We are 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 pizza shop is picketed by protesters only positive public relations will bring the customers in again.

Automatic Updates
I consider this to be a double-edged sword. We have all bought software programs that were upgraded shortly after we bought them. I have had six versions of Microsoft office and at least four Adobe suites. Every new version comes with dollar signs.

The Adobe suites were about $1600 each (and you had to buy two different packages to get all the programs) and Adobe has not released a new one for a few years. The Adobe cloud service offers all the Adobe programs for $49 per month (you must make a one-year commitment) and it gets new updates.

Strictly talking dollars the cloud service wins. You can subscribe for more than 5 years before spending the $3200 two suites cost (the suites were updated every year so it was pricey to keep latest versions). So why am I still using version three and version five instead of joining the cloud service?

The other side of the sword. Updates are automatic whether you want them or not. I have had more than one friend tell me that an update has moved the command buttons they frequently use to another location and they have to spend time looking for something that was there yesterday.

Now I am sure major updates on that scale are infrequent, yet they cause me to pause and really question moving to the cloud for this one company’s products. I will switch eventually and if I were starting from scratch I would use their cloud service rather than buy their out-dated version six suites.

Do take some time to look at both the pros and cons of switching to the cloud for software you already own. I do not feel I would get $600 worth of improvements to switch… now. As my business grows (or they add some feature I can not live without) I will consider the change again. Occasionally the cloud is not the right answer.

I have more reasons to consider the cloud coming in future posts.


Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne


Get on-call access to an expert for answers to your most pressing marketing concerns! Check out my Answer to Your Marketing Questions coaching program!

I left a message on the office phone for someone I see at networking events. The recording said to call the provided cell phone if you needed to speak to him right away. I did not so I left a voice mail.

He is in a company's customer service department and I have seen him respond to Facebook complaints faster than it would seem possible for their tracking software to even find them. I was expecting a return call by the next day at the latest.

Two weeks later I saw him at a networking event and harassed him about ignoring my message. It turns out he almost never checks the voice mail for his office phone so he had not even heard my message yet. He needs to change his message to reflect his habits or he needs someone to check those messages regularly.

Even though he is quick to respond on social media, the average age of their customers is a generation that is more likely to pick up the phone and still thinks cell phones are for emergencies.

My take away from this was to I am going to log in and check my Facebook messages more often, a task I do not love. Why? Even though I am going to pick up the phone or send an email if I want to talk business with you, we are moving to a society that does not separate work life and personal life.

If I do not respond to a social media request in a reasonable (a day or two) time frame, I may lose a sale. On the flip side, if I lose the sale because someone expects me to be logged in 24/7 and I did not answer their question a minute after they posted it, I am okay with that. My business does not need to have that instant availability. If that changes in the future, I will adapt.

Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne


If you have marketing questions, I have answers. Check out the Ask Me Anything coaching program!

Does your brain ever get ahead of your tongue? Mine does ALL the time. I think so many thoughts at once my mouth freezes trying to get the words out. I have taught workshops during which my mouth kept freezing up, I am afraid to watch the recordings to see how bad it actually was. (If I remembered to record it.)

I have to pause frequently when talking to clients because I sometimes speak over their heads or too fast because my mind has jumped to the next thought. I have spoken to groups and forgotten to say my "quotable" lines.

What am I going to do about it? I try to read my scripts aloud several times before my classes and I am going to keep developing my written content for my online courses. I can be so eloquent when I get to read a thought several times and tweak it.

I am sure once I start speaking more I will remember my quotables even though they are not necessary to get my point made. People do not tell me I sound like an idiot, but I sure feel like it sometimes.

Will I stop speaking to people? Of course not. Eventually you just get better at it.

When I was in school, spelling was my worst subject. I do not know if it was difficult for my brain to think that way or if I just did not care. I did read during nearly every free minute and as I became an adult I realized I was a better speller than most people simply because I read and saw words so much.

I have to stretch myself with spelling though even now. A couple of years ago I put forth the effort and I can now spell convenient without looking it up. (Mainly because I was never even close enough for spell check to find the right word.)

Now I need to speak to get better at speaking. That is one of the reasons I am creating live online and phone-in programs like Ask Me Anything. When my health improves, I may join a Toastmasters group. My aversion to a weekly commitment to groups holds me back on this solution, but a weekly meeting is probably what is needed to get better at speaking.

I might try meditation to focus, however I am not sure I can calm my brain enough. What are your thoughts?

Until next time…

Have a great day,
Susanne

If you have marketing questions, I have answers. Check out the Ask Me Anything coaching program!