It has never been this difficult to run a small and midsize business. The biggest reason is that the shrinking world has brought the biggest players to even the most local markets and it has become extremely difficult for small companies to compete.
One of the allies that they have in this highly competitive world is cloud-based call center software, which allows them to access fantastic solutions at affordable prices. According to the latest surveys, the percentage of small and midsize businesses (SMBs) that use certain cloud-based services is on the rise, but there are still many who are refusing.Unfortunately, there are still a huge number of SMB owners who believe in certain myths that prevent them from taking full advantage of cloud call center solutions.
We have identified the top 3 myths that prevent SMBs from Moving to Cloud:
Myth 1: It Will Complicate Things for My Employees
Small business owners know that they cannot disrupt their day-to-day operations for too long; otherwise their revenue might drop dramatically. For a relatively large number of SMB owners, cloud-based solutions often seem very advanced and complicated, especially when compared to the legacy software, that they had been using for years. One of their main concerns is that their employees will find it difficult to switch to these new solutions.
However, the reality is quite the opposite as new cloud-based software is often far less complex than the old solutions, simply because this is the way enterprise software has advanced over the years. As new technologies has become cheaper and more advanced, enterprise software has only become more user-centric.
There are certain cloud-based transitions that can be more complex and that might require an outside partner to set up. However, for the majority of the practical stuff, switching to cloud will actually make things simpler, while enabling employees to be more efficient and productive.
Myth 2: It Will Compromise My Data Security
For a long time, security concerns were the most common reason cited by companies for not switching to the cloud. Recently, as pointed out in RightScale’s report on cloud trends, security has finally been replaced as the biggest challenge facing the industry.
Regardless, the number of people who think that cloud-based services and practices are inherently not secure – is still a big one. SMB owners are also among those people and this is a myth that is preventing a lot of them from taking some of their systems to the cloud.
The reason why we are calling it a myth is that cloud-based services are being audited for security vulnerabilities, far more often than the more traditional, desktop-based solutions. The developers and the vendors know very well that unless their customers and clients are provided when it comes to security and privacy, that they will have no customers.
It is also a well-known fact that the vast majority of all data breaches and other cybersecurity issues are caused by human error and this has nothing to do with the cloud. Simply put, these are people who mess up when it comes to cyber security and, taking some of the access away from non-essential personnel by switching to the cloud, can actually improve a SBMs cybersecurity practice.
Myth 3: It Will Be One Problem after Another
We are again coming back to the problem of losing uptime, which is an understandable fear among small business owners. Simply put, they cannot afford to be non-functional for any long periods of time and many SMB owners believe that cloud-based solutions will cost them valuable workhours by being unavailable or by experiencing other types of problems.
The reality couldn’t be any further from this. With cloud technology, SMBs are actually utilizing solutions and technologies that would have been unavailable to them the more traditional way. In essence, they are being provided with services and technological solutions that used to be reserved for the biggest corporations.
Furthermore, the cloud service providers give their customers guarantees, that ensure your employees will never encounter problems that will put their work in jeopardy.
Also, we need to be realistic here. How many timeshave one or more of your employees wasted time with obsolete computers and ancient software that was not cloud-based? It is not like the traditional solutions have been paragons of reliability.
Closing Words
It is important to see these myths for what they are – stubbornly held beliefs that prevent you from reaping the benefits of switching at least some of your SMB operation to the cloud.
The cloud is not a fad. It is the way in which business is being done in the 21st century and you simply cannot afford to be stuck in the 20th.
James D. Burbank has been involved in the world of SMBs for more than 15 years now and he has seen innumerable practices taking place, both smart and not so smart. He is the editor-in-chief at a business-oriented blog called BizzMarkBlog.
