How the cloud is impacting small businesses

Kristina: How is the cloud affecting small and mid-sized businesses?

Mark Duffin, CEO and President, ServicePower: The cloud is an enabler for small and medium sized businesses. Some of our tools, which historically were only offered as an on-premise solution to larger companies, are now available to small and medium-sized businesses because we’re utilizing cloud-based solutions which lower the cost of entry to more affordable levels.

Interestingly enough, we’ve offered the first-iteration of cloud computing since 2004. Our ServiceOperations software is a multi-tenant application that enables our clients and their third-party contractor networks to participate in the aggregated field service dispatch and claiming platform from any computer able to connect to the web. It was cloud-based before we knew the cloud was going to go main stream.

Kristina: Do you expect even more businesses to begin embracing the cloud to keep workers connected?

Mark: ServicePower sees the trend toward cloud computing to increase exponentially. Field service organizations must continue to decrease their overall costs, which cloud computing contributes to, while increasing their margin, decreasing cycle time and increasing customer satisfaction. The cloud enables field service organizations to decrease IT costs, but it also enables field based technicians to communicate real time job status, from any web connected device, as well as tap into parts inventory and billing functions, all while on site. The cloud has really moved the back office to the field tech, again removing costs from the organization. This real-time connection is a benefit to any company in any industry and will only continue to advance.

Kristina: What do businesses need to know about the cloud so that their proprietary information isn’t put at risk via cloud options?

Mark: A cloud deployment is great for decreasing costs and mobilizing a field workforce, but it’s only as good as the securities put in place by the hosting company. ServicePower manages the hardware and software, within the cloud, for our cloud-based deployments however we also implement the appropriate security, redundancy and failover safeguards. One without the other is only half of the equation.

More from Mark and Service Power on Monday, including his top tips for businesses setting up cloud operations.