It’s no secret that businesses of any size must be online to succeed these days – but small businesses especially can benefit from the features of cloud computing. Here are four ways in which the cloud can and will transform your small business.

1. More affordable

Buying and maintaining hardware costs a lot of money. Even a basic low-end server – a device that lets employees share documents, create backups and connect remotely – will set you back about R20,000, and that doesn’t account for maintenance, running costs or repair. On the other hand, an online file-sharing and hosting tool like Dropbox offers 100GB of storage for about R160 a month – and it also allows you to access files from anywhere, to perform backups, to share content and to recover files that may have been deleted accidentally.

Many cloud services are completely free (and almost all have a basic free service – SugarSync offers 5GB free to everyone). Those that have monthly costs are usually very reasonable. You needn’t be stuck with a bad or expensive service.

2. More versatile

Many small businesses – especially the new ones – are characterised by growth, uncertainty and shifting requirements. Static hardware installations, or even software purchases, can be fine for a specific period of time, but if you find you need to turn your business on its head, they lose all their value.

That’s not the case with cloud-based services. Not only is there a massive range of different tools and services to choose from, but each category also has many competing products, prices, functionalities and uses. Swapping from one service to the next is usually trivial, so you can adapt your tools to your business, not the other way around.

3. More secure

Hardware is notoriously finicky – if a hard drive or a server crashes, weeks or even years of work and data could be lost. Hardly any small business performs sufficient backups – time and storage are usually constraints – and backups can be just as prone to failure. Local storage and internet connections are also typically unencrypted, making it easy for data theft to occur.

Data stored on the cloud is generally considered to be much more secure because it’s harder to lose (most services perform their own backups) and there are many service providers that offer strong encryption or privacy features. Of course, errors and leaks can happen – but it doesn’t hurt to keep your vital data stored off-site that won’t be destroyed if your premises are flooded or burnt.

4. More mobile

A characteristic of many new small businesses is that they aren’t tied down to a single office or location. Their founders and employees are constantly on the move – at meetings, attending conferences, pitching to financiers, travelling to promote their business – so instant access to vital data and services from anywhere is a must.

Cloud-based services make this possible because they are housed remotely – all you need is your login and a suitable device (a smartphone will do). Most services will update automatically to display the latest information, so you can see, for example, if your schedule has changed or if files have been updated. Employees can be more efficient if they telecommute, and this also reduces the strain on the business’ infrastructure. Collaborating with project teams and experts around the world becomes effortless rather than impossible.

Harnessing the cloud enables whole new ways of doing business on its own, but it’s also a valuable addition to any existing business – small or large. Whether you become more efficient by adding just one remote service to your repertoire, or if you move your entire business onto the web, the cloud has a world of potential to offer.

Anna Malczyk is a member of the academic department of GetSmarter, a specialist online training firm. GetSmarter works together with University of Cape Town to present short courses in small business management, project management, internet marketing, financial management and more. View more articles by Anna Malczyk.

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The primary aspect that us entrepreneurs need to worry about is that the PAIA requires that all private bodies (including sole traders, partnerships, close corporations, companies and trusts) must compile and submit a PAIA manual by 31 December 2011.

The object of this manual is to detail the steps that a person must follow in order to make a request for information as per PAIA.  It must include the following information:

• Details of the business’s postal, email and street address, and the fax and phone numbers of the business
• The description of available records generated by the business, stating those which are automatically available and those that are available on request
• Outline the request procedure in terms of PAIA
• State who the head of the business is (CEO is usually the  Information Officer in terms of PAIA)
• Stipulate the fees applicable, as legislated by the Act, which are chargeable to requesters
• Remedies available to requesters if their request for information has been refused
• Details of facilitating requests for access to a record

This manual has to be prepared for each sole proprietor, partnership, company, close corporation and trust that is trading or holds assets of any kind.

After compiling your manual, a signed copy (with request form attached) can be emailed to the PAIA Unit of the South African Human Rights Commission: dmalesa@sahrc.org.za

Alternatively, it can be posted to:

PAIA Unit

SAHRC

Private Bag X2700

Houghton

2041

For further information please refer to the South African Human Rights Commission: www.sahrc.org.za

There are penalties for non-compliance (see section 90 of the PAIA) – the Commission has not imposed these fines for non-compliance to date, but reserves the right to do so.

To have the manual compiled for you (at a cost of R1,311 inclusive of VAT), contact Dixie & Visser Accountants on (021) 531-6214, or reach them at general@profacc.co.za

Gareth Cotten is one of the growing breed of SA entrepreneurs with that ‘world-domination’ look in his eyes. Gareth runs the coaching and consulting practice 'Good Advice'. Gareth is also the 'course convener' for the University of Cape Town (Law@Work) Start and Manage a Small Business course and the University of Cape Town Basics of Financial Management course. View more articles by Gareth Cotten.

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The “P719X5”, or whatever the guys in the white coats decide to call it, is then handed over to the ad agency so they can come up with a name, CI, packaging and a campaign to launch the product into the market.

It immediately got me thinking about the amount of work the agency must go through to get this right. After many hours of research, design concepts, copywriting, reverts and focus groups, “Dark Night”, or whatever the guys in the slip slops decide to call it, is ready to hit shelves backed by an ad campaign that makes the consumer aware that anything they thought was solving their perfume problems before this moment was a total misconception and that they shouldn’t only thank their lucky stars that “Dark Night” has arrived but also get down to their nearest Clicks and buy one immediately.

It was at this point that I had to ask why.

Why does a brand that gives this much attention and perceive this much value in advertising their product, not invest the same degree of attention, love and budget when advertising on mobile?

And then it hit me, like that sinking feeling you get when you’re on the way to Durban, driving your father-in-law’s car, seeing the petrol light come on when you are at least 100km from a filling station and realising the sparks coming from behind you are from the tyre on the trailer and dad forgot to pack a spare.

Advertising agencies are successful because they merge left and right brain thinking.

I then realised why mobile agencies are not getting the same respect the traditional agencies are getting and why their results are so shoddy (and if you argue that the results aren’t shoddy then why is mobile still getting such little budget compared to traditional media?).

Concepts that are born from mobile agencies are created by people with marketing minds – a marketing mind is logical, analytical and linear – I know, because I have a marketing mind.

Even Ivan Moroke said it himself – when on the panel interview at the launch of the Annual last week (having been a strategist in his past life) – that it’s generally not a good idea for a strategist to come up with the concept for the TVC if you are expecting a creative result.

Strategists are marketers too – they think in the same way. We have to, because it’s the left hemisphere of the brain that allows us to be analytical, logical, linear and great problem solvers. And we are great problem solvers – for us it’s about pushing more feet into store, getting more bums on seats and driving sales. We get excited about the result, the numbers and, in the case of mobile, the tech, though we know a big idea when we see one.

Creatives, on the other hand, get excited about the big idea and how it will engage the senses, the emotions it will stir up, the perceptions it will change in the consumer’s mind and the lasting impression it will leave behind. Creatives don’t care about how the TV works, or where the billboard is going to be positioned or, in the case of mobile, the tech. They’re right brain thinkers.

So is the conclusion here that a mobile agency needs to incorporate a creative mind, with solid traditional experience, into a strategic team, with solid mobile marketing experience, all working towards the business goals laid out by the brand team?

Well, sort of – though it’s not so cut and dry. Everyone knows that mobile has a specific skill set – if you don’t know how the tech functions then you will deliver campaigns that don’t work on cellphones. Adversely, if the person coming up with the concept knows too much about the tech, then their thinking is automatically limited by what the cellphone can do.

So mobile calls for a new breed of creatives and strategists. We need creatives who can build concepts based on an understanding of mobile that does not limit their thinking and strategists that can put their understanding of mobile aside and embrace the big idea (As scary as it sometimes can be when the ideas are totally left-field).

When a mobile agency achieves this and they have successfully merged left and right brain thinking then they are well on their way to creating the future of mobile advertising that incorporates everything that has made traditional advertising work up until now. And when advertising works on mobile it automatically becomes viral because mobile is a viral touch point.

[Read Step 2 here]

Ryan van Jaarsveld is the founder of South Africa’s first mobile-only, full-service ad agency, 7Dffrnt Knds of Smke. Ryan cut his teeth in companies like Wizzit bank (SA’s first mobile bank) and Cellsmart, before venturing out on his own, quickly landing clients like Cell C and Tropika, amongst others. Ryan writes about doing mobile right. View more articles by Ryan Gandalf van Jaarsveld.

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In the past few days I’ve overheard, read and engaged in conversations about the new bill that’s currently before Parliament. Some excerpts:

”South Africa is buying a one way ticket to hell.”

“This is the last straw!”

“We’re stepping back to the National Party methods of the 1980s”

While I agree that the bill itself is dangerous, I have a more grave concern that it’s a gross miscarriage of intelligence. In my opinion, it’s possibly the dumbest thing politicians have done since Eugene invaded Bophuthatswana.

But here’s the thing. It’s not dumb because I think passing it will screw up the country. It’s dumb because it’s actually a massive waste of time and energy.

To elucidate, let’s cast our minds back to China pre-2000. The most populous country in the world was a journalist’s nightmare. If you wanted to report a topical story, you literally had to risk your life to get a scoop. Remember Tiananmen Square? Ask a Chinese government official and the standard response would have been “What Tiananmen Square?” Then suddenly something magical happened. They opened up – not because they wanted to, but because they had to. The media suddenly had a free view of the inner workings of previously the most secretive state on the planet, and it was all due to the Internet. News spread at lightning pace because of the social phenomenon happening within China’s borders. (Quick fact: China’s biggest social networking site, QQ, is part-owned by a South African company.)

Take, for example, the earthquake that shook the Chinese province of Sichuan on 19 May 2008. Within minutes, the entire world knew about it. Not only did we most of what was happening, we observed the terror as it unfolded, thanks to videos, blogs, comments and instant messages uploaded via the Internet. Now, contrast this to previous earthquakes in China only a few years before. The Chinese denied they even happened. Furthermore, journalists were too afraid to report anything due to information restrictions not dissimilar to what is being considered now in South Africa. Nowadays, China is painfully realising that those kinds of restrictions are futile.

The same thing happened during Kenya’s election riots. News (defined as information that’s new) was provided not by the big media companies, but by ordinary folk with cellphones taking photographs and uploading blog posts.

What the people trying to pass this Protection of Information Bill are failing to recognise is that consumption and transmission of information have moved online. Consider that between 2004 and 2009, readership of newspapers worldwide dropped by 17% and magazines by 6%. During the same period, the time people spend digesting online media increased by 117%.

The hotheads in Parliament would do well to watch “The Boat That Rocked”, the 2009 movie about a pirate radio station which the British government tried in vain to shut down. Should the Protection of Information Bill be passed, online news channels will become like pirate deejays broadcasting from boats off the coast of England. Only this time there will be millions of boats, varying in size (and, of course, quality). If you look at the South African context, all the major news channels have an online entity. There are 10 million people with access to the Internet on their mobile phones. Twitter is growing fast; and there are millions of South Africans with a Facebook profile. Breaking news is being transmitted via these channels in the form of hundreds of millions of messages, every day.

That’s a lot of information to monitor and suppress.

So, don’t stress about The Protection of Information Bill more than you really have to. It would be like stressing about school teachers who want to prevent boys talking about girls; a pointless waste of energy over a pointless decree. The Bill is wrong, for sure, but my prediction is that South Africa’s dear leaders will soon recognise the inherent futility in all this nonsense.

Right now, what you should be doing is growing your online profile. Step out of the shadows, digitally speaking. Register a Twitter profile. Sign up for The Daily Maverick daily newsletter. Watch, and share, some YouTube videos. Invite some more friends on Facebook. Join a group. Start a blog.

Restricting information has never worked. It’s just not sustainable. It didn’t work in the 1980s for the Nats (and there are trillions more signals to intercept now). It’s not worked in China. It won’t work in South Africa. Our strength is in numbers. History has shown, even before the digital age, that information in the hands of many can’t be protected.

This article was originally published by Daily Maverick a year ago. Read the original here.

Further reading:

Black Tuesday protest declared against “Secrecy Bill” (by Theresa Mallinson)
The secrecy bill: Welcome back, Magnus Malan & Adriaan Vlok (by Jay Naidoo)

Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.

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This comes during Global Entrepreneurship Week (14 – 20 November) in which Webster is participating as a speaker in Cape Town. It sees 115 countries celebrate the industry’s innovations and advancements over the past year.

Webster, a Tutu fellow and founder of the Starfish Greathearts Foundation, says, “Spurred on by changes in the global economy and environment, a different approach to business is needed. Where in the past, ventures were driven largely by profit; today entrepreneurs need to be challenged to be innovative, original and bold in their ideas and consider their impact on communities and the environment. It is by teaching this philosophy at The Branson Centre that we aim to help drive business as a force for good.”

This aside, Webster believes government departments, corporate South Africa and investors should collaborate to overcome the many regulatory obstacles entrepreneurs face when starting out.

“As we need more entrepreneurs to stimulate the economy and drive job creation, this is counter-intuitive and needs to be addressed collectively by industry stakeholders. This is something I am committed to initiating at the centre in 2012,” she says.

Support from local and international mentors

Ensuring that the Branson Centre’s entrepreneurs have increased access to networking opportunities; practical skills development and support from local and international mentors is also high on Webster’s agenda.

She says, “My goal is to lead the Branson Centre through its next growth curve by developing income streams that are more sustainable and to create a space of inspiration, learning and opportunity for our entrepreneurs to grow.”

Plans are already underway to achieve this, as the fact that eight of the centre’s technology entrepreneurs were recently selected to attend the UK’s Tech City conference demonstrates.

“During the Tech City visit, the entrepreneurs – who include 8bitOctopus; Soweto Internet Radio; Word Start and MTI Technologies, among others – will receive first-hand knowledge from respected speakers and spend a two-day boot camp pitching their business ideas to international investors at the conference,” she says.

It is opportunities like these that Richard Branson and Virgin Unite are deeply invested in as they have the ability to create jobs which is critical in the current climate.

“With an unemployment rate that sits stubbornly at 25 percent, encouraging entrepreneurship is a must as it not only boosts new business ventures; it also creates sustainable employment for others. We would love South African businesses to join hands with us to make this a possibility and help drive business as a force for good,” concludes Webster.

For more information about The Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship visit www.bransoncentre.org.

Ideate is one of South Africa's biggest business blogs, with a team of authors all of whom have had entrepreneurial experience. Ideate is read by entrepreneurs thinking BIG. Follow us on Twitter here. View more articles by Staff Reporter.

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