In recent months we have often heard about the digital revolution, digitization and innovation because companies – all of them, and utilities too – have had to deal with the urgency of moving every service offered online and improve their remote sales. What we still don’t hear enough about is the trend of cloud software and how this is revolutionizing the business market from within.
A positive trend
Let’s start with a clarification: when we talk about the “trend” of cloud software we are not referring to a passing fad or the new obsession of the CEO of some large company. Instead, we are talking about a revolution inside the (digital) revolution already underway for some time, but less publicized than the more general passage to online. The two phenomena are strongly connected: the digitization of companies involves the adoption of new innovative tools to tackle the challenges of the business market, whatever they may be, in a smarter and more creative way. Cloud solutions are the innovative tools mentioned above, and their adoption is one of the positive symptoms of the transition to a new “dynamic” digital era. The result is a decisive and substantial change in the application map of companies, in particular those in the utility and energy field.
What are cloud tools and SaaS?
Precisely because the cloud one is a revolution within a revolution, the concept tends to go a bit quiet and is often relegated to the company’s technical areas. Despite this, there is a good chance that you are already using cloud tools in the company without even knowing it. Cloud-based solutions are all the services, tools and software that are provided on-demand on a continuous basis via the internet, generally through a monthly or annual fee, without the need for the end customer to buy and install the software or be forced to purchase new machinery, versions or tools for their operation.
A big part of cloud-based solutions is the use of so-called SaaS or Software-as-a-Service: complex virtual tools acquired through subscription, just like services, the use of which is now significantly increasing.
The advantages of cloud tools
Where there is a trend, there are advantages, and this also works for the high rising use of cloud tools. The reasons behind the success of these new solutions are varied, but there are five main ones that make them truly popular:
- Flexibility and scalability. The greatest strength of cloud software is the opportunity they offer companies to choose solutions tailored to their own or their customers’ needs, scaling them over time when necessary. Once the rule was a fixed price of the software for everyone, without distinction between those who used it massively and those who used only a small part of it, while today this has changed: cloud solutions allow customizing the purchase based on real needs (such as, for example, choosing between the versions of our OnBoarding Funnel).
- Reduced costs. The first consequence of the previous point is connected to business costs: the possibility of choosing between different solutions allows companies to pay only for what they really use, cutting the expense on what is not necessary.
- Automatic updates and maintenance. A big problem for companies that do not mainly deal with IT is that of software maintenance: updates and problems, sometimes even dangerously disruptive, often happen and after purchasing expensive packages, businesses find themselves having to use resources for technical problem-solving. Cloud software is the solution to this because it is the prerogative of the developer company to take care of updates and issues and provide complete and working services.
- Security. Another crucial factor of cloud tools is data security, which is always on the top list for software development companies.
- Mobility. During the health emergency linked to COVID-19, we discovered the importance of mobility at work, and the concept of an office desk has become a pale reminder of an obsolete past for many companies. Since cloud-based software is delivered via the internet, one of the advantages is that its services are available from anywhere: a computer and a connection are enough to allow any employee of the company to be fully operational.
The new application map for utilities and OnBoarding Funnel
The adoption of these new tools obviously has a strong impact on the application map of companies: more and more businesses in the world of energy, gas and water rely on cloud-based tools both for the internal management of operations and processes, and to offer safer and more efficient services to their customers.
Dazerolab, one of the early adopters of cloud technology, has created OnBoarding Funnel precisely to help companies in the utility world embracing the cloud software revolution: offered in SaaS mode, OnBoarding Funnel boosts remote sales by optimizing costs thanks to a modular structure that makes it possible to choose between three different versions.
Do you want to try all the power of cloud tools for your company or offer it to your customers? Request your free demo now!