Working Smarter – Efficiency Using the Cloud
Running a business can be extremely challenging. Sometimes it feels like you have created a monster and before long, you are going to fall into the deep abyss between adopting new technology for efficiency or sticking with that old tried and tested approach. But fear not, understanding some of the basic efficiency principles and taking advantage of new services now offered on the web, will open your eyes to working smarter. Before diving into the world of efficiency, however, it would be prudent to firstly review existing objectives and the overarching strategy you are working towards, ensuring they align with your renewed interest in working smarter and adapting newer technologies such as the Cloud.
Strategy – Revisit Your Goals
Having a shared ambition and creating objectives that you want to achieve in the short, medium and long term is vital for business success. It’s always beneficial to reexamine some of the previous choices or approaches you have made and track progress for completing historic objectives set or reimagine them with your enhanced knowledge of efficiency and technology. Align your new strategy or long term objectives with the mindset of working smarter and marry them to measurable outcomes such as reducing cost. Utilizing new technology like the Cloud, always striving to work smarter by adopting an agile approach and setting specific objectives and goals, all attribute towards success.
Work Smarter – Agile
Adopting business agility comes in many forms and is an ethos you should live and breathe. In its purest form, you are challenging existing approaches to understand how they can be streamlined and improved. Working in small groups instead of large committees is one example of a change in strategy that has significantly increased efficiency and output and is referred to as Agile or business agility. This approach resolves issues quickly by bringing together individuals with different skills to solve a particular problem. Consider why you work the way you do and use every weapon in your arsenal to improve, reduce time and cost but still achieve the same result. For example, growing your business is probably in the mind of every leader and tactics could range from ramping up social media exposure to outsourcing your marketing to a third party company. Working smarter often requires utilizing new technologies and there have been significant increases in cloud technology in the last few years, with Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple, all offering business solutions to securely hold your data and ensure it is available at the click of a button.
Efficiencies – The Cloud
Cloud technology has been used on smartphones for years now and the growth of Google and Amazon, for example, means they are well placed to streamline the way you use, store and access business data. No longer do you need a server engineer or IT manager to monitor, set up and maintain your business data at a considerable cost, this can be outsourced with increased security, which streamlines the process and saves cost. Do some research and find some quotes to best suit your budget and requirements if you want to utilize the cloud. When you understand the benefits that the Cloud can bring to your business and why the tech is being adopted by companies around the world, you will truly be a master of working smarter.