Bringing the Cloud Down to Earth

Last April, Pete Johnson couldn’t log into his computer. As he searched frantically for what was causing the problem, the owner of Industrial Plastics and Machining, a Marion, Iowa, plastics fabrication firm, realized that a virus had been slowly corrupting his essential business documents for days. The virus’ last act: changing Johnson’s system password, which rendered his data—financial documents, customer blueprints, product photos—permanently inaccessible on the machine.

But Johnson had a backup plan. He stores all of his key documents in a cloud service called Mozy, and his financial information in QuickBooks Online, a cloud-based accounting application. Business was up and running again in a day’s time.

“If I would’ve lost that data, that would have been a year’s worth of work [to rebuild],” says Johnson, an NFIB member, who doesn’t maintain a costly IT department. “I have to be able to rely on these cloud services to be able to do what they need to do.”

For many small business owners, the cloud sounds too heavenly to be of any earthly good. So it makes sense that so-called cloud computing—essentially tapping into a network of off-site servers to store software and other data—isn’t something that’s top of mind for small business owners.

In a recent NFIB member survey, only 19 percent of business owners reported switching to or already using cloud-based applications to run their firms. But small business owners who aren’t availing themselves of the cloud’s many advantages—efficiency, value, security, mobility and ease of use—might be missing out: An overwhelming majority of experts say computing in the cloud will eclipse desktop computing over the next decade, according to Pew Research Center’s Future of the Internet Survey.

Ramon Ray, editor of SmallBizTechnology.com, a website that tracks the latest small business technology trends, says cloud computing comes down to a matter of efficiency. “It’s just simpler,” Ramon says. “We all use a Web browser. Everybody gets it.”

If you’re unsure about making the switch, take our tour of the cloud’s many functionalities to determine whether it works for your business.

Oh, the Possibilities
Collaboration: One of the key value propositions of the cloud is its ability to let workers in various locations—the office, at home and on a business trip—collaborate on the same project.

Launched in 2011, BizAnytime (previously Your Office Anywhere) is a cloud-based service that does exactly that. It’s the brainchild of Leif Hartwig, who was looking for a way to allow small businesses to connect internally over the cloud.

“I wondered if there was a place that small business could be able to conduct their business better, not only inside their offices, through communication and through a suite of Internet tools, but also outside their offices in a mobile way,” Hartwig says. So, he got to work and developed a useful tool from the ground up for small businesses.

“It’s very different from what you see from the major players out there—the Microsofts and Googles and others with their programs for the big enterprises,” Hartwig says. The bird’s eye view screen, for instance, allows users to toggle through a chat interface, shared calendar and files, and work with other employees all in one window.

BizAnytime, accessed through a website, guarantees it will work 99.9 percent of the time; extended periods of downtime shouldn’t be a problem. And you can access it on the go through smartphone and tablet apps. Similar services for collaboration include Basecamp and HyperOffice.

Accounting: Imagine you’re out of the office for the week, and you have no way to access your company’s accounting software to make tweaks to your financial records. Those days are gone once you move your company’s accounting to the cloud.

Services such as FreshBooks and QuickBooks Online allow business owners to access their financials from any computer or smartphone with an Internet connection. You can import your client list from a simple spreadsheet, track expenses, create estimates and send invoices without ever buying a stamp. In addition to creating a quick PDF of an invoice to send via snail mail, FreshBooks users can send customers emailed versions of invoices, allowing them to see their balance online. Another great feature: If you email your clients invoices, FreshBooks tells you when they viewed their bill.

That’s been a key feature for Jim Smith, managing director of Blarneystone LLC, a Web design and hosting service in Amston, Conn. His clients can check their balances and make payments through a link provided in an email to them. “They can go out on the cloud anytime and print a missing invoice, get a statement, see the status of an invoice or even pay their invoices online. I’ve been using FreshBooks for over two years now and would never go back to maintaining my invoicing system off the cloud.”

Personal Organization
Flight reservations, passwords, insurance policy information—trying to keep up with and store this information in a traditional hard copy filing system gets cumbersome fast. With cloud-based personal organization services such as Evernote or Springpad, you won’t have to worry about keeping track of these paper documents again.
Evernote, which is available on your desktop, laptop or smartphone, helps you store itineraries, to-do lists, photos, pdfs and audio notes all in the cloud. The service, which amounts to a digital filing system, gives you up to 60 megabytes, a little more than one encyclopedia volume of storage free each month. Additional storage is available for $5 a month or $45 a year.

Springpad is a similar service, but with a more robust interface. It also has a function that allows you to attach links to Web pages that are relevant to the notes you create (e.g., a link to a restaurant where you plan to take a client, as well as its phone number).

Sales: Cloud-based services such as Salesforce.com can also help you streamline your sales process. Steven Holtzman and his father Mark manage their two-man Los Angeles business on the fly—literally. The two pilots run West Coast Aerial Photography, which serves clients ranging from architects to developers to sports fans.

They’ve managed their sales process and revenue goals with Salesforce.com since 2007. Its efficiency and mobility have made them loyal customers, says the younger Holtzman. “If we get a call when we’re flying, it enables us to log the call, create a contact and send them a follow-up on the go,” he says. Salesforce also helps their business rate the quality of prospects and prioritizes who they need to follow up with first. It also keeps track of any previous communications with the client.

Automatic Backup: If, like Pete Johnson, you fall victim to a nasty file-eating computer virus, simple backup services such as Dropbox or Carbonite have your back. Otherwise, you may be out of luck.

Lenny Kharitonov, a furniture retailer and president of Unlimited Furniture Group, a furniture dealer in New York City, uses Dropbox to back up documents such as company policies and procedures, supplier information and financial records. “All business should go to the cloud,” Kharitonov says. “It’s a lot more reliable than keeping data on a server in the corner room that can go on fire, flood or experience other failures.”

What’s in it for You?
Mobility: The workplace of the future is quickly becoming any place with a high-speed Internet connection, and cloud computing makes that possible. When the software or hardware you need to do businesses is confined to your desktop or office, so are you. But cloud computing allows you to access mission-critical files from anywhere.

Document-sharing services like Google Docs, Box.net and Microsoft’s SkyDrive.com let you save your work to the cloud, allowing you and other authorized users to access them from anywhere.

Savings: Two of the most common cloud applications can significantly reduce overhead costs: software as a service (SaaS) and hardware as a service (HaaS).
Traditional desktop software can be expensive: Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business costs $199.99 for one license. It also consumes hard drive space.

Comparably, GoogleDocs and other cloud-based software are cheap or free. Take the popular small business accounting software Quickbooks, for instance. The version that you install on your desktop or laptop can cost you up to $480 per user, and that’s without buying the upgraded version bound to come out in the next two years. The company’s cloud service, QuickBooks online, on the other hand, starts at $12.95 a month and comes with automatic updates.

When it comes to backing up and storing data, the cloud is cheaper than buying servers. A dedicated server can cost your business around $600 a month, but a small business plan with Carbonite, a online backup service, starts at $229 a year. A significant benefit: You’ll no longer need IT staff to maintain on-site storage. Most cloud services come with their own round-the-clock IT support, such as backup service Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3).

Security: A fear of losing key data or confidential information
through the Internet keeps many businesses wary of the cloud. To be certain, there have been several instances of high-profile security breaches. The U.S. Senate, the CIA and companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Sony Corp., have fallen prey to hackers in recent years, reinforcing many small business owners’ security concerns. Dropbox, the cloud document storage service, made headlines last year when a security breach left any user’s account accessible by any password for four hours. Still, the company says fewer than 1 percent of accounts were accessed during the breach, and it boosted security in the wake of the attack.

Steering clear of cloud services is misguided, says NFIB member Pat Conroy, who owns Immediatag.com, an Austin, Texas, technology company that uses the cloud for data storage. “Anytime anybody opens their computer to the Internet it’s a security issue,” Conroy says. “They’re not really adding any security issues by being in the cloud.”

Oftentimes, cloud computing even adds a layer of security: Your data is backed up off-site, usually in high-security compounds, limiting the threat that hackers, viruses and other intruders pose to your vital information. The Cloud Security Alliance, a nonprofit that promotes best practices among cloud service providers, recommends providers secure their compound’s entry points with biometric access, motion-sensing alarms and thermal tracking devices.

As a business owner, the choice is ultimately yours. And it’s a tradeoff: There is some risk in placing your information on the cloud, but  you may find it relatively small juxtaposed with its many benefits.

Worried about security? Get five tips to safeguard your data in the cloud at www.NFIB.com/data_safety.

Services That Will Lift You Into the Cloud

Whether you’re looking to collaborate with your employees, invoice a client or run an email marketing campaign, here are five services that will help boost your productivity and mobility through the cloud.

Dropbox.com
What it does: Stores files and makes them available on any computer, Android, Blackberry, iPad and iPhone

Cost: 2 gigabytes free; monthly subscriptions start at $9.99

Dropbox has more than 45 million users who store and share their files online. It’s easy to use in a Web browser, or install a version on your computer or device to access the same files from anywhere. Its latest offering, Dropbox for Teams, is designed with small businesses in mind: Plans begin at $795 for a terabyte of storage among five users.

FreshBooks.com
What it does: Invoicing, billing and expense tracking

Cost: Free with three clients; after that, monthly packages range from $19.95 to $39.95

FreshBooks is a streamlined, Web-based invoicing system for small business owners who don’t need the detail and robust features offered by competitor QuickBooks. Create a PDF of an invoice to send via snail mail, or email invoices to allow customers to see their balance online. FreshBooks claims to save users five hours a month and get you paid 11 days faster. Invoicing in the cloud simplifies operations by giving you the simple click-and-select ability to create an invoice in a matter of seconds.

Salesforce.com
What it does: Customer relationship management

Cost: Free for up to 30 days; monthly plans range from $2 to $250

About 78 percent of a sales rep’s day is spent looking for information—contact information, prospects and opportunities. That’s the Salesforce.com pitch: It consolidates all that info into one personalized website, accessible from anywhere, freeing up your salespeople to do what they do best: sell. Users can go to one screen, scroll and click through their quarterly quote progress, open deals, leads and sales funnels.

BizAnytime.com
What it does: A jack-of-all-trades cloud service that stores documents, hosts video conferences and a shared workspace.

Cost: Free for 14 days; monthly plans start at $10

BizAnytime is designed with small business owners in mind. It’s an all-in-one cloud solution that allows you to do everything from managing projects to storing documents, hosting video conferences and live chats with your colleagues, and receiving status updates from your direct reports—accessible from your computer, smartphone or tablet.