As part of the City of Sydney Let’s Talk Business program, we’ve put together a list of some of the more popular uses of cloud computing for the small business.
Cloud services offer a lot to all business, particularly small and start up enterprises that need to move fast and are often cash strapped.
There’s a massive range of services available on the cloud and here are a few that are worth exploring to help your business.
Electronic mail is the cornerstone of every business, in the past it’s been a nuisance sharing the email account or keeping track of users and passwords. Today most cloud email services are free and offer as much, if not more than the computer based alternatives.
Google’s Gmail
Windows Live Hotmail
MailChimp (for newsletters)
Accounting services
One of the greatest challenges for small business is doing their books and accounting software is a must have for every commercial operation. Online services reduce costs and increase flexibility for businesses of all sizes.
Saasu
Xero
MYOB Your Business Cloud
Customer Relationship Management
CRM software helps you monitor and understand who your customers are and what you’re doing for them.
Backups
Backing up is critical for your business. Having an online automated backup helps you ensure essential data is safe.
Shared storage
Sharing files with others helps your business be more efficient as teams can get work done without using the same computer.
Communications
Voice over IP, or VoIP, is a massive cost saver and most of them are cloud services.
Office applications
One of the biggest costs for business is the software for writing letters and working on spreadsheet. There’s free and paid for services that you can use on the cloud that cut your costs and increase your office productivity.
Evernote
Google Docs
Zoho Docs
Project management
Running and managing projects is a complex task made much easier with a good project management program to keep track of tasks and time.
Blogging platforms
Web Logs, or blogs, are becoming the platform of choice for getting small business websites up and running due to their flexibility and ease of use.
Outsourcing
Cloud computing and online services are making outsourcing possible for small businesses. With a browser and a credit card, you too can be in the outsourcing business.
These are just a small range of outsourcing services available for small business, we’d love to hear your experiences and suggestions for other online products.
For social collaboration try lotuslive (Engage). Saas offering of IBM.
Mail, people finder, share files, web meeting, activities and you can invite as many guests for free in the system to collaborate. Focus here is on collaboration without boundaries. Have fun!