PEX Card Tweetchat Wrap Up: 15 Expert Tips About SMB & the Cloud

Below are 15 practical and useful suggestions for companies interested in moving their businesses to the cloud. We’ve included the Twitter handles in case you had additional questions for them or wanted to follow them on Twitter.

@MarcelaShine: Real-time cloud collaboration has helped speed product development. Google docs is great example.

@TofferGrant: I think the importance of using the cloud for storage and access is the biggest opportunity for adoption.

@GeneMarks: The biggest benefits include anywhere access, no hardware investment, up and running quick.

@FranchiseKing: One great benefit of the cloud is #portability. We can go on vacation and use the #cloud to stay in the biz loop.

@PamOhara: Cloud pricing will keep coming down and quality improve as systems mature.

@TofferGrant: Nearly all @pexcard customers are on the road to conduct business. Data access and productivity are huge!

@MarcelaShine: Cloud based storage like @dropbox has its risks. Employees can remove/delete files when they aren't the owners of the files.

@GeneMarks cloud reliability can be sketchy too. It's only as good as my internet connection and that can really vary!

@PamOhara: In early days of e-commerce people were scared to put credit card # online, but would hand it to any sales clerk.

@GMohamed: The cloud is safer because behind the scenes the data is stored, backed up and treasured like gold – their business is at stake.

@GeneMarks: Search online for other companies using the service and ask them about their experience.

@TofferGrant: Pilot testing is a key step. You learn how features work and figure out how to integrate the service and build process.

@PamOhara: Twitter search is a good place to judge customer praise/complaints & vendor reactions. Don't worry about “the cloud.” Instead, worry about the right apps/techs to help you make money. The cloud is just a way to deliver the data.

Toffer Grant is PEX's Founder and CEO. He founded PEX in 2006 as a prepaid card solution for small businesses. His background in the prepaid industry began at Clarity Payment Solutions, where he initiated 65 prepaid card programs in consumer, corporate, and emerging verticals of the prepaid card industry.