Cloud technology was once a rare luxury that only large enterprises took advantage of. Now, it’s ubiquitous. Cloud-based tools help even the smallest business teams save time, money, and data storage. It does this, most often, through automation that streamlines your operations and reduces your company’s needs for manual, in-person labor. Here, we’ll discuss some of the most common problems small businesses face and how cloud tools can help solve them.
Automating Can Give Your Team Back Time
When you run a small business, you and your team often have to wear many hats. You’re running from one task to another, and many of those tasks are manual. You’re entering data into spreadsheets, managing invoices, or sending the same emails over and over. This means you’re burning precious time yourself or paying your employees for these tedious tasks. And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the increased risk of human error.
Cloud-based automation tools like Zapier or QuickBooks Online can help you and your team connect different apps and automate repetitive tasks. As just one example, when a customer submits a form, that action will automatically generate a new invoice for your review. It can also then update your CRM and trigger a welcome email. When you automate busywork in this way, your small team can stay lean and focus on tasks that will drive your growth, like sales, development, and customer service.
Team Collaboration Can Be Fast and Well-Organized
When you don’t have a centralized system, your attempts at collaboration can feel clumsy and chaotic. Your most important files might live in email chains. Your meetings are likely scattered across several calendars. And your team members feel lost and confused. The result is a company filled with miscommunication, delays, and duplication. So your team is wasting time and expending unnecessary effort, all while reducing critical output.
You can use cloud collaboration tools like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or Notion to create shared environments. There, you can store files, monitor tasks, and communicate with ease. So your team always has access, and they’re always updated. They can co-edit documents in real-time and jump on video calls, and they never have to switch platforms. With this approach, you have transparency and alignment on your goals.
Your Team Can Reduce Distractions and Stay Focused
Distractions are a productivity killer. And a huge contributor to those distractions is the internet. Humans in general are now more prone to reach for their smartphones or toggle on their computers over to another website. They might be shopping, scrolling social media, or just hanging out online, all of which take away from their work time. This is especially true when your team works remotely.
The good news is that website blockers can help small businesses stay focused by restricting access to distracting websites. These tools, based in the cloud, can be installed on company computers and employee devices, and you can manage them from a central location. This means business owners can encourage productivity without becoming an overbearing micromanager. When you reduce the digital noise, your employees can accomplish their work goals faster and with more accuracy.
You Can Scale Easily and Efficiently
In the traditional setting, software would require costly on-premise service, IT maintenance, and software licenses. The costs of growing in this setting were exorbitant, and they increase with each passing year. Those costs become a roadblock to the success of a small business, holding you back from scaling up. What’s worse: when you grow too fast, you outgrow your infrastructure and end up with downtime, which costs even more. It’s a nightmare.
Fortunately, it’s a nightmare you don’t have to endure. With cloud infrastructure services like AWS and Google Platform, you have more flexibility, pay-as-you-go options, and other features that grow alongside your business. You only pay for what you use, and you never have to worry about maintenance for your server or dealing with physical hardware. Even better, you can use a lot of these platforms for free at the entry level, so you can experiment at minimal cost.
Customer Support Can Be a Consistent and Smooth Process
Providing excellent customer service is what will keep your company thriving, but it’s also time-consuming. A lot of small businesses have to rely on email inboxes or personal phone numbers to try to deal with client issues. This means you won’t be able to track conversations or respond as quickly as you might like to. Your customers may fall through the cracks, and you won’t even realize it.
Cloud-based help desk platforms like Zendesk or Freshdesk will centralize your customer support interactions. That way, you can see what’s happening all from a single location. These tools offer options like ticket tracking, automated replies, knowledge bases, and live chat. This helps your team handle more requests in less time. Some of these platforms even include AI-powered assistants, which will resolve customer issues before you can get to them.
The bottom line is this: thanks to the cloud, you no longer have to choose between affordability and efficiency. Cloud tools will bridge that gap for you by helping you cut back manual labor, organize your workflows, minimize distractions, scale affordably, and streamline customer support. This means even the smallest businesses can aim high and meet their goals. Regardless of your company size, the right cloud setup can save you time and money, so you can grow sustainably.
