Are the Cloud Applications a better option ?

Experiences with Cloud Software Applications


In a conversation earlier this week with one of our customers, the discussion about their conversion to a cloud messaging environment came about.   This company, with around 200 e-mail users, migrated to Google Mail about eighteen months ago.  The individual with whom I was in conversation (who is a systems administrator for the organization) said that their experience has been good.  A key benefit for him has been that it has significantly lessened the time he spends supporting their messaging environment.  He also noted that the spam filtering is better than what they experienced with their previous messaging environment.


He (Mike), the systems administrator, is a low key person (common for that role).  As such, it was interesting to hear his enthusiasm for the use of Google Mail.  


One disadvantage that Mike pointed out is getting scanning to work properly with Google Mail.


This company has also moved to Salesforce.com for their CRM application.


As a result of moving these applications off their internal infrastructure, Mike said his time now is primarily focused on supporting their network, desktops and laptops.


This situation is playing out at many small and medium size companies across the globe. As more and more companies move to using applications that are stored and accessed by cloud service providers, the need for time administering internal servers continues to reduce at an exponential rate.


Another cloud application we see numerous small businesses use is e-mail marketing software.  Having hosted several Constant Contact training sessions over the past few quarters, I was struck by how many of the participants worked for businesses with less than ten (10) employees.  


I asked the Constant Contact trainer about this.  He said that most all of their customers are small businesses.  In fact, he said most all their clients have fewer than ten (10) employees.  Being that Constant Contact has hired numerous individuals in the past two years, this is a testament to how quickly use of this cloud application has spread to thousands of small businesses - of which we are one.


We have been using Constant Contact software for about a year.  To date, we have not found any significant limitations for our use.  For our business, it is much easier than managing an in-house software application to do this work.  We have been pleased with the functionality of the product.


This brings us to the main question for this post:  Are the Cloud Applications a better option ?


Based upon what we are seeing with our client base, our experience is that many of the cloud applications significantly ease the maintenance of software for small businesses (some who do not have any I.T. staff).  Though some large organizations have migrated to Google Mail (University of Michigan, BASF, CapGemini), the decision making is more in-depth due to data integration, security concerns, and other factors.  For our medium size clients, the due diligence does not have to be as in depth as for a Fortune 500 company, but much greater than the week or two that many small businesses spend before switching.