Cloud solutions have completely changed the landscape, especially for small businesses. They offer a way to streamline processes and gain more features for a lower upfront cost than purchasing single-use copies of static software.
The ability to reimagine what an “office” means is also a result of business cloud services. Companies can run successfully entirely without a physical office these days, using collaborative cloud technologies to connect with customers, employees, and vendors.
But all companies that use a service like Office 365 or QuickBooks Online are not created equal. They have different industry focuses and distinct needs when it comes to how their business operates.
For example, a construction company in Brisbane is going to be using different processes than a tax accountant in Ashgrove. While both may use the same cloud productivity software, one is going to need job costing capabilities, while the other may need enhanced security features.
This is what makes it important to have your cloud platforms customised, so they’re designed to match your workflow instead of you having to change to match their “out of the box” capabilities.
The Advantages of Having Your Cloud Services Tailored to Your Needs
When a business first signs up for a cloud productivity tool, they’re often training workers how to use it first and foremost. Then, they try to fit their needs into the structure of the tool.
This is backwards to how it should be done, which is the fit the tool’s structure to your technology needs. Many platforms can be customised and added onto in multiple ways by a business IT support professional. They can tailor them to best serve the mission and processes of your organisation.
Here are ways that having your cloud solutions customised can improve your bottom line.
Efficiency Improvements
If you’re using a platform as it came without having it tailored to your business, you can end up missing out on the efficiency improvements you were hoping for when you purchased it in the first place.
Having your cloud solution personalised to fit your business can take you from a basic level of digital advancement to a high level. What’s the difference?
According to a Deloitte study of Australian small and medium-sized businesses, companies at a high level of digital engagement have the following advantages over those at a basic level:
- 50% more likely to be growing revenue
- Earn 60% more revenue per employee
- 8x more likely to be creating jobs
Improved Security
Data and network security are two of the top technology priorities for any business. Cloud solutions can offer a number of security features, but often the settings they are defaulted to, aren’t going to match your needs perfectly.
By having your security settings tailored, you can gain better data handling security, automate policies to reduce user error, and improve your overall cybersecurity posture, reducing the risk of a costly data breach.
For example, Sensitivity Labels in Office 365 that are set up to designate documents (and their handling procedures) as “public” or “confidential” can be set to apply automatically to documents and emails based upon keyword content. This is a personalisation that both increases information security and saves time.
Use Time-Saving Automations
Automations both within a single cloud solution and between two or more different cloud solutions can greatly reduce the time it takes to enter data or enact certain manual tasks.
Automations can fluidly transfer data from a CRM to an accounting program, notify your sales team when a “hot lead” comes in, or reduce the time it takes to approve documents, among multiple other tasks.
This is one customisation that is going to immediately pay off both in productivity savings and process improvement.
Reduce Your Overall Software Needs
You may be using three different types of cloud services to accomplish different things for your company, not realizing that one of those services can be customized with add-ons to eliminate the need for the other two.
Working with a cloud software professional to tailor your cloud services can often result in elimination of redundancies, which means less subscriptions you have to pay for monthly, plus your data and processes stay in one platform keeping users from having to learn several different ones.
New Capabilities
You might have purchased a specific cloud tool just to handle customer support management but didn’t realize that a customisation could also add the capability to use it for a website chat and VoIP phone system with company directory.
Exploring customisations of cloud platforms often reveals new capabilities to enhance your business that you never knew were there.
Gain a Competitive Edge with Customised Cloud Solutions
Whether you’d like more security features or have been wanting to take advantage of automations, Connected Platforms can tailor your cloud services to your exact business needs to gain you more value.
Contact us today for a free cloud consultation or to find out more about other IT solutions we can help you with. Call 1300 866 096 or book a coffee meeting online.
