In my last couple of articles, I’ve provided examples of how cloud-based services have greatly enhanced the IT operations of some of our clients. In this article, I’m going to take a little detour and tell you a true story about how the flexibility of our own cloud-based IT system enabled us to retain a valuable member of our staff.

I’m not exactly sure why, but in our past, CloudWyze had trouble finding a controller that really fit well with our team. We had been through two previous controllers when we finally got lucky and found our current controller, Amanda. Amanda is a hard worker, brilliant with numbers and a perfect fit for the CloudWyze team. That’s why we were devastated when Amanda came to us a little over a month ago and told us that, due to family reasons, she was moving to Colorado.

Apart from wishing her well on her new endeavor, our initial reaction was to wonder where we were going to find another controller who was as good as Amanda. We also dreaded the interviewing and hiring process, and the time and expense involved in training a new employee, not to mention the inevitable downtime involved in getting a new controller up to speed.

But then it dawned on us. Why don’t we eat our own dog food? Why do we need to replace Amanda when our entire system is based on flexibility and mobility? With the virtual desktop environment that we run on, there was no reason Amanda couldn’t just keep doing what she was doing from Colorado.

We were already fully electronic. All of our mail is scanned in for easy electronic processing, organization and storage. All checks are scanned in too, and can be easily emailed to Amanda. Amanda already had a laptop that she used to work from home and all CloudWyze employees (including Amanda) have their own devices for complete mobile access to our systems and applications. It was settled. Amanda would remain our Colorado controller.

A week before Amanda moved, we had her work from home. We did this to simulate what it would be like to have her work remotely and to see if there were any issues we hadn’t considered. But with her virtual desktop, nothing changed in her user experience. The only potential problem was that she was in a different time zone, but since Amanda is someone who likes to get into the office early and finish early, the time difference didn’t cause a problem.

I’m pleased to say that with the exception of not having Amanda’s pleasant and energetic presence around the office, we hardly realize that she’s halfway on the other side of the country. We’re talking about putting a cardboard cutout of her in her old office so it doesn’t seem quite so empty, but some on the CloudWyze team are campaigning to put a pool table in there instead.

You may not choose to have your staff located all over the country, but it sure is nice to know that this kind of technology exists and can be used to improve your business’ mobility and productivity.

Shaun Olsen is the CEO and President of CloudWyze. CloudWyze was created to help businesses focus and perform at their optimal level by crafting and executing custom technology plans for businesses of every type and size. To learn more about CloudWyze, visit www.cloudwyze.com. Shaun can be reached at [email protected] or 910-795-1000.