For any small business, cash flow is a constant concern. This can be a particular problem when it comes to expensive infrastructure requirements, such as IT. Every business relies on some amount of IT infrastructure to support its operations and serve customers. No matter what service or product you provide, you have some portion of your business operations dependent on an IT infrastructure.
The problem small firms face is that their small scale makes it cost-prohibitive to build and maintain a really robust, secure, and sufficiently monitored infrastructure and network. The fixed costs necessary to build an optimal IT infrastructure is often beyond the reach of smaller businesses. As a consequence, they will spend enough to superficially support their operations, hoping to get by until they become large enough to support a fully supported and redundant operation.
However, “getting by” is not an ideal model for success. And it can be pretty nerve-wracking for an owner/operator. This is where the advent of the cloud has really changed the business paradigm. Small firms no longer have to wait to “grow up” to operate with a fully-supported infrastructure. The cloud is essentially a method to share with other organizations the fixed costs of hardware, software, and support. For example, if you were to hire in-house support to provide 24/7 monitoring and support, that would mean at least three full-time salaries to watch over a very small infrastructure.
However necessary 24/7 support might be, it can’t be justified in a small operation. But with the cloud, a business shares that expense with others. The cloud represents a major breakthrough for cutting the high fixed costs of an IT infrastructure. Small firms that have any IT infrastructure should look seriously about moving some or all of their hardware, software, and monitoring support to the cloud.
Sticking with the “in-house” model just doesn’t make economic sense in an extremely competitive global environment. It is time to move on.