Small Business Toolkit. Cloud Based Solutions for Progressive Entrepreneurs

Transcription

1 Small Business Toolkit Cloud Based Solutions for Progressive Entrepreneurs

2 As a small business owner, you do it all. Accounting, project management, marketing and sales quickly fall into one long, daily to-do list which can be both exhilarating and it s enough to make you long for early retirement. The cloud can help change that, giving you the means to streamline your processes, shave But what is the cloud, and why should a small business owner care? Those are precisely the questions we ll explore in this paper. 2

3 Cloud computing: the what and the why Simply put, the cloud, or cloud computing as it is sometimes called is the ability to access your company data, business applications, and communications online. Instead of storing all your information on the hard drive of your machine, your documents, invoices, images and reports are available via the internet, thanks to a network of remote servers all communicating with each other. Cloud-based solutions are an alternative to hosting your data locally, on your own company servers or on your own machines. server space owned by the companies providing a particular cloud-based solution. This makes it incredibly easy for small businesses to go mobile, collaborating might be. Thanks to the convenience this process industry that s expected to grow at 28 percent through 2015 to become a $95 billion industry. to small business owners? invoices, pictures, videos, reports and more - from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. There s also the peace of mind to you, not even in the case of a fried hard drive or lost laptop. Your data is up-to-date and a login away, all the time. This isn t just optimal for collaborating internally; cloudbased platforms often have options for your clients to log in and share securely, too. 3

4 time. The aggravating time-waster of ing documents to yourself or constantly uploading revised versions of on a USB stick or try to keep track of a bunch of portable hard drives. reductions in costs. The pricing structure for most cloud based solutions is on a month-to-month basis, with some services costing as little as $10 per month. In contrast, installation, maintenance and licensing of locally hosted, custom-built software can quickly add up to thousands of dollars. If your workforce is small, your business account, as many software as a service as a way of attracting new customers. A free account is also an opportunity to test drive a service with a few employees and get comfortable using it, before integrating it into your business operations. small businesses is automation. You can set up alerts, reports and functions to execute on your schedule, freeing you up from taking care of minor admin tasks on your own and allowing you to focus your energy on the parts of your business you love. For example, instead of wrestling with a looks uniform and double checking that the formulas to apply taxes and deductions based solutions that allow you to set up standard issue invoices particular to your billing needs. Instead of checking in with all your employees on the daily progress of a project, there are cloud project management solutions that you can log into and take a look at the notes made by your team and Lastly, most cloud-based applications also leave an easily-accessible virtual version of the paper trail, so you won t be left wondering who is doing what. You can track changes by user and revert to previous versions of documents quickly when errors are made, without without needing the services of an IT department. Overall, SaaS applications contribute collaboration and let you streamline operations of many critical but timeconsuming business functions. 4

5 Is cloud computing secure? The thought of storing your precious information in an access-anywhere system might seem risky. In fact, if you re worried about it, you re far from alone. The site is the number one concern for those contemplating a move to the cloud. It is true that even 10 years ago, the idea of storing important information anywhere was inconceivable for most. In fact, cloudbased services were so expensive to run and maintain, only major companies with serious But the costs have dropped substantially, and the use of cloud-based solutions by businesses small and large is increasing using cloud technology in Europe and the United States found that 98% of users reported their security expectations as met or exceeded. Security features continue to improve as cloud technology gains greater momentum, bigger clients and faster adoption rates. Today, from a safety perspective, it is generally thought that comparable as hosting them yourself. Transitioning to the cloud - steps for a smooth sailing So, how exactly do you get your business on the cloud? It sounds much more complicated than it is, In fact, chances are not know it. to Dropbox? You re on the cloud. If you ve connected with contacts or loved ones over Skype, you ve used a cloud-based solution. Perhaps you ve uploaded photos to Flickr, a cloud-based photo sharing platform. Or, maybe you use Salesforce for project and customer relationship management? Yup, you re in the cloud. And if you ve ever sent any via Gmail, Windows Live or Yahoo, you ve used a cloud-based platform. As you can see, using a cloud-based solution can be as easy as logging in. Still, there are some things to consider when bringing the cloud into the workplace. Bringing the cloud When undertaking any change, it s Cloud-based applications are very user friendly and intuitive, but proper training 5

6 is still critical for all the members of your team who will be tasked with using the new service in order for it to function well. to watch the introductory videos to the service, which usually go into great detail about the available features. Below are six applications which have earned a reputation with millions of users worldwide. From accounting software to document storage, these apps will save you time, money and stress. Accounting: Freshbooks traditional software applications, choose employees who are most tech-savvy and comfortable with the system, use them as a resource to teach the rest of the team. Thankfully, data migration is standard with many tools, so you can take your existing system to your needs at the beginning will save you a lot of hassle in the long run and will ensure you are using the tools to their best ability. Always remember, a tool is supposed to aid your operations, not hinder them. Do not become a tool of your tools! Cloud-based Applications to get small businesses started Freshbooks is an online accounting application. Freshbooks lets you track time, expenses and build invoices online. The invoices are highly customizable - you may import your branding, set up automated late payment reminders, choose from a varied menu of taxes, deductions, items, time-based billing, and more. You can also export any kind of accounting report you might need, from expense reports to payments collected, and sort them any way you might need. Freshbooks also has a mobile app which lets you use its features on the go and keep track of client activity as it happens. The 6

7 system advises you when an invoice has been viewed, and if it has been forwarded on from its original recipient - no more lost invoices and delayed payments. If it works for your business, Freshbooks is also an opportunity to make your billing process paper-free. Pricing ranges from $19.99 to $39.99/ month for 5 to unlimited users, respectively. and American credit cards and integrates with many cloud based accounting applications, including Freshbooks, which makes invoice reconciliation a breeze. Pricing varies based on volume and the needs best. Note Keeping: Evernote providing online payment solutions. With payments online, onsite at your store and via mobile devices, all under a single merchant account. The ability to take and reduces the amount of administrative time dedicated to invoice follow up. Evernote is an application which lets you take notes and archive and gather tidbits of information. A single note may be a document, a piece of audio recording, an image, or a photo of an actual, handwritten note. You can organize your notes into expenses, or one that includes pertinent information regarding a client. Everything from s, photos and documents is stored in one place, and can be tagged and sorted with a variety of labels. You may search your documents, notes and even photos by words contained 7

8 within. Evernote can be downloaded to optimized for multiple platforms, including mobile and tablet-oriented use. Evernote has a free and a premium option, at $5/month or $45/year. For heavier use, there is a business suite at $10/month, per user. Project Management: Basecamp view of everything that your company is working on from your dashboard. At 10 years old, Basecamp is one of the oldest and most widely used SaaS trial and pricing ranges from $20 to $150/ month, or $3000/year. No credit card is required to start and there are no limits on how many users you can register. Online Collaboration: Trello Don t have the budget for Basecamp, but still need a tool where your team can share and collaborate? Trello can help. Basecamp is an extremely powerful project management software. With Basecamp, you can build projects, assign to-do items to yourself and others, keep your deadlines and milestones in focus, and allow your team to discuss project elements without sending constant streams of s back and forth. An intuitive design has built in reminders for tasks and deadlines, gives you the ability to link resources such as spreadsheets and documents for easy reference, and lets you have a bird s eye Trello is a online collaboration tool that allows users to set up boards, where you can create cards for tasks and projects on the go. You can assign tasks, add checklists your old cards, all with the click of a mouse. Get updates when changes are made to a card and stay abreast of how your projects and tasks are progressing in real-time. Give clients a link, and they can log-in and contribute without mucking up your other tasks. File Storage: Google Drive 8

9 service with your custom domain name, receive 30GB of storage, 24/7 customer support, and utilize Google Calendar to keep track company functions. All of the above tools come with a mobilecompatible version for your smartphone and tablet use. Google Drive is an online suite of your standard everyday applications which replace Microsoft Word, Excel and their Mac counterparts. Google Drive is organized in a familiar way with folders and sub directories, much like you would see in My Computer. With Google Drive, you can create documents, spreadsheets, presentations and forms. Access to documents is shared with invitations via and can be limited to to grant someone permission to view or edit any document, and an activity sidebar on the homepage keeps track of all changes made by the users. Document editing and access is simultaneous, making collaboration easy. Google Drive is a free service with up to 15GB of space. Additional space can be purchased for a low monthly cost. Google Drive is also part of a Google Apps for Business suite of services. For $5/month per user, you can use Gmail as your A Real-World Scenario Now, let s paint a picture as to how a real small business owner might make use of these tools, and take a look at how a few come in handy. Cheryl is a small business owner running designers, buyers and admin personnel on on her time, streamline her processes and keep her documents and information available at all times. She s also got a brand new client, Blue Ocean Condos, and she entirely onto the cloud. management software. She signs up for a Basecamp account and creates a new project, Blue Ocean. She then invites the client to view and contribute to the project via . She sets up some checklists and to-do lists for the client, setting deadlines to each one. She also adds some project 9

10 notes, including the proposed plan for provides instant feedback and requests a few revisions, leaving messages directly on the platform. When they ve settled on the key details and benchmarks, Cheryl knows it s time to get her internal team ready to handle all the work. Instead of Basecamp, Cheryl decides she would like to use Trello to manage internal, day-to-day tasks. She signs up for a free account and creates a new board called Blue Ocean, then creates 3 columns for new tasks: To-Do, In process and Completed. Cheryl invites all of her team members to join Trello with an . Once they ve signed up, Cheryl creates new cards for some key tasks. everything in order. As she bounces from shop to shop, Cheryl snaps pictures with her mobile phone and attaches them to notes in Evernote for later reference. After the salesperson for the details on getting a corporate discount. There s quite a lot of them, so Cheryl records the conversation Evernote for easy access. Checking back on Trello, Cheryl can see that Jake and Ryan have moved their cards to blinds, and both have attached photos of the images from Trello, then downloads her and uploads everything to Basecamp. She needs Jake to scout out new paint colours for the condo bedrooms and Ryan to start sourcing some new blinds. She creates a card for each task, then creates to-do checklists on each one of the cards. After attaching the client s project plans to the cards so that they can see the required documentation, she assigns the cards to Jake and Ryan. some new furniture. She s got loads of ideas that she doesn t want to lose, so taking app. She creates separate notes for loveseats and couches, to help keep The client reviews everything they ve found with the purchase. Cheryl wants to get pesky accounting issues out of the way and stop hunting for lost invoices and paper trails. She signs up for a beginner s account on FreshBooks, inputting her businesses name, address and phone number. Then, she chooses her colour scheme, sets her default currency and uploads her logo to create a branded invoice template. Cheryl wants to get invoicing right away, so she adds a new client to her database by simply inputting the business name and . She also wants Jake and Ryan 10

11 to be able to submit expenses online, so added bonus, Cheryl can create accounts for her contractors, who can then use the time tracking functions to keep tabs on how long their work is taking and bill accordingly. Finally, Cheryl wants to get her payment options in order and start taking credit and debit transactions instead of waiting on bank transfers and checks. She wants her sales team to be able to charge clients from anywhere, so she signs up for a some of their mobile chip readers for use on tablets and phones. development of any SaaS, which translates into a better, faster service for the end consumer - you. Software upgrades are seamless and data backup is automatic. All of the above solutions boast a near a 100% up time, which means no lost time, no crashed servers, and no expensive bills Then, with just a few clicks, she integrates The two applications can talk to each other, letting her know automatically when and how invoices have been paid. She sends the invoice to the client from FreshBooks with a link for a credit card payment, the client pays, and the invoice is marked as paid. As your business grows, SaaS solutions grow with you. Cloud based software saves time, energy and money, and systemizes everyday processes. As such, instead of working in your business, you have more time to work on your business. And who wouldn t like that? greater ease, thanks to the cloud. With millions of users worldwide, cloud based applications face an increased pressure to innovate and better their services. Instant and constant customer feedback plays a huge role in the 11

12 About AC Ink AC Ink is freeing solo and small business entrepreneurs from the chains of administration. Our team is versed in the functions of business management and work in an ongoing, and other complementary business solutions, freeing the time of the owner so they can focus on their business. See how we re changing the world of executive assisting one client at a time at acink.ca St SW Calgary, AB T3C 1W7 Phone: info@acink.ca 12