XFER Blog

SMBs tend to pride themselves on how well they’re able to treat their customers. Larger enterprises sometimes lack the personalized attention that customers of small businesses get, despite having the tools to make it happen. Small businesses can also achieve this goal, and it’s all thanks to customer relationship management solutions. The right tool can improve sales, marketing efforts, and even customer satisfaction.

One piece of technology that's become essential to modern business is the cloud. You hear the term constantly, but what does it actually mean for your business, especially as we navigate 2025? Today, we unpack this very topic.

Our team specializes in proactive business technology support, and helping organizations understand and leverage the cloud is a core part of what we do. Forget confusing jargon; let's break down what the cloud is and why it's a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes.

If you’re a smart manager, you're always looking for ways to optimize spending and enhance your organization’s ability to be efficient. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) isn't just a trendy tech term; it's a strategic financial move that can significantly impact your bottom line. Today, we get into how VoIP translates to real cost savings.

How much time and money do you spend wrestling with your business’ software? Between updates, license renewals, and that one employee who keeps accidentally deleting their email app, it’s enough to make you want to scream. Unfortunately, software is kind of non-negotiable. You need it. So, should you go old school and buy it outright, or should you consider moving to the cloud and employing Software-as-a-Service?

Good communication is essential for any business. It can be as basic as having a phone line or as advanced as using tools that help your business grow. For small businesses, communication can be challenging. Limited budgets, growing teams, and the need to stay flexible often make traditional systems too expensive or outdated. That’s where cloud-hosted communications come in as a modern and better option.

Cloud computing has become a really useful tool for businesses, allowing them to grow, be more flexible, and save money. But even with all its benefits, businesses face some challenges when using cloud services. One big issue is keeping data safe and private.

Cutting costs on IT while maintaining the security you depend on requires a fair amount of consideration. One of the most effective ways to maintain security and manage IT costs is through the use of cloud services. The problem is that there are horror stories surrounding data security in the cloud that persist even as a larger and larger percentage of people and businesses use the cloud for their computing needs. This month, we take a brief look at how the cloud serves to cut down their computing costs. 

Many organizations have become reliant on cloud computing, which provides many benefits like cost savings and access to computing resources. However, they do run into complications with data security. One way to gain control and maintain accessibility is to use a private cloud. We’ll discuss why a business would consider using the private cloud over the more affordable public cloud platforms available today.

The cloud has the potential to revolutionize a company’s operations in countless ways. Let's explore the cloud and how it can support your operational goals and needs.

The cloud has revolutionized how businesses operate across various industries, particularly in terms of financial efficiency. Today, we'll explore three significant ways your business can cut costs by integrating cloud solutions into your operations.

The cloud comes in a few different forms. You have private cloud solutions, which are those that a business maintains in-house for their own use, and you have public cloud solutions, which are those that an external business hosts and provides to subscribers. While both have their place in modern business operations, we wanted to take a few moments to focus on the public cloud and the various benefits that it has to offer.

Finding affordable data storage isn’t the challenge it used to be. In fact, some sources say the costs are dropping by 20-to-30 percent annually. This means that businesses that thought cost was a roadblock to using the cloud for their data storage needs, can rest assured that they can confidently go on and secure the amount of secure cloud storage they need. 

The telephone cemented itself as a valuable tool of business long ago, but the ways that businesses use these devices have changed over the years. Thanks to advancements in technology, telephones can still be used by businesses even today, albeit with some modern adjustments to stay competitive and useful. One of these telephony solutions is Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP for short.

The cloud has been a good resource for business for quite a while. Just how good? Currently, nine-out-of-ten businesses operate with some type of cloud-hosted solution. In fact, by the figures, we’re definitely looking at a cloud-hosted future. We thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the cloud computing stats and trends to paint a picture of just how the cloud has grown up. 

Cloud computing is turning into a tool that is universally used by businesses to enhance remote access and provide the scalability for tools that allows a business to get the best bang for their buck. This month, we’ll describe how modern cloud computing works and why it is such a huge potential benefit for your business.

Businesses must often store documents for the purposes of compliance, but anyone who has managed a document storage system that uses physical documents, like filing cabinets or otherwise, knows that it can get a little complicated and messy. Technology offers better alternatives that make things easier, efficient, and most important of all, more secure.

There is no denying the versatility that technology like the cloud can provide, but it often comes with hidden costs that might affect its cost-to-benefit ratio for your organization. Here are some of these hidden costs, as well as what you can do to minimize the impact they have on your bottom line.

Email is a solution that your business uses just about every single day, and as one of your central methods of communication, you need to consider how it’s managed and maintained. Thankfully, modern businesses have more choices available to them than ever before, some of which are so hands-off and easy that they can completely change how a business views their email.

You may already be familiar with the concept of hosting your business’ technology on your own in-house network, like a server unit, but some businesses struggle to manage hardware like this effectively. In all honesty, you can get largely the same benefits of an in-house server through a hosted solution. Nowadays, the cloud makes utilizing cloud services easier than ever.

The cloud is a popular choice for businesses that need access to tools to sustain operations, but there is an innate flaw that comes from hosting anything in an online environment: security. Do not pretend that security is not an issue for your cloud-based resources—failing to acknowledge the importance of security could be a fatal mistake for organizations that leverage cloud-based technology resources.