5 ways moving to the cloud will help your NZ business grow

So you've embarked on an expansion plan for your business - but can your IT systems grow with it? All too often, organisations consider growth plans in terms of new marketing strategies and altered financial or inventory forecasts, but they forget that their technology still need to support all this change. 

Creating IT systems to support expansion doesn't have to mean purchasing a lot of expensive software. In many instances, moving your NZ business to the cloud is an excellent way to ensure your technology can grow with your business. Here's why:

1) The cloud is scaleable

One of the principal features of the cloud is its scaleability. Unlike in the past, where you'd have to download software individually onto separate devices, with the cloud you can simply pay for more licenses as you need them. This is perfect for a company that wants to gradually scale up its IT systems as it grows. 

2) It frees up your IT team to focus on value-adds

Your software provider will take care of all the cloud maintenance and updates as part of your subscription fee. This frees up your IT team to do what they are meant to do - finding ways to increase efficiencies and add real value to your business. Finding these improvements and innovations is essential for a growing business, and moving to the cloud means your IT team will finally have the time to do this. 

3) Gives you more access to data

The cloud gives everyone much easier access to information because you're able to host all your data online. This means those with permission can see things like your accounts in real-time, and make better business decisions as a result.

The improved access to information that you get with the cloud is one of its principal benefits - it helps to level the playing field for smaller businesses that wouldn't have been able to access this amount of data in the past. 

4) Allows for easier collaboration

Cloud-based storage such as Google Drive means several people can collaborate on the same document at once. This is great for businesses where staff are frequently on the move and for companies looking to expand into new locations, especially those considering a move abroad. This will help to increase productivity as well, because you won't be waiting for lots of different people in other time zones to email documents through. 

5) Improves communication

The cloud isn't just there to host files. You can now put your communication systems on the cloud via Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) software. This does away with traditional legacy phone systems where you communicate through the phone line. UCaaS hosts all your communications via the internet, and you only pay for the UCaaS subscription and your internet fees. This means no more high calling charges when you're trying to reach people abroad. 

UCaaS also helps with the collaboration aspect - improved communication means people can talk to each other and discuss things as they make edits to documents in real-time. This is all excellent news for businesses looking to expand into new locations. 

Are you considering expansion for your NZ business? BDO can help. Our BDODrive service brings together all of our advisory services, helping businesses to assess exactly where they're at today in order to find growth opportunities tomorrow. This includes help with moving to the cloud, as well as a variety of other areas, such as exit planning, forecasting and KPIs, and wealth management. Contact us today for more information.