As a prospective startup owner, you will be confronted with a lot of noise; noise emanating from billboards, TV commercials and news stories that can mislead you about how you need to start your startup. Don’t pay attention to all this. Instead, turn to the cloud.
The cloud is a great equalizer for 21st century startups. It is one of the few areas where a startup can hope to have the same privileges as large corporations.
But it is not enough for us to tell you to opt for the cloud. You must first understand what the cloud can do for you and how you can maximize the value of this platform and approach it strategically. Let us tell you what you need to do.
You can start your business by starting a cloud company. A cloud company is like your regular company minus the startup and capital expenses associated with such a venture because it does not have any physical employees in a physical office. Your requirements are taken care of by a third party vendor who helps you recruit staff and run your local office remotely.
So what does this mean for your startup?
The cloud will help you to:
Get Started
So far, we have not talked about investment. Does being on the cloud mean no investments? Of course not, but it has always have been about minimal investment. Below, we have mentioned two areas in which you need to make the most logical and minimal investment for your startup:
Operations: Plug and play solutions in terms of manpower for accounting, payroll, performance management and even physical space via a third party vendor means that there is no overhead cost but just subscription fee for the services.
Website: Once a general advice for entrepreneurs was – “have a good business card” but now it’s “have a professional website”. There is no reason why your startup’s website should not look like that of a Fortune 100 company and have a seamless look across different platforms and devices. It should provide a smooth and fluid experience irrespective of the devices it is viewed on – be it a PC, the mobile phone or a tablet. Again, your third party vendor will help you set up your website by giving you access to a world-class talent pool of web designers.
Have Flexibility
Prediction and anticipation make for one of the biggest concerns when you are starting off. Predicting and anticipating how much your company could or would grow seems to boil down to calculated risks but does it need to be that way? Thanks to the cloud, you have the flexibility to scale up or scale down your business as and when you want with a simple phone call or click of a button. A small business requires agility and flexibility to try new things, test, experiment and stretch. Starting your business on the cloud gives you this flexibility and agility. The best or often the most underrated part is the ability to scale down. This means that if your venture doesn’t work the way you thought it would, you have the option of scaling down your operations, which can be as easy as cancelling a subscription. The cloud supports a true “fail fast” startup mentality.
Have Security
Many people are apprehensive about the cloud and have misplaced fears that there data might be hacked or they might lose their intellectual property. However, there is no need to panic. Dedicated service providers or vendors who allow you to build your company on the cloud depend on their livelihood on the cloud and they would not keep such a crucial thing uncared for and invest a lot of their dollars for providing security to you. Cloud-service providers proactively look for security loopholes and deliver a secure experience, irrespective of the size of your company.
Level the playing field
The cloud is a game changer and not just a buzzword that will vanish in some time. It has managed to make resources, which were once limited to major enterprises, not only accessible but affordable also.
So, take a look at your business plan for your startup and analyze the potential obstacles. For all you know, they can be solved with the cloud.
