Blog: Familiarity with software can boost productivity

Choosing familiar solutions when moving to the cloud should make the transition period as seamless as possible.

Moving to the cloud can be a big decision for small businesses to take, particularly if they are working in a non-technical area.

Employees may have only limited IT knowledge and skills, making it difficult for them to get their head around the concept of hosted services at first.

But, conscious of the potential benefits of cloud computing in terms of cost, quality, scalability and flexibility, an increasing number of small firms are pursuing this option.

This begs the question of what businesses can do to make the transition as simple as possible for their employees.

Clearly there is a need to deliver training - organising sessions to explain the changes and how the shift to hosted IT will impact on people's jobs.

This should be a relatively painless experience given that, in almost all cases, embracing the cloud should make employees' jobs easier.

But there are other ways business leaders can ensure a seamless transition when altering the IT delivery model.

Their choice of cloud-based solutions will have a bearing on how quickly employees are able to get up and running, and begin working productively using online tools and applications.

By selecting hosted versions of solutions their staff are familiar with, the change can be made with very little impact on operational processes.

So if employees are used to working with on-premise versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Office 365 may be the best option for them in the cloud.

Familiarity often holds
the key to productivity and output - since an understanding of how software
operates helps employees work faster and more effectively.

Posted by Sarah Parish