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Cloud computing represents a new model for delivery and consumption of IT services based on the Internet, usually utilizing scalable and often virtualized resources as services over the Internet.

Ten benefits of cloud computing for your business:

1. Focus on your core business activity. Cloud computing provides more automation and managing of your business technology, allowing you to focus more on your core business activities.

2. Reduces Cost. With cloud computing, your business pays incrementally, only for the services they use, reducing overall business costs by not forcing you to pay energy costs associated with idle time.

3. Employee Mobility. Your employers can access important applications, data, and files to conduct business from wherever they are, rather than having to remain at their desks.

4. Easy Implementation. Since there is not a need for hardware purchasing, software licenses, or implementation services, your company can get cloud computing services started quickly and easily.

5. More Secure Data Sharing. Cloud services allow your company to share internal data over the cloud, rather than making your internal data center itself available to outside parties.

6. Increased Storage Capacity. By utilizing the Internet with virtual cloud services, your company can store much more data, than it would be able to on private computer systems.

7. Flexibility. By using a shared resource, agile and automated distribution of computing resources among the users in the cloud allows for more flexibility.

8. Environmental Benefits. Cloud computing reduces hardware consumption, energy costs, and carbon dioxide emissions.

9. Easily Customized. Cloud computing gives your business the opportunity to build custom applications on a user-friendly interface. In a competitive world, your business needs to stand out from the rest. Customization will help you do this.

10. Enhances collaboration. Multiple users can collaborate easily on shared web documents. Since all the documents are hosted on the cloud, anyone in your company with an internet connection can log into the web and start collaborating.

Verizon Communications Case Study:

According to Fari Ebrahimi, senior vice president and chief information officer for Verizon Services Operations, by implementing an internal cloud computing process, Verizon improved IT performance by 400 percent and reduced their IT costs to one-third of what they were. In lieu of this information, Verizon decided not to build any new data centers, but to actually decrease them.

Cloud computing is an excellent solution for business looking for better utilization of resources, flexibility, security, lower costs and environmental sustainability.

REPRINT RIGHTS

Jason Dick is a Marketing Specialist at Northwest Computer Support. Mr. Dick has been sharing his technology writing on the web since 2003. He's a native to the Pacific Northwest and enjoys the camping, hiking, and fishing available there. Northwest Computer Support is a one-stop IT services provider helping businesses in the Greater Seattle area manage their IT needs. They have been in business in the Greater Seattle area since 1977.

Someone asked me the other day if it was really worth their while to spend money on marketing to grow their business. My inside voice said "only if you want to stay in business" and my outside voice responded with "only if you want to stay in business".

With over 85% of small businesses failing in the first three years of operation, one has to wonder why this number is so high. So I did a little research and this is what I found. It turns out that banks, business schools and different organizations that support small business were asking themselves the same thing. With a passion (not unlike mine) to see small businesses succeed, they decided to find an answer. They decided to survey small businesses and find out what the heck was going on. Funny thing, all of them found the same revealing yet simple answer to the question. Why are so many small businesses failing - simply, put "it is a lack of marketing".

Even after discovering this, I was still perplexed as to why someone would put so much "blood, sweat, and tears" into creating something that they love just to see it disappear before their eyes. But then I realized that we all start businesses (and I'm no exception) because we want to work for ourselves doing something that we love. We are entrepreneurs at heart and we have a special gift or talent or passion for a certain something and we just gotta do it. So we start our own (marketing, retail, literacy, training) business with all the right intentions to make it successful. But then we get so involved in working in the business that we forget or don't know that we need to work on the business.

So how do you break the cycle of working in your business instead of on it? Simple, you have a plan:

1) schedule time with yourself each day or each week to work on marketing (do not break these appointments; they are as important as any appointment you would make with a client)

2) decide in advance what you want to do for the year for marketing (this will eliminate the "promotional panic" where you will spend money and get no results)

3) commit to a budget to support your efforts (decide on a number that you can spend monthly without throwing up; you can't grow on zero dollars)

4) identify your ideal client (it's easier, cheaper and more effective to market to a specific group of people that wants your service than to market to the masses)

5) define your differentiation and communicate it (you have to stand out from the crowd/competition if you don't want to be shopped on price)

6) create a system that allows you frequent and regular contact with your prospects and clients (it takes 7 - 10 touches for someone to know, like and trust you and then buy from you)

7) stop talking about you in your marketing materials and start talking to your ideal client (people want to know what's in it for them; tell them about the benefits; not the features)

To quote from the Duct Tape Marketing book "if you're in business, you're in the business of marketing".

As a Duct Tape Marketing Expert and Small Business Marketing Coach, Brenda understand the value of creating a solid marketing plan without spending a fortune.

If you would like to receive a 7 Simple Steps to Small Business Marketing Success and her Free Weekly Marketing Tips please subscribe at http://www.criticaledgemarketing.com.

When you are looking for the best cheap business conference calls and call hosting solutions, you may find so many different services and companies that it is easy to get confused. So how can you find the cheapest and the most reliable conference call solution for your business?

Here are a few free tips to help you choose the best conference service...

* Use Web Conference Calling to Save Time and Money

More and more reputable companies are starting to use web call hosting services instead of the traditional way of phone conference calling. Web services are faster and easier to use, not to mention many of them are free so you can save a lot of money in your business.

If your target audience mostly have access to a computer and Internet, you can easily use web conference solutions. You can host and manage all your conference on the web and have full control over all parts of it.

You can even provide them with a unique toll-free number they can dial to connect to your web conference from a regular phone. This is perfect for those of your business associates or customers who may not have access to a computer. You can also record your business conference call easily and for free using your online web service.

* Use Skype as a Cheap Business Conference Call Service

The famous instant messaging program, Skype, offers you all the advanced tools you need to host your own web conference call.

There are also other tools you can use to host your business conference easily and fast. Just do some research to make sure the call quality is good and the lines are reliable, because it will affect the image of your business.

Looking for easy-to-use Web Conference Call Services that offer you the highest quality and the best rates?

Check out this helpful guide to discover the top three Free Conference Call Services to find out which one is the best for you.