Many small and medium sized businesses (SMB) are using the services of a professional cloud broker to help them navigate the cloud and move their business to the cloud. By definition, a cloud broker is a third party business that acts as an intermediary between the purchaser of a cloud computing service and the sellers of that service. For a typical small or medium sized business, what are the advantages of using a cloud broker?
Cloud brokers can:
- Aggregate cloud solutions. Cloud apps can be gathered after understanding a businesses needs and researching public SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) offerings. A
recommended strategy with specific solutions is then provided which can save a business owner a considerable amount of time and helps them avoid the common pitfalls of doing it on their own. The broker can also act as an advocate to the business and help with contract negotiation and best licensing choices to fit the businesses budget and requirements. - Integrate cloud solutions. Linking SaaS apps (or on-premise apps) for a seamless experience eliminates siloed data and systems. The best SaaS apps in their space integrate with others and often have an ecosystem built around them. The Salesforce AppExchange and Google Apps Marketplace are classic examples of this.
- Customize cloud solutions. Top SaaS apps can be tweaked or even heavily customized (in the case of Salesforce CRM) to meet the needs of the business. The app should be able to tailor to the business model and systems (assuming that they are using best practices) and not vice-versa.
In addition to aggregating, integrating and customizing cloud solutions, cloud brokers often handle data migration, de-duplication of data, and change management among other services. The demand for cloud based solutions is continuing to grow. As a cloud broker, we find the best of breed core technology in each space (i.e. CRM – Salesforce, Email- Google Apps Gmail, Voice Communications – RingCentral etc.), integrate them and customize them for a complete solution. Every businesses cloud solution is uniquely tailored to fit the client that we work with.
Is your small or medium sized business thinking about cloud apps and not sure what steps to take to move your business to the cloud?
Contact Perpetual West at 1 (877) 388-6400 today to see how we can help you run your business from a browser.
