Got Cloud Voice? Don’t Let Your Competitor Beat You to It

Explains the Power of Productivity and Profitability from Cloud Voice

It’s no secret that the business world isn’t what it used to be. Simply put, the old age of operating within the normal hours of 8-5pm is an outdated paradigm. The traditional workforce is no longer the norm and remote work forces continue to grow in number because of the drastic reduction in overhead and increases in employee satisfaction. While this level of flexibility was unavailable in years prior, expanded capacities offered by the latest in technology have made this new working environment possible. This new environment is also enabling businesses to keep their customers happier than ever before. Companies leveraging the latest technologies, like cloud voice, are able to keep their customers happy 24/7, which is leaving their competition in the dust. The business leaders who have shifted their mindsets in order to take advantage of these new opportunities are being rewarded handsomely.

One problem that virtually every company faces is the need for quick responses. This is especially true of inbound customer calls. In the past, when a customer would call-in and seek immediate support, companies would typically juggle the phone call between departments, until the customer was frustrated and then eventually transfer the call out to a manager’s cell phone, where they would usually have to leave a voice mail and wait for a call back. As you can expect, it didn’t take businesses long to realize that this way of conducting business was completely unacceptable and damaging relationships.

Companies have solved this problem with Cloud Voice phone systems. Since these systems operate “in the cloud” they are no longer tied to a single physical location and can accommodate the flexible workforce better than ever before. Best of all, the corporate experience is maintained all the way through and calls are handled with more elegance and professionalism than ever before. From the customer’s perspective, it’s as if these two were sitting right next to each other, collaborating on the issue at hand and resolving it as quickly as possible. The bottom line here is that when customers feel important and valued, they will continue to do business with any company. This is a rarity in today’s marketplace and technology is transcending these limitations better than ever before and this is making it much tougher for outdated companies to compete.

Also, today’s leading companies utilize cloud voice in order to assign “Find Me Anywhere” numbers to staff, which are essentially single numbers that will call the office phone, then cycle to their cell phone, then cycle to other staff members, so that customers can reach the exact department they need, without being stuck on-hold for long periods of time. These numbers can also be configured to all ring simultaneously, so anyone that can solve that exact customer problem can handle it immediately. Reduced wait times and instant connections with the right person are huge advantages for today’s organizations over their competitors. Imagine if your customers never had to wait on-hold again and that they got their problems resolved in only one-step. This is another way in which Cloud Voice is creating competitive advantages.

A superior customer experience is only one reason why more organizations are embracing this technology at an increasing rate. A significant reason that companies are utilizing this technology is because there is no risk. Innovative programs allow customer to get this type of technology in the hands of business owners without making them invest in equipment which has required large, up-front, capital outlays in the past. Business owners can get access to all equipment and services without any substantial expense as cloud voice can now be acquired on a month-to-month agreement, which incentives performance and satisfaction across the board.

How to Calculate ROI on Cloud Computing (the “Cloud”) ?

Calculating Cloud ROI

Even an inexperienced manager has been faced with calculating the value of spending a dollar.  You could be faced with staying within a budget, justifying a purchase or trying to estimate the value, or return, of an investment in your company (“ROI”).  However, the task of calculating ROI on moving all or part of a company’s technology to the Cloud can be quite daunting.

Part of the problem is that opportunities to utilize the Cloud are evolving quickly and it is definitely not “one size fits all”.  There are numerous Cloud applications advertised seemingly everywhere – from simply storing personal photos to performing complex corporate operations.  Companies like Google, Apple, IBM, Microsoft and Citrix all want you to believe they have the best Cloud Services; but they all seem to speak a different language.  Don’t blame them, they all have different solutions for different types of customers.  Add to the confusion that some Cloud functions are device specific (i.e. Amazon Kindle) and that computing requirements for some applications can be so massive  that normal internet connections may not be able to support them.  Finally, how do you calculate the cost of an intangible?  For instance what is the cost of employee downtime?   What is the value to your business to be able to attract young talent who have grown accustomed to working on multiple devices at any hour of the day?  What is your technology image to investors, vendors and customers?

Before you simply throw up your hands and give up, there are some simple steps you can go through to begin to calculate ROI for your specific needs.  Like many difficult problems, start by breaking down the calculation to the most basic questions you can actually respond to.  You may end up with a list of “unknowns”; but you may be surprised that you can begin to hone in on a range of costs and benefits that may satisfy the boss and make budgetary sense.  Go through the following steps to begin to organize your priorities and define the parts of Cloud Computing that is right for your environment.

6 Steps to Calculating Cloud ROI

• First and foremost, answer the question, “Why do we need the Cloud?” Identify any current computing problems you are trying to fix.  If you are faced with spending money anyway, the timing is right to consider Cloud solutions.  Do not make a move simply because you are enamored with the thought of going to the newest and best technology available.  While there are many benefits to be had in the Cloud, some companies can perform quite well with a home grown,on-site environment.  According to a study commissioned by Microsoft, the top three investments in corporate Cloud hosting in the next two years will be: Database E-mail c. Corporate Applications (CRM, ERP, and industry specific apps)

• After defining existing problems to be fixed, take time to define what your computing requirements will be in the next 1 to 2 years. For example, will you be upgrading your operating or accounting software; do you need a new e-mail or customer relationship management solution; or is there new industry software that would help your business.  Faced with spending on new applications you will find that nearly all have been designed to be easily hosted and that a per user cost could be much more beneficial to purchasing a package that could become quickly dated or require updates and maintenance.

• Determine how important access to data is in your business.  Would it be detrimental to your operation if you could not recover your data within minutes, hours or days?  The Cloud provides secure backup and remote access.  The cost of data storage can be pennies per gigabyte, and service levels to restore data can be set according to the importance to your business and your budget.

• Another critical step is to consider how many computer users you have, as well as where and how they will access your systems. If all of your users are on-site, and use company equipment – Cloud access may not be as critical.  Conversely, if you have remote users like salesmen, your management travels frequently or employees work from home the Cloud provides a perfect solution to accommodate different company applications on virtually any kind of device.  Typically the cost per user will go down as the number of users go up.  You may also find that Cloud service companies may require a minimum number of users.

• Determine the age and performance of your current IT equipment. This could be the straw that breaks your back (or your budget).   More and more companies are realizing that investments in on-site infrastructure, such as robust servers, are very costly.  With on-site infrastructure you also have the inherent risk that the specifications at the time of purchase do not meet the changing needs of the business.  Also, there can be compatibility issues. Even upgrades to workstations can add up.  Take the example of replacing all the desktops and laptops when Microsoft discontinued support on Windows XP.  The computing and RAM requirements of workstations connected to Cloud applications are significantly less than stand-alone pc’s or laptops.  For some users, thin clients may be all that is needed at a fraction of the cost of a full workstation.  When faced with an infrastructure purchase, Cloud computing should be an option to be considered.  One critical advantage to Cloud computing is that it is “scalable”, that is you can generally add users and applications by simply adjusting your contract rather than trying to re-calculate the on-site infrastructure needs and costs.  For you finance guys, Cloud contracts can be structured as monthly operating costs freeing up your precious credit or operating lines.

• Finally, calculate what you spend now on your IT support. Look in your accounting reports or even just your check register – it’s all there.  Make sure you include debt payments if you borrowed or leased equipment.  If you have an IT department, there may be a significant labor component dedicated simply to network support and user maintenance.  There aremany hidden costs that sneak up on companies because they are isolated or seem individually insignificant.  There is often efficiency in combining these costs in the Cloud versus the cost for every individual user for things like:

a) Licensing
b) Software copies (like Microsoft Office)
c) Anti-virus
d) Spam filtering
e) Backup
f) Monitoring,updates and support

You have gone through the 6 steps.  You determined the need is there and the time is right to consider Cloud options.  Sharpen your pencil and get to it.  Depending on the industry and all of the applications that may be needed, a range for full Cloud outsourcing will be $125 to $250 per user per month.  Remember, that is an “all-in” estimate with hardware infrastructure, updates, maintenance, licensing and backup/recovery.   It also provides your company scalability for new users.  While calculating Cloud ROI seems like an art, the more you refine the 6 steps, it will start to become more like a science.

About us:

Net Activity, Inc. is a business-oriented  cloud, computer & telephone communication and voip phone services, company. It is our mission to make our clients business more efficient using our technology services.

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What Does Cloud Computing Cost?

Cloud Cost for Small Business

What is Cloud?

Cloud Computing is a method of delivering your applications, data, e-mail and other pieces of your network from a secure off-premise data center. With the advances in technology over the last decade and the speed/ availability of the internet, applications running on servers in a datacenter hundreds of miles away run just as fast as if they were installed on your local desktop. With Cloud, all of the processing happens on the server and multiple devices like PC, tablets and smartphones can access the information.  A simple example would be where one copy of Microsoft Office resides in the Cloud, and multiple users could be given access, even though the program does not reside on that users local device.

Many people are already familiar with Cloud Storage, such as iCloud or Dropbox.  This is also a secure off-premise datacenter which is dedicated solely to the storage of data which can be accessed by multiple users on any device.  In Cloud Storage solutions, there are typically no applications loaded and thus no processing occurs.

What does Cloud Cost?

As with most things in life it depends. You can calculate Cloud Cost based on the number of components & usage, servers, storage needed, processor needed, ram needed, and applications needed; as you can guess the list goes on.   Let’s look it from one simple angle of per user based Cloud Cost.

Cloud Cost components:

• Server infrastructure
• Emails solution
• MS-Office (most users need it)
• Sync software to link user BYOD Device data to Cloud Data
• Terminal Server based Cloud seat or Virtual Desktop
• Antivirus
• Spam filtering
• Backup & Disaster Recovery
• Server support and monitoring 24×7
• Workstation support
• Support at client premise

Depending on the components included our experience shows a range of $130 to $240 per user per month. In other words the 10 users Cloud Cost per month could range from $1300 to $2400, depending on exact components needed.  In this simple example, the cost eliminated on premise includes: a physical server with warranty and support, local licenses, local antivirus/spam copies, backup, disaster recovery, power and local software updates.  Also, since cloud provides   rental licenses, Cloud provides the latest updated licenses, without capital costs.

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