Challenging Company Culture: Morale, the Cloud, and You

Businesses can't function without order. Processes and procedures exist for a reason: to ensure that projects get done on time, information is properly handled, and end results match initial goals. The problem? Sometimes "order" turns into "overbearing" and originally open-minded organizations become my-way-or-the-highway enterprises. If your company culture has gone from reliable to rigid and you're looking for a way to boost morale without breaking the bank, there may be a solution: the cloud. From cost benefits to take the stress off executives to increased app flexibility for users and agility to improve collaboration, cloud services may offer a way to re-energize your office environment. Here's how it can help crack your current culture conundrum:

Positive Production

Before diving into the people part of cloud potential, it's worth a quick review: Implementing cloud technology comes with real benefits to both the bottom line and day-to-day operations. As noted by CBR Online, 88 percent of companies surveyed say they've already implemented at least one private cloud solution, while the expanding impact of open-source clouds is driving even lower per-use prices.

According to BetaNews, meanwhile, many organizations are now adopting a multicloud strategy as a way to leverage the exact services they need, exactly when they need them rather than paying for all-in-one solutions. In addition, cloud services offer a new way for users to consume, create, and collaborate on line-of-business content. Instead of requiring users to navigate multiple legacy apps simply to communicate with other team members or access pertinent project data, the cloud makes it possible to unify voice, video, and multimedia services. What's more, tossing legacy for cloud yields greater network agility and reliability, meaning employees spend more time working and less time harassing IT about legacy systems that aren't working.

Simply put? The cloud offers big-time productivity and cost benefits.

Morale Booster

That's not all, folks! In addition to line-of-business benefits, cloud services also have the not-so-secondary effect of boosting user morale and improving company culture. Why? Glad you asked. There are several key drivers, including the following:

• Improved Flexibility: Adopting the cloud gives employees the ability to work where they want, when they want, and how they want. This makes it easy for employees to take their work with them and collaborate across devices.
• Streamlined Communication: By rolling out communications such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), video calling, and media-rich streaming across the cloud, workers can quickly and easily access needed files or conduct meetings half a world away, reducing the time needed for setup and increasing overall productivity.
• App Adaptability: Face it — your staff members are already using the apps they want, with or without permission. By implementing the cloud and then making time to talk with users about the apps they love (and have already installed), you get happier workers.

The Big Picture

Your employees are happier in the cloud. Company culture is shifting away from a rigid model to one that's more open, more collegial, and hopefully more flexible. However, what's the long-term impact? Is happiness good for business?

Short answer: You bet. Long answer: Happy employees are more likely to stay with the company and are also more likely to go above and beyond in their day-to-day work. And since you've reduced their total stress by giving them a flexible, agile cloud environment, they're more efficient when it comes to completing projects and meeting deadlines. Best of all? Your costs go down.

Implement the cloud well and you should see a cost decline; do a so-so job, and you'll still break even. Sure, your employee environment isn't quite so neat and tidy, but rigidity doesn't really pay — flexibility is the future foundation of effective company culture.

To learn more about how the cloud can benefit company culture, talk to a Vonage Business representative.