As I mentioned before, I am not referring to selling your goods or services online; I am talking about moving as much of your back office to the “cloud” as possible. This is part of a series of posts showcasing reasons why this is a good idea. A few of these will not be as beneficial for brick-and-mortar stores because if your automobile repair shop burns down only time (and great insurance) will get you open to customers again.

Work anywhere, anytime
At the job I held before I started my own business I could access our database and email from any Internet connection. That meant when the truck broke down coming back from my yearly family reunion and I had to miss a day at the office, I was still able to do a few hour’s work via the hotel’s Wi-Fi connection. Better yet, after the birth of my “oops” baby I was able to do the majority of my work from home from 6:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (I worked 30 hours a week) and stop in at the office once or twice a week.

As a business owner in consulting I am fortunate because I am pretty sure I could place ALL of my back office in the cloud. I have not yet because I do not work from any devices other than my desktop. (Watch me use a tablet and you will get your daily quota of deep laughter, and I can not pinch so I do not even get a smart phone to turn on.)

My files already live in the cloud as I mentioned last time so only my programs live on my desktop. I currently work with Microsoft Office 7 and Adobe CS3 or 5 (depending on the individual programs) and if a disaster struck (or I decide they are too outdated for me to function with anymore) I could easily subscribe to the versions available online to access my files.

As am I writing this and looking at the other free-to-download program icons on my desktop I realized I need to create a file with their names and download link so I can get to them easily. Am I really going to remember the name of the program I use once a month to pull my YouTube stats after a disaster? I have approximately 15 of these types of programs and if my desktop was destroyed I am sure I would not remember them all.

You can see how having as many cloud-based programs as possible can make your business run smoother when dealing with minor (or major) employee issues or major disasters. I have more reasons to embrace the cloud coming in future posts.


Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne


Do you find yourself reacting and acting in urgency because you do not have time to do tasks until the eleventh hour? Get a grip on your time so you can get back your life. Get your free Master Your Time guide.

I am not referring to selling your goods or services online, I am talking about moving as much of your back office to the “cloud” as possible. I am writing a series of posts showcasing a few reasons why this is a good idea. A few of these will help brick-and-mortar store very little because if your restaurant gets flooded only time (and great insurance) will get you open to customers again.

Continual operation during a disaster.
Your disaster does not have to be a flood or earthquake. It could be your computer (with all your client files) becoming inoperable for a while. I moved all my files to DropBox this year. I will pay $100 per year for the service and am happy to consider that as insurance for any computer disaster. I might lose a day’s work if I am using large files that day and do not wait for the online upload to complete before I shut off my computer but I can work around that.

Several years ago (before I had my own business) I had my computer AND my back-up hard drive fail at the same time and the data could not be retrieved from either. I lost all of my files forever. Last year a friend’s computer crashed with all her client files and it took more than a month (and a lot of money) to get them retrieved. Could your business withstand that type of disaster?

You may be a financial planner on vacation when markets crash. Can you access the information you need to contact and reassure your clients? Even if you do have a brick-and-mortar store such as an auto shop or beauty salon, can you contact your scheduled clients to let them know your shop burned down and you can not honor their appointment at this time?

I chose DropBox because I do not have to use the web interface to access my files. I have a folder on my desktop that looks (and works) like any other folder and there is a program running in the background that sends the updates to the DropBox servers. This means if DropBox gets hacked and is inoperable for a few days I can still access my files from my desktop.

There are many online backup hosts so shop around for the one that fits your needs best.

I have more reasons up my sleeve coming in future posts.

Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne

Do you find yourself reacting and acting in urgency because you do not have time to do tasks until the eleventh hour? Get a grip on your time so you can get back your life. Get your free Master Your Time guide.