A recent independent survey on current cloud adoption trends* found that CIOs (Chief Information Officers) tend to have similar fears when it comes to adopting cloud computing. Their top 3 are,

• poor user experience due to performance bottlenecks,
• the resulting impact on brand reputation and loyalty, and
• revenue loss due to non-availability, poor performance or cloud service troubleshooting costs.

They are concerned that even with a 99.9% uptime guarantee,that could mean several hours of downtime yearly which could have a real impact on their business.

However, if you operate on premise software are you any better off? Do you have any guarantees that that hardware or software won’t fail you either?  What penalty reimbursement can you expect from your vendor? Are you actually any better off than on the cloud?

Stoppages in high profile companies like Amazon, Apple and Microsoft get lots of publicity but businesses that run on premise software have stoppages too!  Around the same time last month that Amazon Web Services experienced a major glitch in its service, so did NASDAQ – a $20 trillion business – who use on premise solutions.  They experienced a 3 hour outage and within two hours trading had stopped on over 2,000 stocks.

So is this really about the problems experienced by cloud users, or is it about the reputation and integrity of cloud providers delivering a top notch service?

We think that many customers who experience issues with cloud deployments really need to be doing their homework and reading the small print on their vendor of choice. Questions to ask are;

–        what they are being offered in terms of Service Level Agreements

–         what security, back-up and redundancy

SAP, who have been in the market for over 40 years, fully understands that it has to deliver a world-class solution that doesn’t cause bottlenecks, ensures high availability, high performance and excellent trouble-shooting capabilities; and this is what they have done with the solution SAP Business ByDesign, a cloud ERP solution.

Like many vendors SAP offers a guaranteed uptime; SAP’s is 99.995% uptime for its cloud services.  SAP’s data centres in Walldorf and nearby St. Leon-Rot process not only the company’s own data – which alone would more than justify their existence – but also data belonging to many of SAP’s cloud customers. These companies entrust SAP with their information and expect it to be processed more securely and reliably in an SAP data centre than in a customer-operated server park.

The key to success lies in the robust design of every individual component and especially in the redundancy of all critical components. This ensures that SAP can count on its “brain” at any time, and so can all SAP customers that use cloud applications running in the data centres.

The data centre is connected to two separate grid sectors operated by the local utility company. If one sector were to fail, then the second one will ensure that power is still supplied.

In addition, the data centre has 13 diesel generators, which are housed in a separate building. Together, they can produce a total of 29 megawatts, an output that is sufficient to cover the data centre’s electricity demand in an emergency

Experts from the German technical service association TÜV and auditors from KPMG, for example, regularly inspect the data center technology to verify its compliance with ISO, ISAE, SSAE, and similar standards.

But additionally SAP works with vendors such as Intel, with whom they’ve been working for 15 years to ensure that the hardware platform on which they are delivering their solution works as it should, is trustworthy and reliable.

So customers who are looking for cloud ERP services, and who understand the need to undertake due diligence, would do well to look at SAP Business ByDesign a solution that has a reputation for delivery second to none in the market from an organisation who takes the management of its data centres extremely seriously.

*( commissioned by Compuware and discussed on VentureBeat http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/01/the-cloud-grows-up-in-the-enterprise-and-so-do-cios-concerns),

Isn’t it brilliant to be able to say “it’s been a great summer”?  The British & Irish Lions beat Australia in Australia a fantastic feat; then England won the Ashes against Australia here in the UK.  Chris Froome won the Tour de France, Mo Farah won two gold medals at the World Athletic Championships in Moscow.  And let’s not forget Andy Murray won Wimbledon.

There’s also been big money changing hands, whether it’s football players in the transfer window or Vodafone selling its stake in Verizon.

There have probably been other notable achievements over the summer, but relying on brain power alone to remember all that’s happened isn’t very reliable.  Neither is running your business using excel spreadsheets and your memory.

From a business perspective do you know whether it’s been a good summer?  Are your profits up? Which campaign worked best for you? Which product/solution was your top seller?

If you could answer those questions straight off pound to a penny you’re using an ERP system to manage your business.  If you couldn’t answer the questions and use your gut instinct to assess the health of your business then you’re probably in dire need of an ERP system.

Why an ERP system?  Well it unites all the areas of your business, giving you a 360^o view of the company, consolidates all the information your business needs and produces reports to give you up to date information on which to base strategic decisions.

Historically ERP systems have been very expensive to implement both financially and from a time standpoint.  Now with the advent of cloud solutions, they are much more cost effective and quicker to deploy.

Solutions such as SAP’s Business ByDesign offer companies the ability to deploy an integrated solution and pay a monthly subscription.  SAP Business ByDesign, developed specifically for the SME market, enables businesses to join up all their customer touch points and thereby deliver excellent customer service.  It enables companies to benefit from a 360^o degree view of their business processes through finance, marketing, human resources, procurement, supplier and customer relationship management greatly enhancing their ability to make decisions based on accurate, up to the minute data.

Many small businesses are now switched on to the benefits of looking after their customers using a CRM tool – but sadly many are also disappointed. Why? What is it about the system thathas not delivered what they had anticipated? Often it’s because the business did not have a clear idea of how that tool was going to be used over time as things get more complex. We don’t always anticipate what the future holds! But by then we’re tied into an application that doesn’t fit.

However, businesses are now waking up to the fact that a well-deployed CRM system actually links into the complete business process – giving a better total picture. That means first classcustomer service which allows all kinds of flexibility like changes to product development based on customer feedback. When businesses tailor their processes to the application they get the most out of their CRM system.

The advent of cloud technology means small businesses are free to make new investments in CRM systems which might not have been possible before due to cost – no need to be once bitten twice shy!

And if you still need convincing – here are some benefits from investing in cloud CRM over on-premise systems:

1. Pay monthly subscription fee vs one off fixed licence fee – licence can be turned off if its not delivering
2. No new hardware required to deploy the solution
3. All back-up, security etc is undertaken by the supplier
4. Quite often there is no need for an IT manager to manage the solution
5. Upgrades are more seamless

These benefits mean businesses can concentrate on what they do best – growing.

What’s more – cloud CRM is typically quicker and more agile to implement.

The add-ons are fantastic too, like mobile applications that enable access to the system 24/7. Imagine your sales people on the road having up-to-date information on a client before attending a meeting? That means more time to focus on the client relationship.

Rebecca Wetteman, Vice President of Nucleus Research says “Mobile access to CRM has increased productivity by 14.6 per cent on average, making mobile access a must have for new deployments”.

Based on a survey of 223 CRM decisions-makers Nucleus Research found the return on investment (ROI) of Cloud CRM was 1.7 times the ROI of traditional on-premise deployments.

So businesses can make changes over time as their processes change – that is the real benefit of cloud based CRM.

Many SMBs would love to say to “yes” to this question, but are held back by concerns over adopting cloud technologies, feeling that if their technology is on premise that they are in control.

However, in many instances their on premise software is actually holding back their growth.  Many businesses run their business critical processes on disparate systems; with much of the information they use in spreadsheet format.  SMBs are also leaving decisions about what software they should be using for accounting, customer relationship management, marketing in the hands of the IT Manager who invariably doesn’t understand the needs of each specific department from a business perspective.

Business Managers need to be making decisions about implementing software that offers them best practice processes, in order that businesses can grow and keep up with their competition.

An independent review of UK SMBs published this month by Microsoft found that:

o          78 percent of SMBs have reinvested money saved as a result of moving to the cloud in areas such as customer service, marketing, and expanding into new markets.

o          Investing in product development and innovation (35 percent) was cited as the main savings reinvestment for SMBs that have adopted the cloud.

o          Fewer internal IT resources needed (58 percent) and time saved managing IT (49 percent) were considered the biggest benefits of cloud services by SMBs.

o          Since moving to the cloud, 68 percent of SMBs said they have saved money. 78 percent of SMBs have used their savings to fund activities that benefit and grow their businesses:  35 percent have invested in product development and innovation, 34 percent have invested in customer service,  32 percent have invested in marketing

Wouldn’t it be great if all SMBs could be reinvesting in their businesses?  Cloud technologies offer the SMB the opportunity to divest themselves of out of date on premise technology, cost effectively as there is no need for new costly hardware or long implementations.

From a business perspective a solution that enables companies to benefit from a 360^o degree of their processes through finance, marketing, human resources, procurement, supplier and customer relationship management greatly enhances their ability to make decisions based on accurate, up to the minute data.

Software such as SAP’s Business ByDesign offers companies the ability to deploy an integrated solution and pay a monthly subscription, allowing them to accurately forecast their IT needs with no hidden extras.

When you first started your business you were in control, you knew everything that was going on.  You had few customers, not much data and had few automation requirements.

You may have started out with a small accounts package, managing your data in excel spreadsheets, or you may have implemented basic Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) software.  Whichever route you chose it was OK it just about met your needs.  You could get reports out of the system even if it wasn’t too flexible.  And you still had some manual processes but that too was OK, you were small and could accommodate those requirements.

Now your business is growing it is becoming increasingly more difficult to know everything and it feels as though you’re spinning plates, or fighting fires all the time.

You have many more customers and employees, many more orders and much more data.  You have more complex processes which you need to automate.

As your business grows you need greater visibility to what is going on within the company.  You need access to data, anywhere, anytime.

By the time you’ve realised that you’re not getting the visibility you need, your business may already be suffering from reduced productivity and lost opportunities.

So what are the warning signs?  Perhaps your system can’t keep up, or you have data inaccuracy or, slow order delivery, or customer complaints or time consuming manual processes.  You could be suffering from one or all these problems.

So what should you do?  Come and listen to Caroline Atkinson, Director of In Cloud Solutions, talk about  “Building a structure and format to grow your business” at The British Business Show, ExCel London on Thursday, 6^th June, Hall 15 at 2 o’clock.-

This will probably be the best 30 minutes you will spend at the show.

Your small business has a potential gold mine of customer data.  It is probably located in multiple disparate places within the company; such as in the sales, marketing and finance departments.  As a business do you know the value of this information?  Do your staff regularly update the information?  Do you have the means to collect and use this vital information?

Every time your company has contact with a customer this represents an opportunity to learn more not only to ensure you provide first-class customer service but also enhance the profit gained from each customer.  As a business you must take advantage of this opportunity or a competitor will.

Central collection and analysis of this vital data can help you keep ahead of your competitors but there are other benefits too such as:

• Cross-selling opportunities at lower costs
• Improved customer satisfaction and retention
• Identifying best and most profitable clients
• Enhance company marketing and sales practices

Maximising profits from your customers need not be a monumental task.  Being able to pulling this information together in one place would simplify the task.  However, start small and build momentum.

Review your in-house IT strategy to make sure you have the best solution possible for your business.  It is possible that your current systems don’t talk to one another and are unable to provide a cohesive view of your customer.  If this is the case, look in the marketplace for a solution that will enable you to start small and build that momentum; one that offers the ability to start with a  customer relations management (CRM) solution and then expand into something that offers a 360^O view of not only your customer but also your business.

What is key is that this data is regularly maintained and used to its full extent.  With the advent of cloud solutions it is easier to enable sales people on the road to access in-house information and to add data from the road.

Adding CRM software has been said to be like adding another employee without the cost while increasing company productivity and sales. What could be better?

SMEs are quietly optimistic that their businesses will grow in 2013 despite tough ongoing market conditions.  This is great news for the UK economy as according to the Federation for Small Businesses at the start of 2012.

o     SMEs accounted for 99.9 per cent of all private sector businesses in the UK

o     SMEs employed 14.1 million people and had a combined turnover of £1,500 billion

American Express’s UK Small Business Barometer found that across Great Britain 51 per cent of small business owners interviewed thought their business would grow in the coming 12 months and according to a survey by the ECI, 78% of high growth SMEs plan to hire more staff and 48% are preparing to invest in R&D and new products.

Figures released by ONS in January showed year-on-year employment growth of 552,000 backing up the ECI survey.

As Keith Alderson, managing director of Corporate and Business Banking at The Co-operative Bank points out, “SMEs and entrepreneurs are widely acknowledged as vital to Britain’s economic recovery so these results are good news as we head into 2013.”

According to the survey by the ECI, 78% of high growth SMEs plan to hire more staff and 48% are preparing to invest in R&D and new products

So 2013 certainly looks set to be successful for SME’s in the UK. Now is the time for SME’s to invest, innovate and expand their businesses to establish themselves as market leaders; but American Express’s UK Small Business Barometer also found that the vast majority of SMEs– 76 per cent – are heavily relying on word-of-mouth to attract new customers, therefore having a good customer service experience will be key in driving future growth.

At the same time that SMEs are looking to invest in R&D and new products they also need to look at that their business processes to ensure they are joined up.  It is imperative that these processes can deliver that first-class customer service needed for growth.

Solutions such as SAP Business ByDesign, developed specifically for the SME market, enable businesses to join up all their customer touch points and thereby deliver excellent customer service.

About the author:

Kim Board-Allam, Sales & Marketing Manager at In Cloud Solutions Limited

For more information on how SAP Business ByDesign can help your business, please visit www.incloudsolutions.co.uk.

A new global study by workplace provider Regus highlights that British office culture is detrimental to the health and home lives of many workers and that too few employers are backing up rhetoric on flexible working with real action.

Many businesses will not see this as a problem for them and will continue to stick rigidly to their 9 – 5.30 working day; expecting employees to be present during these times.  However, businesses do need to sit up and take note as the study also shows that three quarters of office workers (74%) now believe that flexible working makes them more productive.  84% believe that giving staff a choice of work location and hours improves loyalty to their employer and, ultimately, staff retention.

Steve Purdy, UK Managing Director at Regus, comments “With all the talk about flexible working, it is surprising that so many company cultures seem out of kilter with the rhetoric. They don’t seem to realise the win-win benefits that flexible working can bring on both the employee and company side.

For many small to medium businesses (SMEs) the headache of managing flexible working practices and having processes and systems in place to support the regime are not worth the effort.

However, flexible practices actually bring huge benefits to organisations which are growing such as:

• Savings on office costs and other operating expenses through an office-sharing environment
• Circumventing geographical limits and increasing the hiring pool through flexible and  remote work options

So, how do businesses adopt a culture to support flexible working, they need to look at their infrastructure and capability to support their business operations.

The growth of Cloud technologies has helped  businesses to adopt a more flexible working culture without losing the control and visibility they need to grow.   With the ability to pay as you go, not invest in major infrastructure in-house, have real-time data available any time, businesses are finding the jump to the cloud a question of when not if.

One such solution, SAP Business ByDesign, has been experiencing rapid growth in uptake.  It offers the SME a complete, integrated suite that can run their whole enterprise – financials, human resources, sales, procurement, customer service, and supply chain via the cloud.  At the same time employees can access business functionality and analytics anytime, anywhere with a broad range of mobile devices.  Delivering them the ability to provide flexible working practices in these changing times but still allowing them to keep control of their processes.

To see how SAP Business ByDesign could help your business become more flexible watch the following demonstration:  SAP Business ByDesign

For more information on how SAP Business ByDesign can help your business, please visit www.incloudsolutions.co.uk

More than a million SME’s are facing late payments in the UK as evidenced by research undertaken by BACS in July 2012 and confirmed by additional research undertaken by Aldermore Bank.

“Late payments are a continuing drain on small and medium sized business owners in the UK. It’s critically important, at a time when we’re looking for SMEs to drive the economy out of recession, that they are freed from the shackles of late payments” says Damon Walford, Managing Director of Aldermore Invoice Finance.

The research also showed that SMEs typically have to wait 43.4 days beyond payment terms before an invoice is settled.  Additionally a UK SME will spend almost 14 days a year chasing debt; this means that delayed invoice settlement will cost smaller UK business around £700 million in 2012.

For SMEs the pressure of chasing debt on their business is huge, with 35% of those surveyed said that late payment of up to just £20,000 would be enough to put them out of business.

Mike Hutchinson from BACS said “We urge SMEs to look at taking control over their cash flow wherever they can be automating payments where possible to save valuable time and administration costs”.

Although this is a good starting point SMEs need to be doing more than just automating payments they need to be taking control of their business processes to make sure they are invoicing their customers correctly on time, taking advantage of earlier payments from suppliers, managing employees expenses more effectively and to do all this they need to have a total visibility within their business.

Whilst they may have this information in a finance package, it is often not integrated with their billing, procurement and expenses systems.  This means that at month-end, financial departments often have a view which is not the true view and can be up to weeks old.   What SMEs need is a real-time view of their cash flow, so that they can make the right decisions at the right time.

They need software that is integrated to give them a 360^o view of what is going on.  They need to be planning & projecting what their cash flow is going to be year-on year, quarter-on-quarter, week by week and if necessary day-to-day.  An accurate cash flow projection can alert businesses to trouble well before it strikes.

Using more sophisticated joined up software to centrally manage and control payables and receivables, automate payment and clearing processes, quickly and efficiently create and file tax returns, organisations gain real-time visibility data enables organisation to become more nimble and efficient and at the same time  enhancing their cash flow.

Companies looking at managing their cashflow more efficiently are looking at SAP’s Business ByDesign.  A fully integrated business solution offering support for a company’s business processes and delivered as a service providing a cost-effective solution with no need for hefty capital investment.

SAP Business ByDesign provides you with timely and accurate visibility into your cash inflows and outflows so you can make sound cash management decisions.  It enables you to analyse and forecast liquidity using real-time data reporting. It also provides complete transparency into every financial transaction with full audit trails, approvals, and document flows.

To see how SAP Business ByDesign could help your business watch the following demonstration:  SAP Business ByDesign

For more information on how SAP Business ByDesign can help your business, please visit www.incloudsolutions.co.uk

The start of 2013 brings more misery to train travellers with rail fares for season ticket holders increasing by an average of 4.2%.  Is this the year that employees say enough is enough?

Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC and chairwoman of Action for Rail, said: “At a time when real wages are falling and household budgets are being squeezed, rail travellers are being forced to endure yet another year of inflation-busting fare increases.

The TUC has claimed average train fares have risen nearly three times faster than average incomes since 2008.

Many employees will feel that they have no choice but to change jobs with this continued pressure on their earnings.

The loss of seasoned employees on small to medium businesses (SMBs) may potentially have significant impact.   A recent study from the Center for American Progress showed that for all jobs earning less than $50,000 per year the average cost of replacing an employee amounts to 20 percent of the person’s annual salary.

Can UK SMB’s afford to lose staff because of inflexible working practices?  Is 2013 the year when SMBs review their IT strategy with a view to allowing more of their staff to work from home by utilising cloud technologies?

Not only are employers likely to see an increase in productivity from staff working remotely they will also achieve additional benefits.    Decision makers will have a greater freedom of choice in how the services they require are obtained, cloud technologies help to reduce IT costs, they help organisations be more efficient and businesses can pay as they go – many SMBs are cash-strapped, and having a heavy capital outlay for IT infrastructure can cripple investment elsewhere

According to forbes.com 74% of small-medium businesses expect to use cloud services next year. They are also mobilizing their workforce. This can increase remote worker productivity by 72%.

By opting for something in “the cloud” businesses can make their data available to many users wherever they are, at work, on the go or even at home.

Cloud solutions such as SAP’s Business ByDesign allow employers to provide employees with up-to-the minute information wherever they are working.  And with the mobile application for smart phones such as iPhone and Blackberry information is available even when they are on the move.

SMBs really should consider taking the plunge and implementing cost-effective, efficient cloud solutions to aid their growth plans and to ensure staff retention.

About the author…

Caroline Atkinson is Director of Business Development at In Cloud Solutions. For more information on how SAP ByDesign can help your business, please visit https://www.incloudsolutions.co.uk/

Caroline Atkinson

Mobile: +44 (0)7923 495647