It is always exciting to see market growth and changes happening across the country. We now have more home businesses than ever competing for customers online. On the other hand, more established brands and companies are also entering the online market, so competition is high.
E-commerce aside, small businesses are now more competitive thanks to the many cloud solutions available. Specific solutions, designed to tackle business-related challenges, are available as services, eliminating initial investment and entry barriers completely.
If you’re running a business and you want to be more competitive, there are actually several private cloud-based solutions to consider. We are going to review some of them in this article.
Cloud ERP
Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP used to be the domain of large corporations. Big companies with their own manufacturing lines and plenty of branches use ERP to help keep everything together. Today, however, even small businesses can benefit from integrating a good ERP system into their operational workflow.
Some ERP applications are open source and can be used for free. With a good cloud hosting service, it is easy to have a fully featured ERP system up and running in just a few minutes. For smaller businesses, Odoo is a good solution to look into. It can be used for free as long as you have only two users. ERPNext is another capable option to consider, especially since it’s free for any number of users as long as you self-host the application.
ERP brings many management tools to the table. Project management, HR, group communications, and accounting are among the features you can benefit from. The integrated nature of ERP apps also makes managing different parts of the business easier.
Cloud-Based HR Solution
Another critical part of every business is HR (Human Resources). HR management can make or break a business, especially in a competitive market. Having the right team members can help your business perform better. The right employees can also help the business face some of its toughest challenges.
The biggest issue for small businesses trying to improve HR management is cost. It is not always possible to set up an in-house HR department because that would mean hiring specialists. In fact, a lot of home and small businesses have to make do with business owners also acting as the HR manager and managing the entire team.
Online HR software can really change that. A lot of HR functions, including recruitment and employee management, can be fully automated. Cloud-based HR solutions mean you can start using the available tools as soon as you sign up for an account.
Other Support Systems
There is no shortage of solutions to choose from; cloud computing has transformed the way we do business. Marketing campaigns can be run from the cloud. Production tasks and more specific challenges such as maintaining inventories and outsourcing can also be made more accessible with the help of the right cloud solution.
These advantages will help take your small business to the next level. Implement them into your workflow and you will start enjoying the benefits of using cloud computing – and get the competitive advantage you need – in no time.
