any incorrect or incomplete addresses.  This also saves your company time in not having to manually look up the best suited or possible other address.  A thorough software program should also have an auto-correct feature that automatically attaches a zip + four digits, for building-to-building accuracy.

And even better: when used with an online address book, your customers can rest assured that addresses are correct before storing them in their address books. This means that once they’ve verified an address once, they can use it for any future deliveries while being confident of not making a delivery mistake.

Imagine you and your customers having peace of mind knowing no time or money has been wasted.  This in turn will serve to boost your company’s all-important reputation, while cementing that relationship with that customer for repeat business.

This small but very valuable feature is a must-have in today’s competitive courier business.  So when you shop for new courier dispatch software, be sure look for software that provides Address Verification.

“Where Is My Package?” ™ is pleased to provide their clients with Address Verification across the USA and coming soon to Canada.

By: Julie Wagner, Systems Analyst, SCS Inc.

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Getting Repeat Customers – 8 Tips to Keep Customers Coming Back

FACT: Repeat customers cost less than new ones.

Various studies show that it costs up to five times more to attract new customers than it does to get repeat customers. It makes sense, considering the expense of advertising, marketing, media and other tools necessary to lure new customers.

Not to say that getting new customers is bad. Although it’s good to focus on getting new ones, it would seem more sensible and profitable to keep your existing clients happy and satisfied so they would keep coming back for more. Since repeat customers are people who already know your business, you have better chances of making more money from them.
A solid marketing campaign will keep your current customer base glued to your business. Some tips that might help you in doing this are: 8 quick tips

Tip #1: Know who you are dealing with

Know who your customers are, what they want and how you can assist their needs. Be sure that your products and services are constantly updated to answer their changing needs and wants. Also, be sure your services are up-to-date with today’s technology. By doing so, you are more likely to get these people as repeat customers.

Tip #2: Stay in touch

Just because you sold a product/service to them once, doesn‘t guarantee they will return. It also doesn’t mean you sever ties, either. Marketing is a never-ending process; you market to new prospects all the time. Maintain that enthusiasm if you are marketing to your existing customers.
In every business it is important that you build rapport and maintain your relationships by sending out thank you note cards (or emails) to make them feel appreciated. To customers with orders over a certain amount, perhaps it could include a discount on their next purchase. Customers get to know you though this and their loyalty grows.

Tip # 3: Keep them updated

A blog, newsletter, or mailing lists to keep communications on-going are very valuable tools. You can make regular content updates on a blog, without having to add or edit the pages of your site. You can also feature articles or expert information, that contains interesting and useful information to your customers….and include links to your website.
Stay up to date with what’s going on in your industry. If a new method or product or technology is introduced, get as much understanding as possible so that you can not only better advise your customers, but also better your business by using such technology.

Tip #4: Be consistent

Repeat customers return because their experience is consistently solid. Think: Starbuck’s Coffee, Southwest Airlines, and McDonald’s. Whether it’s their price, professionalism, convenience, etc you go there for, you know what you’re going to get when you are a repeat customer at these businesses.

Tip #5: Hire the right employees

Your staff’s demeanor and interaction with clients can cement long-term customer relationships. Individuals who are positive, friendly and really care about doing a great job is key. They are the ones who will let your customers know their business is appreciated and wanted. Also, train your staff to know your company’s products and services like the back of their hands, to give your customers error-free information about your products/services.

Tip #6: Update your website

Make sure you make regular content updates on your website. New and fresh content is motivating. Add article pages or links on your site that are relevant to your industry, while promoting benefits of the products/services your company offers.

Tip #7: Get personal

Get to know customers by name. Connecting on a personal level with them is one of the best competitive advantages there is. If a customer comes back to your business, chances are pretty good that they liked what they saw the first time around. And, from there, chances are they’re going to spread the word—publicity that comes free of charge to you. Word-of-mouth can exponentially expand your business, without incurring additional overhead.

Tip #8: Motivate with incentives

You can considering using this idea for your best customers: provide them with a special discount or a one-day sale. This can go a long way in giving them the impression that you value the business they bring to your company.

If you want customers to return to you for business, you need to offer them the best possible service/products and make them feel respected, welcomed and appreciated. The minute a customer feels uneasy doing business with you is the beginning of the end for your relationship with that customer. Keep your customers happy and they will keep coming back!

By: Julie Wagner, Systems Analyst, SCS, Inc.

Goals Aren’t the Same as Resolutions

The beginning of each year brings many people into the mode of creating New Year’s resolutions. But I’ve been thinking about resolutions lately and realized that I haven’t made one in years. I never stick to them. They are usually ‘broken’ before January 31 anyway. That doesn’t happen to goals nearly as often.

These thoughts were whirling through my head as I worked on our marketing calendar for 2009. In my opinion, there is a big difference between goals and resolutions. Resolutions are just statements about what I want to happen or plan to do. Goals, on the other hand, are written down, have an action assigned to each items with a deadline of when the goal is to have been met. Goals are easier to achieve because you are holding yourself accountable. When a goal is set using the SMART principle, there is a high probability that it will be reached. SMART stands for the 5 components of a goal and how it should be determined

S is for specific. A vague “I want to be wealthy” is not a good goal. What does wealthy look like? A certain dollar amount in your savings account? No debt? A percentage of all income going into an investment account?

M stands for measurable. If there is no way to measure a goal, how can you know if you’re making progress or achieved what you set out to achieve?

Attainable is the 3rd component. A belief in yourself is the key. This includes skills and your attitude about life and about whether you are able to make it happen. Once you believe in yourself, you’ll be able to achieve.

Realistic is the next step in formulating a good, concrete goal. Do you believe that no matter how much you work towards it that you’ll be the next person on the moon? But, no, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reach for something a little out of your current grasp. Attainable is the precursor to realistic, because if you truly believe it can be achieved, you’ll establish a realistic goal.

T if the final of the 5 guidelines for creating a goal, and that is for timely. Without a deadline, or incremental deadlines to reach the goal, you will not have a focus to get there by a specific time. Back to the example about being specific about being wealthy. By what date do you want to be out of debt? By what date do you want to see that specific dollar amount in your savings account?

A SMART goal is one that will be easier to reach because you applied a systematic process to deciding what to do. Each of the five components has a reason and purpose when determining what you want to do and why.

Resolutions normally are a thought or desire that people resolve to do. A frequently stated resolution is to lose weight. This resolution is vague, with no action attached. A goal, on the other hand, would state the SPECIFIC action – walk 3 miles a day, join a health club, hire a fitness coach. The number of pounds you will lose is MEASURABLE. Do you believe you can do it? If you stated 200 pounds, maybe not. But 20? 30? 50? These are most likely ATTAINABLE. Once you agree that number of pounds is attainable, you will believe they are REALISTIC, too. And by what date do you want to lose this weight? TIMELY is important. But with it comes to something like weight loss, give yourself incremental goals. Maybe 5 pounds a month, for example. Then if you chose to lose 50 pounds by December 31 (remember to be that specific), you can see that your incremental goals will allow you to work towards the ultimate goal.

Be SMART and you’ll be successful when establishing goals.

About the Author: Cindy Hartman

Cindy Hartman is President of Hartman Inventory LLC, a woman-owned business that provides business and home inventory services. She and her husband Mike also own Hartman Inventory Systems LLC, a company that provides a complete turnkey inventory business package for those who want to establish their own inventory company. Cindy is VP of Rainmakers Marketing Group and enjoys writing and speaking on her industry, networking and small business.

5 Useful Tips to Help Local Couriers Find Extra Courier Work

As a courier, an empty or half filled van means you are losing money. Therefore, finding extra work to fill your van’s spare space is vital to a successful courier business. The following tips should help you find the extra work that you need.

1. Have your own business cards

This seems to be a very obvious practice but in reality there are a surprisingly low number of couriers who have business cards. If you do not yet have your own business cards, please visit a local printing shop and ask them to help you with this. If you do have your own business cards, always carry a small business card box in your vehicle and a few cards in your wallet.
Customers are often forgetful and rarely save your number so a business card serves well as a reminder. Besides, it also leverages the professionalism of your business. Always give each customer a few business cards so they can pass to their family and friends.

2. Establish contacts with other local couriers

In any type of business, relationships form a crucial part of success and this is true also in the courier industry. Creating a network of fellow couriers means you can get passed jobs which they cannot do or share jobs which they cannot handle on their own.
Exchange business cards, email addresses and contact numbers with local couriers you know, as many as possible since any of them can potentially give you some extra work. Once business cards and contact information are exchanged, do not forget to save their email addresses in your email address book and their phone number in your mobile phone contacts. That way you can tell who they are when they send you an email or give you a call without having to look up your collection of business cards again.

3. Post classified ads in local newspapers

Many people look at the classifieds section in newspapers when they search for couriers or removal services. Having a listing there means you will have the chance to advertise yourself to many potential customers. However, make sure the listing fee is acceptable and check its effectiveness by asking all of your customers where/how they heard about you.

4. Advertise on online classified and directory websites

With the increasing popularity of the Internet, many businesses including courier services have been brought online. Having presence on the Internet will definitely help you get more customers.

5. Join online transport marketplace and courier exchange websites

These are currently the two most rapidly growing trends in the haulage industry. Online transport marketplace’s has not been around for long but have been widely accepted as a very useful tool for couriers to find back loads and return loads. Basically, a customer posts a job on the website; you and other couriers then bid against each other and the customer will choose their favorite. Since a transport marketplace works similarly to eBay, you can build up your reputation through feedback given by your customers. Better feedback rating means you will have more chances to win jobs!

Courier exchanges are very much similar to the way you and your local fellow couriers exchange jobs with each other. However, you are now exchanging jobs with a larger audience, including other courier companies, freight brokers and freight forwarders. Courier exchanges are also very useful for helping you to find back loads and return loads.

About the Author:

Are you a owner driver looking for local courier jobs? Visit this courier website where you can search for thousands of couriers jobs nearby.

Resistance to Change and Human Nature

I have several theories on human nature and one of them is that people are afraid of change. Change, even for the better, is scary, and the fear of the unknown is something that no one wants to face. It’s easier to sit with your happy or even unhappy feelings at the moment than deal with future emotions that we do not yet know.

Let’s look at an example: moving to a new house.

People don’t necessarily think of this as a major life changer but it can be. When you leave your old house it’s difficult to believe that it’s gone. You then have to find the right places for your old furnishings, maybe consolidate or eliminate things as well. These changes are so hard to grasp that it manifests into fear…that life won’t be the same. And that’s scary: that feeling of losing familiarity and security.
Change, however, is a very much a natural condition of life, but in today’s über-busy world, it has become a stress-producer largely because of its frequency. It’s no wonder we resist at times!

Overcoming resistance to change within your company

Whether you are considering switching to a new software system (or making some other change within your courier company), there are ways to segue the transition peacefully.

1. Build A Sense of Urgency
For most people, any change is uncomfortable. Therefore, when managing change in the workplace, it’s your job to help people see that whatever they’ve been doing in the past will no longer take place. That neither they, nor the business, will be relevant without making these changes.  Ignite the fire of urgency to implement the changes, and share your vision of improving the company and its ability to further succeed. Create a belief that “We can do better!”

2. Define Goals and Objectives
Your company goals and objectives should be clearly defined, outlined and then relayed to the effected team members. This will aid towards clearing up any misunderstanding and possible conflicts from the very beginning.

3. Good Leadership
Leaders must pave the way and be an example for others to follow. In leading and setting an example to others, leaders must take an active role with their team in order to motivate and encourage.

“We must become the change we want to see.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

4. Address and reduce the fear of change
Recognize that people will probably complain at first….it’s just human nature. Allowing people the avenues through which they can raise questions, concerns and complaints is a necessary step in getting to ‘acceptance’ and finally ‘commitment.’  After you announce the change, let people ask questions and be heard. Then give them ample time to become informed about the new specifics to be implemented.

5. Preparation for the new system
The new system should be clearly explained to your team prior to implementing the changes, to stifle out any doubts, fears or resistance.

6. Create A Clear Future
Share the vision of a new tomorrow that they can buy into. Show people how the new vision will contribute to their long-term development, security and enable their work experience to be more engaging, energizing and rewarding.  Signal to people that things will be different – but promise a brighter future. And remember to celebrate once you’re on the path to the new way!

By: Julie Wagner, Systems Analyst, SCS, Inc. November, 2011

What is The Cloud?

I’ve heard many definitions of this buzz word, but what exactly does “the cloud” mean?

The definition, according to a wordsmith is:  a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure “in the cloud” that supports them.

Or simply: virtual server service is provided over the internet.  It means your software system can be consolidated, stored and managed by another company and held on their server(s).  Ideally, that company should have top-notch professional tech staff to govern and maintain your sensitive, confidential company records and archives.

Benefits of the Cloud:

In today’s challenging economy, businesses are focusing on optimizing their IT costs.  Cloud computing can be an effective strategy to reduce the tech operation and management costs, and rather to utilize those funds to help grow new or more business.  Typically, a business has an 80/20 split: 80% is spent on regular in-house IT operational costs (which includes hardware, software licensing fees, development, maintenance, repair, etc.), with only 20% left for money spent solving critical needs.

Allocating 80% on tech sounds like a lot, if you ask me.  One solution is: using a cloud-based system, which has a significant impact on reducing upfront money needed for hardware and software.

Other benefits of “the cloud” include eliminating the need to build/store it in some tiny room at your office…you can store it elsewhere and have the same sort of access without the overhead costs or the stress of managing and maintaining it.

Security Concerns:

Before you commit to a particular cloud-based service, ask yourself:  How secure is your chosen ‘Cloud’? The best way to address all of your security concerns is to talk directly to the person offering you their cloud services.  Since the cloud varies from vendor to vendor, make sure you are protected by knowing what questions to ask.

Cloud users should check the reputation of their prospective vendor because not only does the user risk losing information, but they also have no control over their own in-house information. Safety measures should be considered, such as encryption, firewalls and making sure you’ll have access to your information, if the cloud service suddenly experiences problems.

Conversely, if your chosen cloud is NOT secure, here’s possible scenarios that could occur:

• Identity theft

• Stolen credit card information

• Pricing can be compromised: competitors could view your confidential company information, change pricing, and/or use that sensitive information to illegally price-cut.

• Company trade secrets can be pilfered

• Availability issues: will it be available when you need it?

“Where is My Package?”™

Provides the Following Security Benefits Plus More:

High Speed: We offer the advantage of our own direct, high-speed system on-site.  We have a capacity to 20 MB pipe (bandwidth).

Redundancy: Our dual redundant power supplies and multi back-up servers keep you up and running.

Temperature: Our servers are kept in a temperature-controlled, filtered environment.

Up-time: Our electrical system is on the same mega-circuit that our local hospital and police department use…so even in a black-out, we are still receiving power.  We have extremely high uptime, almost 100%.  You can count on us!

Rolling Backup: Online data back-up eliminates the need to back up data manually, so your files can be quickly recovered.

Reliability Plus Scalability: Cloud infrastructure allows for on-demand scalability allowing you to grow your business while you run it.  As your business expands, you can choose to scale up to an in-house server and port over your data.  Also, you are free to scale up or down resources.

Anywhere, Anytime: Whether you are on your tablet, Smartphone or at your office work station, the ability to access the software via the internet means you always have the quickest, most up-to-date version as well as access from anywhere with an internet connection.

Cost Savings: You only pay for what you need and use.  On a monthly basis, this means you keep your expenses low.  Once your business becomes more profitable up you can add additional features as they are desired and/or required. No software to install and no need to keep up to date with those temporary ‘patches’.

Labor Savings: Freelance employees are ready to go, wherever they can access an internet connection.  For example, many couriers use independent contractors…these IC drivers can use their own phones.

By: Julie Wagner, Systems Analyst, SCS Inc. October, 2011

The Dangers of Cloud Computing, Is It Right for Your Business?

Cloud Security in the Medical Field

Cloud technology is a rapidly expanding technology and with any new technology there come new risks. Many companies and facilities have tried to make the switch to cloud computing without properly trained technicians staffed to run it and created more problems than solutions to their networks. Cloud technology is the new rage and many CISO’s have been quick to gain funding to implement such technologies to keep up with the industry.

By moving clinical IT support systems to the cloud the biggest concern will be in giving up control of such systems to use a cloud provider’s resources. Typically a cloud provider can make changes to the infrastructure without telling us, we will need to address this issue and make sure we are properly notified of such changes as these could potentially affect our medical systems. Performance and reliability will also be taken out of our hands, we will be at the mercy of our cloud provider, and if resources are not properly managed we could experience major performance issues.

Security of our clinical IT center would have fallen upon our internal IT support staff team, but moving to the cloud changes that. Moving our center to the cloud means that we are no longer full in charge of our own security. We now have to trust that the management team hosting our cloud services is competent enough to secure our network and update it regularly as would be expected of our own security internally. We will also be completely unsure of who exactly has access to our data stored in the cloud and who can access it. If a break in occurs of the cloud vendors systems, either physically or through hacking our data could be at risk.

Vendor lock-in should also be a red flag as cloud vendors create their own proprietary software to run the networks. This means that vendors are even creating their own proprietary interfaces that may force us to stay with a vendor longer than we would like. If our systems are run by software and interfaces that are not transferable to another vendor we may be at the mercy of the vendor’s software and interfaces to successfully run our company. Standards for how applications communicate and control other applications that are inside of the cloud have not yet been established and developed yet. This same issue may create some issues when we need to do an audit of our IT resources, we will not have total true visibility into the cloud network.

Reliability of the cloud should be a concern as guarantees of 100% liability are not common. Vendors typically guarantee 99.9% uptime, this provides them some blanket of security in the contract if any unforeseen errors come up.

All this aside, cloud computing is an exciting new technology and may allow our medical center to save valuable money on hardware, bandwidth cost and other overhead costs that would be associated with housing our own network to run the new clinical IT center. Cloud computing may allow us to grow the company faster and handle tasks at a faster rate but we need to make sure the risks don’t outweigh the potential rewards.

In order to mitigate these risks we will need to make sure that we choose a reliable cloud computing vendor. We will need to make sure that we have an iron clad contract, and know exactly what will happen in the event of downtimes, security breaches, network slowdowns and other issues that may hinder our performance.

About the Author: Ryan Andes

Ryan Andes is qualified by fourteen years of information security experience, of which eight years were spent as a blackhat, and the following security related certifications EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker, CISSP, Security+, Network+ and iNet+ and also runs CertifiedHackers.net and Certifiedhackers.org

What Exactly Is Cloud Computing?

The confusion with cloud comes from the wide adoption of the term when describing most (or in some cases any) forms of hosting – shared or managed. It has become synonymous with visualization, on-demand services, outsourcing and many more terms which have actually been in use within the market before the term ‘cloud’ was coined, and have become important considerations in their own right when reviewing IT strategies and plans.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), cites the definition of cloud computing as:

“…a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable, computing resources (e.g. networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”

The question is: how much does this differ from the essential concepts of managed hosting? Managed Hosting is, by definition: an outsourced set of products and services, which can supplement or replace a company’s internal IT plan. In essence, the two terms both describe a service delivery method by which business and web applications and tools are accessed, stored and managed.

At the moment, three distinct cloud hosting service models can be identified:

Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

Cloud Software as a Service

Cloud Platform as a Service

This is another way to demonstrate how clients should see elements of a cloud as a tier of managed hosting. There should be a differentiation between the cloud models as they each offer varying advantages and disadvantages to IT strategies, further confirming the need to identify end goals before embarking on any type of cloud hosting service.

How to Choose:

When looking at shared hosting, dedicated hosting, managed hosting, or co-location as an outsourced IT solution, clients will undergo a justification process of their own requirements and needs. In the case of managed hosting, it is with the assistance and advice of an account manager, hopefully, aided by an external consultant in the other cases. They will then weigh up the current and future managed hosting needs. It appears that with the emergence of cloud as a service consumers and businesses are keen to “jump on the bandwagon” to receive the multiple and inevitable benefits of cloud computing without much concern for this basic process of project validation.

The main features & capabilities of the 3 most prevalent models (from the NIST):

Infrastructure as a Service:

* Provides the consumer with the capabilities to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, including operating systems and applications.

* The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over the operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select network components. e.g. host firewalls.

Software as a Service:

* Provides the consumer with the capabilities to use the provider’s applications, running on a cloud infrastructure.

* The apps are accessible from various client devices.

* The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure or even individual application capabilities, with the exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.

* Examples include: Basecamp, Microsoft, Sharepoint, Oracle, SAP, Google Apps, Salesforce.com.

Platform as a Service:

* Provides the clients with the capability to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages and tools supported by the provider.

* Consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over the deployed applications and possible applications hosting environment configurations.

* Examples include: Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, Zoho, Iceberg, LongJump *Mell P and Grance T (10/07/09) The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing – Version 15

Especially in the case of the cloud infrastructure-as-a-service model, managed services providers can continue with business as usual simply by making a few tweaks to their products. In fact, it could be even said that cloud has simply been applied to the normal service rather than drastically transforming or replacing it.

The “Virtual Private Cloud” or “Virtual Shared Cloud” terms could simply be seen as visualized managed hosting environments created using software such as VMware or HyperV. A virtual environment is still essentially served by either a dedicated or shared physical server located within a data center.

Important Questions:

A business should not let the buzz words which are inherent in the industry distract from making sure that their business goals and plans are understood and properly met by any outsourced solution they enter in to, cloud or otherwise. Questions such as:

* What is the main objective of the project? (cost savings, reduced management time, security, scalability)

* Will the project transfer easily to a cloud service models?

* Does the provider’s service level agreement meet the project targets and requirements?

These are just a taste of what any company or consumer should ask themselves when investigating a new environment, especially when delving in to a relatively new service model.

How do I use Cloud?

There are multiple ways in which the term Cloud is being used but, realistically how does a company apply it?

Cloud technologies can help companies use their hosting budget efficiently, through the use of appropriate hardware for their environments.

1. Like any business tool, cloud computing will not cut costs by itself. There seems to be a lot of advertising out there claiming that all cloud products will significantly reduce expenditure, no matter how – or if you know how – to implement them. First of all, it is sensible to look at Cloud technologies and ask HOW they fit into both your business plans and your budget.

2. Cloud technologies are not an all-encompassing business solution to solve all technical and expenditure woes. They need to be used in conjunction with other technologies and features in order to optimize your online environment.

3. If you need an environment that meets certain universal security standards and/or 24/7/365 support, than simply placing your data in the cloud isn’t enough – you will need a shopping list of requirements, plus the technologies and features that meet them.

4. Efficiency is often the word paired with cloud by marketers trying to make the terms synonymous, and thereby continuing cloud’s reputation as being the IT wunderkind of the business world. Of course all businesses should strive for efficient use of technology, resource, and hardware – with cost efficiency being right up there at the top of most ‘must-have’ lists. But cost efficiency does not always equal short-term savings, and in the same way that one sometimes needs to ‘spend money to make money’ it is not unfair to say that one could ‘spend money to save money….later’. In other words, using one’s cloud budget efficiently to meet client needs, in order to increase revenue, and also to save on future hardware or resource costs.

You can achieve the environmental elasticity that you require if you are willing to spend the appropriate amount of money for your cloud hosting. Just remember to be elastic in your cost expectations and everything will be just fine.

About the Author: Jaz Nusrat

http://www.ultraspeed.com/

Who Needs Cloud Computing

The term ‘cloud computing’ is being discussed a lot recently and not only by those involved in IT, but as it’s still a relatively new concept there are plenty of us who don’t really have any idea what it’s all about. Put very simply it claims to benefit, and even revolutionize, the way businesses are run by offering a range of applications and services over the internet.

Every business can profit from cloud computing as it helps to eliminate business barriers which in turn leads to increased efficiency in running your business. The other advantage is that you have access to the latest cloud technology. SaaS (Software as a Service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), Desktop as a Service (DaaS), back up, disaster recovery, data storage and much more are just some of the services it’s able to offer businesses no matter how big or small.

Ideal for those intending to start a new business it can be facilitated to set up an IT network that involves only those services and programmers necessary, as there’s no need to buy expensive IT hardware and you only have to pay for what you use this makes serious business sense. Paying only for what you use on a monthly basis means you keep your expenses low, then once business starts to pick up you can simply add additional features as they’re required – keeping set-up costs to a minimum at a time when you don’t have much profit coming in means your new business is off to a healthy start.

People can be employed on a freelance basis which saves you money in employee wages and office costs as they can work from home just as easily. Employees have the option of working anywhere as long as it has internet connection which gives a higher level of flexibility, scalability and consistency. This also eases the workload on support staff.

Is your business growing rapidly? If you intend to expand in the near future then consider a cloud infrastructure as it allows for on demand scalability, in other words you can make decisions and carry them out very quickly. This could include opening another branch of your company or even an international office, or business might be so good you need to quickly employ more people to join the team or double the number of projects you can complete each month.

The ability to access software via the internet means you always have the most up-to-date version, having the latest software is a huge benefit for a company as it puts you well ahead of competition and will attract those big name clients.

One of the main benefits of cloud computing is the provision of a back-up service. Everyone dreads systems failing and to prevent losing important files and data it’s vital they’re constantly being backed up. The Back up as a Service (online data backup) eliminates the need to back up data manually and is crucial for a business environment as files can be quickly recovered reducing downtime and increasing productivity.

You can also minimize financial risk by subscribing to a service as they’ll take care of all the IT services, from updating the software and infrastructure to maintaining security, as you pay for the service on a monthly basis it means you can keep an eye on, and control, business expenditure. Top of the line physical and virtual security ensures that business never has to stop during a busy period as they’ll maintain your service and provide accessibility and recoverability with an online disaster recovery solution. Want to find out more? Just look online, cloud computing explained in very simple terms is available.

Check out cloud computing Australia where software and hardware specialists make certain your IT investment is suitable for your business needs. Put yourself in the cloud today and appreciate the advantages of a hosted solution. The ability to use computing resources and platforms only when you need them, coupled with an IT infrastructure that’s dynamic, scalable and cost effective can only be a winner.

About the Author: Michiel Van Kets

Michiel Van Kets writes articles for Amanda Beson about finding the most reliable service provider of cloud computing Australia has to offer. Cloud services and demands are increasing by leaps and bounds across the globe, and there is no where better to have cloud computing explained to you than from a reliable vendor in your home turf. Contact Harbour Cloud today to get friendly advice on the benefits of cloud computing and how it can change the way you do business.