The “cloud” has been around for a number of years now, but it really has been the past 3 or 4 that it seems everyone is cloud focused (or working to get there).
As an early adopter of cloud-based CRM, we were storing data in the cloud ten years ago – 12 years ago. It has been more lately though that we are seeing every app created a piece of the cloud.
So are you more productive?
We have more applications (apps) then before – nearly an app for anything you need.
Forbes ran an article about selecting cloud computing vendors – it helps explain more about the questions you need to know to get the computing you require. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/sungardas/2014/05/28/how-to-have-a-productive-conversation-with-cloud-computing-providers/)
Productivity Increases
Cloud computing has brought collaboration among remote workers, colleagues, and business partners to the mainstream. There is no question that the ease of collaboration in 2014 and 2015 is helping businesses and making better use of everyone’s time.
In addition to collaboration, by using the cloud there is a lot of flexibility for expansion and growth. This is a boon to productivity because gradual increases offer smoother transitions.
The fact that workers can now work more remotely than ever offers productivity gains for employees, and less real-estate in office for team members. In the case of a rapidly growing company, having some workers working remotely can either cut costs for the long-term or simply for the short-term until the company grows enough for a bigger location.
From a sales tools perspective, I have seen productivity gains as well as losses. It seems that there are so many tools to help professional sellers and marketers. What I don’t see is cohesiveness, and maximizing time through better management of all of the tools. We just keep picking up more apps and web-based tools and eventually we are spending hours and hours with all of these apps.
Where is the overarching strategy to make them all come together to help us save time? I’m curious because every article like this one: 43 Mobile Sales Apps: Tools to Streamline Your Sales Ops opens up a can of worms for the sales reps and even some leaders intent on finding that latest tool to help the team.
Somehow there needs to be another layer – a concierge of sorts – to make sense of all of the data we are generating as well as curating and organizing all of the cloud based apps so we can really be more productive.
This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I've been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.
Lori Richardson is recognized on Forbes as one of the "Top 30 Social Sales Influencers" worldwide. Lori speaks, writes, trains, and consults with inside sales teams in mid-sized companies. Subscribe to the award-winning blog and the “Sales Ideas In A Minute” newsletter for sales strategies, tactics, and tips. Increase Opportunities. Expand Your Pipeline. Close More Deals.
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