Helping SMBs embrace mobility and the cloud

Businesses need to ask some crucial questions as technologies continue to steadily influence progress in communication and collaboration.

Mobility’s shift towards the enterprise is accelerating, especially in light of recent hardware announcements from the world’s major device makers. Apple, for example, unveiled the iPad Pro a few months ago, a bigger version of the iPad complemented by a stylus and a keyboard, all in the name of improved productivity for professionals on the go.

This took place hot on the heels of the launch of Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4, a 2-in-1 device that has a full Windows operating system and offers the power to run almost any line-of-business app for Windows in a light, mobile package.

Furthermore, the proliferation of smartphones continues to experience robust growth — according to market research firm IDC, worldwide smartphone shipment volumes are forecast to reach 1.9 billion units annually by 2019.

Advancements in smartphone technology have put business systems and applications on mobile phones, transforming them into smarter, more sophisticated business tools. Thus today, any business without an app strategy will find itself quickly losing out to its more agile competitors.

For small and medium businesses (SMBs) with limited resources, this accelerating shift towards mobility has made the competitive business landscape a more level playing field. The cloud is also doing wonders for SMBs. With the advantages of faster deployment and lower cost of ownership, more SMBs are embracing it.

The cloud enables SMBs to improve operational processes and offer smarter, more agile solutions to their customers without incurring unnecessary investment on additional hardware and other IT resources. In short, SMBs are realising that cloud enables them to operate smarter, not harder — and grow faster. As we head into 2016, there’s no longer any reason for SMBs to put off their adoption of these technologies and achieve even greater successes.

However, implementing a mobile and cloud strategy can be a daunting task, especially for SMBs without a dedicated IT manager. This may explain why, for instance, only 37% of SMBs in the US have fully adopted cloud computing.

In my experience working with SMBs, I find the following three questions are a good starting point to help SMBs identify their specific challenges and evaluate the mobility and cloud-based tools they may need to overcome them.

What’s my app strategy?

According to a global Accenture study, 87% of executives understand the necessity of mobile apps in order to fully realise the benefits of the digital economy. SMBs, too, should consider implementing an app strategy, both internally and externally.

Embracing smartphone and tablet apps for work can be a remarkable boost for productivity, and this is becoming truer as mobile devices become more powerful.

Externally, apps that provide a good experience can dramatically boost a brand’s market perception and help SMBs reach new demographics that were previously impossible.

This is a question that SMBs cannot overlook — apps are an integral part of mobility, and they will certainly become more powerful and provide richer user experiences as the devices powering them mature.

Which cloud service works for me?

Cloud-based unified tools and systems helps SMBs better integrate their resources and business processes so that they can communicate and collaborate better and more efficiently — regardless of the platform or hardware of their choice.

Today, there are cloud managed services for many essential business functions, from networking to data storage to customer relationship management. The cloud is so powerful that it can even host applications and desktops. These are crowded fields with multiple vendors offering different solutions, all of which have to be evaluated with care.

When considering these options, SMBs have to further decide whether public, private or hybrid cloud deployments work best for their business.

How can employees collaborate on any device?

Bring your own device (BYOD) policies are common in SMBs, thanks chiefly to the cost-effectiveness of BYOD.

In a recent Parallels survey of 1000 SMB stakeholders in the US, 47% of respondents say they have a BYOD policy in place, with 15% saying they cover both laptops and mobile devices and 43% saying they allow mobile device access to email and other corporate systems.

This means that an SMB office could see not just Windows and Mac desktops, but also iPhones, iPads and Android smartphones and tablets.

To bridge these disparate platforms, cloud collaboration services such as Dropbox and Microsoft Office 365 are the mainstay tools that many SMBs rely on. No matter what devices your employees use, their productivity software and business-critical data are all easily deployed and synced through the cloud.

In another case, businesses frequently see the need for additional devices and platforms as they expand. For example, there could be a need for specialised video editing software available only on the Mac.

To scale these needs efficiently without incurring more hardware costs — which can sometimes be prohibitive — SMBs can also consider maximising their current hardware resources through methods such as virtualisation or remote access.

For instance, desktop virtualisation software can turn your employee’s Mac into both a Windows and an OS X machine, easily running apps on both platforms without having to reboot.

Perhaps best of all, SMB employees will end up happier given the ability to choose their favourite devices on which to work.

Marching into 2016 and beyond

These three questions are not exhaustive and should not be the only ones that SMBs ask themselves. However, as mobility and the cloud continue to steadily influence progress in communication and collaboration, they are among some of the most crucial questions to ponder over and can serve as appropriate launch pads to delve deeper into deployment options.

With high-powered mobile devices and mature cloud services, it has never been easier for SMBs to deploy powerful IT tools. Many such businesses all over the world are already leveraging mobility and the cloud for higher productivity and business success.

As we head into 2016 and beyond, we may just be living in the golden age of technology for SMBs.

Image courtesy Michael Coghlan under CC