All technologies and processes work their way through a life cycle – it’s just the way things are. Some technologies, like popular airplane models, manage to stave off obsolescence. Others, like the latest iPhone, which will probably be old news by the time you finish reading these words. The gizmos and procedures that our parents relied on to run their small businesses are simply not the standard anymore, and that’s okay. The last century of small business paved the way for the tech-powered pioneers of the 21st Century.
Picture the technology and practices that your parents knew – and probably the ones you learned in college too – as one of the great basketball players of the distant past, a time when three-pointers were a gimmick and slam dunks were a rarity reserved for the occasional freakishly tall player. Now picture modern professional services as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or any other current NBA great. There’s nothing wrong with the guy from the 1960s, but Russell Westbrook would blow his mind.
Let’s take a look at a few professional services and how they stack up against their outdated counterparts.
Professional Services vs. The Filing Cabinet
Data storage is currently easier than it’s ever been. Cloud storage has grown to be one of the most common IT solutions on the market in just a few years. Businesses that embrace cloud migration have been able to do away with old storage systems. The ability to store unlimited amounts of data in a virtual space is incredible in and of itself. The fact that this storage space is hosted off-site, is accessible from anywhere, and is as secure as possible is just a bonus.
Compare this to the traditional filing cabinet that every business used to have. The cloud can store infinitely more files. It requires a password instead of a physical key, and doesn’t occupy any physical space in your office. Not even more recent storage techniques can measure up to cloud storage. If you’re still using filing cabinets or cluttering up the office with backup hard drives, you’re behind the curve.
Professional Services vs. Armies of Temps and Interns
The entire point of technology in the workplace is to better equip your employees while saving time and money. Software as a service manages to do all three.
Software as a service (SaaS) is when a third party, like a managed service provider, hosts software using their own infrastructure and makes it available to your business digitally. This can include a wide range of software, and the service can scale to fit the needs of your staff. Before software as a service, a growing company would have to bring in temporary workers to cover specific duties. Overburdened employees were responsible for functions that are now easy to automate.
With professional services, a well-run business has no ceiling and won’t be hindered by the archaic technology and business practices of the past. There are countless solutions besides the few mentioned here, and any combination of them could be what your business needs to thrive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. If your business is using mom and pop technology instead of cutting-edge solutions, it’s time for a change. We’d love to talk about what the RedNight team can do for your business – we just need you to get the conversation rolling.