How to: Head in the Cloud

You’ve probably heard of companies using “the cloud” to run parts of their businesses. But how does it work, and would it work for nurseries?

The basic idea is instead of developing your own systems and applications, you can essentially rent them from another company that already has these systems and applications in place, and specializes in delivering these services over the Internet. This can save you big money in terms of time and resources.

Why do it?
Cloud services put the tedious parts of business management on autopilot. Invoice-writing can be partly or fully automated through programs like Freshbooks (www.freshbooks.com), while inbound marketing management can be handled by programs like Hubspot (www.hubspot.com).

File sharing systems like Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) make it easy for teams to share and collaborate on media documents.

There are even sales tools available in the cloud. Sales force automation from Salesforce.com speeds and streamlines all phases of sales from lead management to analytics and forecasting.

Why not?
Security concerns are one big reason companies hesitate to commit to the cloud. Many companies spend extra to add layers of protection to their sensitive data. Companies are also spooked by outages that make their data inaccessible, grinding business to a halt. Some outages may be the fault of the cloud provider—a technical glitch, for example—but customers may also be to blame because they have failed to implement redundancies or ensure security.

As far as cost, some services charge a flat monthly fee; others charge by usage. Cloud services save money for some companies, compared with maintaining the technology in-house. It may be a waste for others, particularly businesses that fail to make much use of their cloud service.

Bottom line:
Most nurseries don’t have a dedicated focus and expertise in information technology. By outsourcing some of that work to a cloud computing environment, you can reduce your costs for hardware, software and data storage. Then your business can focus on its strengths, while knowing that the rest is being taken care of up in the cloud.