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Is Cloud Hosting the Best IT Solution for Your Business?

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If you are a small business without dedicated IT resources, you need to plan carefully what and when you move to the cloud.

Moving email and collaboration to the cloud is a no brainer small business. It is easy to outsource the setup and management of this solution for a very low monthly cost.

Considerations for moving computing to the cloud need to be evaluated on a case by case basis.  Make sure you look at the hard and soft cost of moving to the cloud.

Whether it’s being able to access a rich ecosystem of supportive apps or having immediate knowledge of your finances, the cloud can offer a wealth of benefits.

At Results Matter Cloud Services, it’s important to us that our clients have the support and knowledge they need as they make decisions and upgrade their IT infrastructure.

With our customer support focus, we will provide your company with the resources and knowledge of our industry experts so you can achieve more with your transition.  When you are ready reach out to learn more.

Restaurants: Consider Going Cashless

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What will the impact be if you go cashless in your restaurant?  You could consider providing incentives for customers to go cashless if you don’t want to force the change.

Mark Freeman, Senior Manager of Global Dining Services, Microsoft asked, “Will they use it? Will i provided a superior experience?”  This goes back to 2013 and is not controversial to today’s consumers.

The proof was in the numbers.  The app increased cafeteria traffic by 24% compared to the three years previous and the average check increased between 14$ to 18%.

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Encouraging and Enabling Collaboration in the Modern Workplace

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Is your IT department the gatekeeper or the enabler of collaboration? All too often, IT falls into the trap of giving permission to use productivity tools instead of finding out what employees need to work together better, then facilitating those capabilities.

In this article, the author poses the important question: “Are we the gatekeeper to employees collaborating or are we enablers and champions?” and discusses the benefits of moving IT to an enabler-focused mentality.

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What is Your Business Continuity Plan?

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Did you know, 40% of small businesses in the US never open their doors after a disaster? That’s a big number considering most small business owners not only rely solely on their business as a means of income, they also are emotionally attached to their business since it provides a way to present their skills to the world.

So if their business is so important to them, then why are many small business owners not doing enough to protect it from disasters? In a 2015 survey of 300 small businesses in Calgary, 47% of businesses said they do not have a business continuity or contingency plan in place. That’s a big number considering this survey was conducted not long after the 2013 floods.

Now, while no business would want to get hit by unexpected disasters, it does not mean that owners should not plan for them either. Business Continuity planning is the similar to yearly budget planning or even better: it is like getting insurance!

Think about it: many people get life insurance because they are looking out for their family’s future in case they are no longer around. If you are one of the family earners, you secure your family by getting life insurance. While the emotional pain of you being gone can never be filled, you try to mitigate at least the financial pain by taking out life insurance for them.

This is exactly what business continuity planning does. Like I said earlier, for many small business owners, their business may be the only source of income for them and they build an emotional attachment to this business and just like we do to our loved ones.

So wouldn’t you want to protect this business from any potential disasters?

Here are some helpful links from Calgary Chamber of Commerce and Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) that you can use to start thinking about business continuity planning:

  1. CEMA’s Business Continuity Handbook
  2. Business Continuity Planning Template
  3. Reference Guide for examples

Contact us if you need some guidance on how to incorporate your IT related assets in the Business Continuity Plan.