Have you been thinking of starting a new business? Now’s a great time to do it! Here’s a quick guide on how you can use the cloud to help.
Why Use the Cloud
The cloud provides many benefits to you when you are starting a new business because you can have all your documents and information in one place. This is good because it allows you to access information from your smartphone or tablet – which is ever important in our age of everything being mobile.
Another point to note is that using the cloud can cut down on costs. Most times you really don’t need to spend money on hardware. Many cloud services are Saas (Software as a Service) type subscriptions, which means you pay as you go, usually monthly. Xero, the cloud-based accounting platform we recommend uses the SaaS model.
By using the cloud you can increase the amount of collaboration you have within your team and even with those outside of your organization by sharing using products like Google Sheets or other document sharing apps.
Another thing to think about is that by using the cloud you have increased security. Reputable service providers take strong measures, well beyond what is available to the general individual business owner, to keep your information safe.
Additionally, when your data is stored in the cloud it usually can be accessed no matter where you are. This means you can access your data anywhere. At the office, at home, even when you are on vacation. Or what if your laptop was stolen, you can still access your information and even wipe the data from the laptop from the cloud remotely.
How to Do It
- Accounting – we use Xero and QBO for our accounting needs. They are both great products that are completely in the cloud and integrate well with other cloud-based apps.
- Collaboration – Google Drive is a good app (and there are other ones that are similar too) that can be used to share documents, pictures and other information to be shared and collaborated on with the team.
- Payroll – There are some great cloud-based payroll providers. The one we use and recommend is Gusto as we especially like how it integrates with Xero & QBO.
- Email – Email seems like an obvious choice for going in the cloud, but certain email providers provide more tools and apps that are good for collaborating such as Gmail. It is easy to use Google Docs, Google Hangouts, and many other Google apps while being connected with your team.
If you are starting a new business and want to get off on a good foot, go with the cloud. It’s really a great way to run a business and can be very efficient.
If you need help getting your business bookkeeping running in the cloud – we can help! Contact us and we will be happy to discuss with you how we can help you as you begin your cloud journey.