Cloud Computing for Small Enterprise

I work with a charity organization that is staffed largely with volunteers and a very small staff base.  We are distributed across the city, use our own devices to assist with our work for the charity and don’t have consistent access to people with technology expertise to support a complex IT solution.  Some of our volunteers have used Google Docs to help create a collaborative workspace, but were frustrated with the lack of functionality offered by these solutions.  Many rely on their email, computer hard drive and home files with paper file storage of our records at our main office.

I was curious about how Cloud Computing (Software as a Service or SaaS) could help us with our technology needs.  I had two problems I wanted to solve, support a collaborative environment with cloud storage that did not require technical experts to support and at a minimal cost.  We already had a web and email support.  Our needs included shared storage, collaboration, CRM, mass email, payroll and accounting.  In my search I discovered some wonderful cloud solutions that are ideal for small business and reasonably priced.  Many of these companies also provide their services free to registered charities in Canada, which makes them a perfect solution for a charity operating on a small budget.

Like many small businesses, we don’t have dedicated technology experts.  If we were to set up our own network and desktops, we would need to support equipment and application upgrades, data management and problem resolution.  With Cloud computing, all applications are accessed through the Web which means that the users can access the apps from any device.  Solutions are secure and data is managed by the provider and backed up regularly. Upgrades are automatic, and do not come at an additional cost. Most have an active community of users who provide help and feedback to the provider.  The only technical task that you provide is managing your user access. 

While investigating the various cloud solutions available, I discovered Payment Evolution,  a Canadian company that provides a payroll processing solution for small business that is an online tool to process payroll, remittances to CRA and provides online access to pay information and T4’s to staff.   They link to several other services including accounting solutions.   The service is free for companies with 5 or less employees. It is incredibly easy to use and the team provides great support. 

Our final integrated cloud technology roadmap included Payment Evolution, Vertical Response for mass emailing,  Volunteer Hub for managing our volunteer base, Salesforce.com to manage our donor and sponsor base and Huddle to provide us with collaboration, project management and document storage.  We are still comparing a few accounting solutions to replace the desktop version we use.

One of our challenges in moving to this new technology is getting everyone comfortable and on-board with using the new tools.  Change is always a factor when introducing new technology.   We were fortunate that we had a big project underway which provided the perfect opportunity to try out Huddle.  We set up a workspace for the new line of business and set up the project team with access.  File folders were created to ensure some order to our documents.  Teams were invited to meetings and send links to the documents to read, comment on or approve.  Tasks were assigned and discussions were supported by a whiteboard and discussion area.  Huddle integrates well with Microsoft Office including Outlook, as well as the popular email providers.   By the time we implemented the project, our volunteers and Board were comfortable with the solution and now use very effectively.  With the first application in use, adding others was less daunting.

Cloud computing is reasonably priced and secure option for many small businesses with a team that need access to applications.  There are several suppliers with solutions for most needs, and the number of solutions available in the cloud is increasing daily.  Before you dive in, make sure to spend some time considering what you need, who will use it and what it will replace.   Hire a consultant to help pull this together and create a plan of attack, and to help research and compare the different solutions.  The consultant will be happy to assist with engaging the providers, setup,  training, implementation and managing the change you and your employees need to prepare for. 

If you would like more information on how Cloud Computing can help your small business, contact me at lise@laconsults.ca and I will be happy to help.  Lise Arnett