The Real Reason You Should Move to the Cloud

I’ve got a big secret.

It’s not a scary or creepy one, but it underlies everything I do when it comes to work and the web and it’s the main reason why I have, and you should, make the move to the cloud.

You see, a lot of people out there believe that I’m a gear-head; that technology just comes easier to me than it does to them. In fact, if I had a nickel for every client, friend and family member who started a question with, “Since I’m not a techie like you…”, I’d be retired on a beach somewhere.

The truth is that while I am a techie, I’m not one because “technology comes easier to me”. No, I’m a techie because all my life I’ve just wanted technology to be easier to use and to maintain.

Easier to Use and to Maintain

I got into technology the old-fashioned way: gaming. Yes, I’m been addicted to games since way back in junior high when my family got our first Apple 2+.

That computer and I shared a love/hate relationship.

1. I loved that computer, gray and clunky as it was. I spent hours upon hours in front of it playing game after game: solving puzzles, beating bosses, winning sporting events and becoming a hero.
2. I hated that computer with its never-ending demand for upgrades that I had to buy in order to run the latest games. Putting in memory cards and playing with the insides of the box always freaked me out – I was never sure if the thing would start up again once I made a change and, if it didn’t, I faced long hours of troubleshooting.

This experience taught me a very fundamental lesson which has shaped the rest of my life: technology is great when it works but struggling to make it work, and keep it working, can often drain both time and money.

Learning to Avoid the Struggle

I took this early lesson to heart.

You see, every time I have needed to get something done at work (like creating a presentation) or at home (like managing and keeping a budget), the first thing I do is research the available solutions and tools.

Now, while I’m pretty handy with a pencil, technology often offers the most efficient and powerful way to get the job done. With that in mind, I typically do some exhaustive research to find the solution that will work for me.

Why do I expend so much effort? Because what I look for when I evaluate any technology is a specific balance between functionality and ease-of-use. Yes, I want the solution I select to be useful but also easy-to-use, maintain and upgrade.

I learned my lesson on that old Apple 2+: technology needs to be easy to use and maintain or it will become a drain on both time and money.

My research efforts are the driver behind my reputation as a “techie”. Because, I learn A LOT about the technical solutions available, I can help others walk through the same selection process and thus, I have become a repository of knowledge on the easiest ways to get things done using technology.

But even with help, fighting the struggle continues to have a cost.

The Cost of the Struggle

For many years, the struggle to find just the right solution, one that had both the functionality needed and the ease-of-use desired, raged.

The worst part of these years for me was not my own personal struggle. Heck, I enjoy researching solutions to find just the right one (I’m just weird that way).

The worst part was watching my clients pay the cost of the struggle. Whether they were implementing a customized solution that cost millions of dollars or an off-the-shelf software solution that cost $19.95, I’ve seen millions if not billions of dollars in both time and money wasted.

Yes, wasted. That’s because any excessive time or money spent on the struggle to find a technical solution, to make that solution work for you and to maintain that solution is wasted time and money.

The bottom line is that you should be spending the bulk of your time and money on your business, not on the things that make your business run.

You need to get new customers and delight the ones you already have – you don’t have the time and money to spend on struggling with technology and, if you do, you shouldn’t be spending it on that.

You need technology that’s easier to use and maintain and finally, the cloud provides the answer.

Finally!

(Not familiar with “The Cloud”? Watch my video, “What is the Cloud? (now with pictures!)”.)

If you’ve read any of my posts here at Matt About Business, you know that I am a huge proponent of using the cloud to market and sell your products and services, run your business and build professional relationships.

While there are many reasons to use cloud-based solutions, I believe that by far, the most rewarding are that they are much easier to use and take much less time and money to maintain.

Yes, the cloud finally takes the struggle and puts it where it belongs: on the vendors who developed and maintain the technical solution.

As opposed to you, their business IS to create easy-to-use solutions and to maintain and upgrade those solutions. They have the expertise and the drive to do this because, as their customer, they want you to be delighted with their product.

Nice, eh?

I know I love the cloud because:

• By using solutions in the cloud for everything from e-mail to billing to website development, I was finally able to get rid of my PC and now work exclusively on a Mac which is much more stable and pleasant to use;
• The online solutions that I use (i.e. the ones I selected to use) were designed around web standards which means that usability and ease-of-use is never sacrificed for functionality and vice-verse;
• I never have to worry about upgrading any of my software applications because the vendor takes care of that for me. The best part? The updates come much more frequently and typically add great new features and functionality;
• My data is backed-up by the solution vendors so I am better protected from data loss; and
• On a personal note, I now play my games on an XBOX 360 which is connected to the web and, instead of having to buy DVDs, my kids and I can watch movies, TV and anime streamed through my Roku, Mac, iPad or XBOX 360.