Have you ever felt disappointed with a cloud solution that looked good on the explainer video but fell short of your expectations? It may be because you were given a “one size fits all” solution that without any customization, was not well suited to your business.
Not every small business has the same technology needs, or even every business within the same industry. The best cloud solutions are designed to start everyone from the same initial point, but to be expanded and personalized according to each business need.
Customizations to cloud solutions can include a number of things that tailor the application to your workflow and business objectives. This can include things like:
- Industry-specific security policies
- Automations that connect to specialized software you use
- Tagging of sensitive content according to internal controls
- Communication flows that trigger alerts in one cloud system for events in another
When small businesses are working with “out of the box” cloud solutions, it’s akin to only using the very basic capabilities of the software they’ve purchased. Small businesses can find themselves changing their own workflows to match the capabilities of their cloud application, rather than the other way around (as it should be!).
Some of the benefits of using cloud solutions to their fullest for small businesses include:
- 18% average reduction in operational costs
- 07% average reduction in IT spending
- 80% average increase in process efficiency
Why a Non-Tailored Solution Can Hold You Back
Many small businesses don’t realize all the ways that a good IT provider, like Managed IT Asia, can customize their cloud solution set up to fit their company needs like a glove. So, they end up suffering with a basic “cookie-cutter” platform that’s not tailored to their needs.
Some of the ways that this can hold a business back are as follows.
More Costly Administration
If you have a cloud solution that’s not set up for your specific business needs, it can cause admins to need to do more work for things such as setting up new users or trying to conform a system to the way their company works.
With a tailored cloud setup, your application can be designed with things like user and document templates that reduce the amount of rework needing to be done. They can also take advantage of add-ons to add capabilities that you didn’t realise could be included.
Higher Security & Compliance Risk
If you’re in an industry that requires certain security policies to be in place for sensitive data handling, you can leave yourself at risk of a compliance breach if you haven’t tailored your cloud solution to conform to the security policies that you need in place.
With the right IT partner helping you, many popular platforms, such as Office 365, can be tailored to fit your compliance needs and have your security policies applied and automated in a number of ways. For example, using custom sensitivity labeling in Office 365 apps.
Reduced Productivity
One of the most cost-saving benefits of customization is through the addition of platform integrations and automations. If the platforms you use aren’t sharing data or automating tasks, that can mean hours a week of lost productivity re-entering information from one application into another, plus increased potential for errors.
Having a tailored setup that allows data to be shared throughout your cloud infrastructure in real time, saves you considerable time. Once platforms are connected, automations can be added between them that further boost office productivity.
Industry Specific Needs
If you’re in consumer retail, you’ll have different technology needs than a company that offers business accounting services. You might end up having to buy more cloud tools than you want to because one doesn’t give you capabilities you need for industry specific tasks.
Often when customization of a cloud platform is performed, a module or add-in can be used to add an industry specific capability, saving you money and reducing the need to learn and work with additional platforms.
Go from Cumbersome to Streamlined
Cloud technology should help your business be able to do more and power your growth. But when it’s not opitmized to fit your distinct needs, it can end up being cumbersome for your team, as they look for work arounds to try to get what they need out of a cloud tool.
When you’ve had your cloud solutions tailored to your needs and workflow, you can see the results in multiple KPIs because employees are able to accomplish more and work with a system that enables them rather than holds them back.
Are Your Cloud Solutions Tailored to Your Needs?
Stop struggling with cloud services that aren’t serving you well. Managed IT Asia offers complete cloud solution customization to ensure your digital tools are doing just what you need them to.
Contact us today for a free cloud consultation. Call +65 6748 8776 or reach us online.
MANAGED IT ASIA, we are an IT Support, IT Solutioning and Managed IT Service Provider specializing in serving Small Businesses across Asia. Call us at +65 6748 8776 and let us manage your Small Business IT today!