Smaller businesses, like yours, use technology differently than larger organizations. You rely more on commercially available solutions than custom-built or highly-customized solutions. You are held to the same security standards as larger companies, but you lack the expertise and budget of bigger businesses. Rightsizing your IT means carefully matching your IT services to your needs, priorities, and budget. This is key to keeping your services productive, secure, and affordable.
In Part 1, we discussed the unique IT challenges you face as sole practitioners, solopreneurs, or very small business (VSB) owners and leaders. In Part 2, we dive into the process of rightsizing your IT.
1
Pick the Right Productivity Suite
Think beyond just email and calendars; focus on how you communicate and share information with your clients, customers, contractors, and vendors. Do you send and share documents? What CRM and financial apps do you use? Do you rely on and use any industry-specific software locally or in the cloud?
While other platforms exist, some at lower costs, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer the most comprehensive platforms for small business productivity, communications, and collaboration. Microsoft and Google promote different philosophies:
- Microsoft 365 works best as a hybrid solution, with full-featured software running locally, slim web versions, and a range of integrated apps, such as planning, bookings, and PowerBI.
- Google promotes a cloud-first approach. Focused on core communication and collaboration, Google expects you will select and integrate cloud-based (Software as a Solution / SaaS) business apps to meet your specific needs. Google is designed to serve as your identity manager, providing integrated access to your cloud apps and services.
Consider the business apps and systems you use and how you want them to work with your productivity suite. Your line of business and back-office apps can guide whether Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace is the best fit for your IT ecosystem and your business.
2
Avoid Duplicate Services
Both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are robust productivity suites. And yet, we often opt to purchase additional solutions out of convenience even though we already have similar features at our fingertips. The most commonly duplicate services across our smaller business clients are:
- Meeting services
- External file sharing
- Generative AI
- AI assistant tools (transcription, note taking, etc.)
Learning to use your existing features and capabilities negates the need to spend money on – and manage – additional solutions. You can easily overcome concerns by ensuring you and your team know how to use the features you need. For example, when scheduling a meeting with a client, you might say, “I will send you a Google Meet invite, or if you prefer Zoom, you can send the invite.”
Note that features may vary based on your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace subscription. You may need to upgrade in order to access certain features you require. This upgrade is likely less expensive than licensing another third-party app.
3
Be Cloud Forward
For smaller businesses, the cloud offers significant advantages over on-premise solutions.
- Mobility: Securely access your systems, apps, and data, whether you are in the office, a coworking site, at home, or on the road.
- Security: Leveraging the cloud simplifies your security exposure, lowering your costs while maintaining or increasing your protections.
- Business Continuity: Cloud-based services protect you from local outages and service disruptions, reduce the number of ‘things’ that can break, and make it easier to recover when things do go wrong.
- Ease of Access: Get to work without having to jump through VPN hoops. Your access is the same, regardless of where you are working.
- Affordability: With a simpler, more secure, and integrated IT ecosystem, you pay less for the support and services you need and want.
4
Pick the Right Partner
If you are a sole practitioner, solopreneur, or VSB, most IT service providers do NOT want you as a client. Our research indicates that fewer than 10% of traditional IT and managed service providers want clients with 10 or fewer employees. Their business models require an economy-of-scale that is not viable with very small clients.
Pick an IT partner that wants your business and does not see you as an exception to their normal or preferred type of client. Look for an IT service provider that has:
- A successful history working with smaller businesses.
- Services and solutions tailored to your needs and priorities as a smaller business.
- Gives you options that let you make value-based business decisions about your IT services.
- Focuses on affordability as much as features, capabilities, and security.
How Will Cumulus Global Help?
At Cumulus Global, we truly value sole practitioners, solopreneurs, and very small businesses. We specialize in tailored solutions designed just for businesses like yours, backed by a proven track record of success.
Our top priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable Managed Cloud Services, Cloud Forward IT Service and Support, and Security CPR® Managed Security services.
We focus on how your IT services can best help your business thrive and grow without overspending.
Schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor and take your first step towards better IT for you and your business.
About the Author
Bill is a Senior Cloud Advisor responsible for helping small and midsize organizations with cloud forward solutions that meet their business needs, priorities, and budgets. Bill works with executives, leaders, and team members to understand workflows, identify strategic goals and tactical requirements, and design solutions and implementation phases. Having helped over 200 organizations successfully adopt cloud solutions, his expertise and working style ensure a comfortable experience effective change management.
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