Recession-Proof Your IT With Cloud Services

06/11/09

By David Walker, SaaS vendor Gooroo Software

How do you invest in business-improving IT when both CapEx and OpEx are squeezed? David Walker of SaaS vendor Gooroo Software shows the way

No matter what businesses say in public, most are being squeezed by the downturn. That squeeze often makes itself felt when it comes to investing in new IT or applications. It's no surprise that the CDW IT Monitor survey of IT spending in July 09 showed that just 21% of small businesses expect to grow their IT budgets in the next year.

Faced with stagnant revenues and tight...

...credit, business owners are leaping at opportunities to cut their costs, by deferring software and hardware purchases and upgrades where possible.

The trick, of course, is not cutting so deeply that the business itself starts to suffer as a result. The good news is, there is a way to avoid this squeeze, by using IT that is low-cost, needs minimal upfront investment or manpower-sapping management yet delivers business-enhancing applications.

Software as a Service (SaaS) or cloud applications can deliver these benefits, and are exerting a powerful pull on business. Not merely for the cost savings - although these are compelling - but also for the fact that they let organisations deploy enterprise-class applications quickly and easily, without the headaches.

These are strong arguments for SaaS, especially for smaller businesses where the margin between an IT cutback and an amputation is much narrower. It's the companies that can least afford in-house IT resources that stand to gain more, proportionally, from the cloud. But how exactly could SaaS and cloud services help your business IT strategy in these uncertain times? Let's take a closer look at the key benefits you can expect.

Lower up-front costs

Instead of buying hardware... continued on page two >

 

 

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