Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are a fast-growing sector of the local economy, but face a multitude of challenges including remaining competitive, particularly with their larger counterparts, says Dawie Bloomberg, MD, Green Apple IT.
These challenges include limited resources, limited budgets, the fact that they have to “multi-task” and still somewhere in between focus on their core business. This has forced smaller companies to become more agile. Working “on the go” is one way for these smaller businesses to increase productivity and “juggle many balls” so to speak.
However, one of the major barriers to mobility is that the ICT infrastructure of a small business simply cannot accommodate a mobile workforce. Fortunately, cloud applications and services, such as Microsoft Office 365, have become increasingly available, affordable and practical.
These cloud services and applications underpin and support mobility, enabling SMEs to become the agile enterprises they need to be, and take advantage of technology that was previously only available to large corporates.
Adopting cloud offerings has proved to be somewhat taxing for SMEs in the past, which has limited their ability to effectively work from multiple locations. For example, many SME organisations may have a server at their premises, which stores documents and information.
To enable mobile working, the service and notebook or laptop must be set up for remote access, which is only possible when the server is switched on. Accessing documents and files at night or when the office is closed therefore becomes challenging, unless the server is left on at all times, which poses a risk in case of power failure, and also increases energy consumption.
Power outages can also pose a challenge during office hours, as users may have notebooks that will operate on battery power, but will have limited time to access the server even with a UPS, which can hamper productivity.
One solution is to use offline folders on users’ notebooks, which enables them to access a cached version of documents. However, this information must then be synchronised back to the server, and if other users have been working on the same documents in the interim, conflicted versions of these documents occur, and updates may not include all changes.
Collaboration therefore becomes impractical. Traditional office-based servers can also be a capital-intensive exercise, as the SME is required to purchase the infrastructure to not only store data and applications, but also access these.
There is however a solution that addresses all of these challenges and provides the mobility, access and collaboration tools needed by smaller businesses to become more agile and competitive. The emergence of cloud-based applications such as Microsoft Office 365 have changed the game for SMEs, providing access to critical information whilst on the move and improving productivity.
Office 365 provides SMEs with access to the full suite of Microsoft Office tools from virtually anywhere, on multiple devices including PC, Mac and mobile devices, as well as access to business-class IT services that are easy for the SME to administer.
It also offers enterprise-grade e-mail with Exchange, which allows for larger documents to be e-mailed and provides e-mail archiving for compliance purposes, along with offsite e-mail storage and archiving for improved failover and redundancy. Shared calendars can be accessed by staff members at their desks and on the go for improved timekeeping and organisation.
Office Web apps allow users to create, store, edit and share Office documents online for maximum availability, while file sharing allows for collaboration, and included video conferencing allows for more effective communication. SharePoint Team Sites are also available when company-wide documents need to be managed
Documents are stored in the cloud, so they can easily be accessed, and if one user is working on a specific document, others will be able to open a read-only copy, preventing file conflicts. Using the Web applications, even users on a tablet can access and work on documents quickly and easily.
If connectivity is not present, users can also access a cached version of the document, and information will be fully synchronised when the user is once again connected.
Access to enterprise-grade tools like SharePoint will automatically resolve document versioning conflicts, and automatically synchronise documents through a “check in, check out” process that ensures only one person is working on a specific document at a time.
Maintaining an up-to-date version of documents in the cloud also provides another level of backup, so that if data is lost or a device goes missing or is stolen, users can quickly gain access to their documents, maintaining productivity without missing a beat.
With cloud-based applications like Office 365, SME organisations have lower capital outlay, as they will need only a storage server if they require centralised storage.
Cloud solutions are also available on a “per user per month”, or “per user per year” basis, which makes them highly affordable for SMEs and allows for a predictable monthly cost. The solution can also be scaled to meet the growing and changing needs of the SME market easily, without additional capital outlay or purchases, as more licenses can be added, with the storage these licenses include.
For companies such as SMEs that are often cash-flow restricted, cloud applications and services deliver instant access to functionality without capital outlay. To set up a full blown server can costs thousands of rands, but with a cloud solution all of the features needed are available straight away without this expense.
Specific solutions and applications can also be selected as needed for a customised, scalable and flexible offering. If the solution does not work for the business, or their business model changes, cloud solutions can easily be moved to another provider, as the company does not own the solution outright and has not invested significant capital into gaining it.
The right service provider partner can also then maintain this solution cost effectively, allowing SMEs to be productive and focus on their core business while IT and technology provide the supporting features and functionality needed.
By choosing the right partner to deliver cloud offerings like Microsoft Office 365, SMEs can take advantage of affordable, available solutions that meet their needs and enable them to be agile and mobile, key factors in remaining competitive in today’s fast-paced, technology driven business world.
