Which IT Solutions Are a Perfect Fit for Growing Businesses?
Growing businesses face a unique collection of challenges. There is never enough time in the day, your budget only goes so far, and opportunities for growth are often coupled with overwhelming demands on your company’s resources. IT systems can help small and medium-sized business (SMB) leaders to manage growing pains more effectively, but only 18% of SMB leaders feel confident in their ability to implement technologies in a strategic manner1.
If selected carefully, IT solutions truly can help to reduce strain on growing businesses. In particular, the cloud-based services referred to “as-a-service” solutions are perfectly tailored to the needs of growing businesses. Common solutions in this category include:
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): IaaS refers to on-demand computing, storage, and networking resources that can be accessed via the internet.
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): SaaS refers to specific software applications that be accessed through the internet rather than by installing the programs directly onto your devices.
- Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS): Also termed virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), DaaS is also accessed via the internet but includes a full suite of applications that together make up an employee’s desktop.
Not only are these services delivered in the cloud, but they are managed by an IT services provider that will handle maintenance and regular updates. To understand why these cloud-based, as-a-service solutions are such a great fit for growing businesses, it is helpful to evaluate them in relation to critical factors for such businesses: cost, IT expertise, time investment, flexibility, and scalability.
Make Efficient Use of Smaller Budgets
In an investigation of barriers to adoption of new technologies by SMBs, the most frequently cited barrier—reported by 68% of leaders—was budget constraints2. Solutions like SaaS and IaaS are more affordable for smaller businesses because their pay-as-you-go pricing means that you only pay for the amount of licensing or data your business needs. Because payment is proportioned according to usage, growing businesses can obtain top-grade software and cloud computing resources with less expense compared to the equivalent on-premises software and hardware.
No Need for IT Expertise
Growing businesses typically have limited IT capacities, and in many cases, they lack an IT department altogether. On average, SMB leaders fulfil the responsibilities of 3 to 4 organizational roles2, which often includes IT management roles. As-a-service solutions are a great fit when IT expertise is lacking or in short supply, because they do not require that you set up and maintain complicated networking and hardware. If you know how to connect your device to the internet, you have the requisite level of IT expertise to set up and maintain IaaS, SaaS, or DaaS environments.
Time-Saving Implementation & Maintenance
For leaders of SMBs, insufficient time is one of the top 3 constraints on business growth2. This makes the fast and convenient nature of as-a-service solutions attractive to time-strapped leaders. Because applications, storage, computing, and networking are accessible through the internet, the setup process is just a matter of logging in. In addition, the service provider takes care of patches and updates for you, taking another time-consuming task off your to-do list.
Access Business Data Anywhere, Any Time
SMB leaders put in heavy hours, which is easier to manage if you can work from anywhere. DaaS or VDI solutions make this possible, providing users with their full desktop experience on any device and from any location with an internet connection. VDI solutions also allow growing businesses to offer remote or hybrid work, which has become essential for staying competitive in a tough job market.
Scale Usage Level Easily
With a growing business, it is important to be prepared for increases in demand while also keeping your costs as low as possible. Reflecting the difficulty of striking this balance, 50% of SMB leaders cited scaling technology as a major challenge to growth for the next 2 years2.
With SaaS and VDI, you can quickly and easily increase the number of software licenses without buying and installing new software; you just contact your service provider and submit a request. Similarly, IaaS data usage can be expanded with short notice, allowing you to quickly jump on growth opportunities that require greater computing power.
On the other hand, seasonal downturns or unexpected drops in business require downward scaling, which is just as quick and easy to accomplish. Because as-a-service solutions are subscription-based, you have the freedom to decrease usage levels as needed to control costs. This helps growing business leaders to avoid paying for unused software licenses and hardware, which is always a risk with on-premises deployments.
Offering a variety of cloud-based solutions including SaaS, DaaS/VDI, and IaaS, NexusTek supports SMBs to implement IT infrastructure that is tailor-made for growth.
Are you interested in exploring IT solutions for your growing business?
References:
- (2019). Tech buying trends among small and medium-size businesses. https://www.comptia.org/content/research/smb-technology-buying-trends
- (2019). Small & medium business trends report. https://www.salesforce.com/content/dam/web/en_gb/www/pdf/smb/salesforce-research-smb-trends-report-3.pdf