If you’re the owner of a small startup business, you have a lot on your plate. It seems like every day you have another decision to make or someone needs something from you. However, technology is a small business owner’s best friend. There are more ways than ever to utilize the Internet and Internet services to help your business run smoothly and grow at a comfortable speed. Two of the buzzwords you may hear a lot when you look at how to help your company on a technical basis are cloud computing and SaaS (Software as a Service). Learn more about these services, how they differ and what each can do for your company.

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is the pooling of resources in a large group of servers that’s supplied like a utility rather than as a specific item. Instead of paying for access to one machine, you pay for regular access to a variable amount of resources, allowing you to alter the power of your server quickly so you’re never paying for more or less than what you need. You can also access your important information from any anywhere because the data is stored in a remote data center rather than on your computer itself.

What is SaaS?

Software as a service, also known as on-demand software, is a type of cloud computing solution. One of the criteria that both SaaS and cloud computing share is that they are both, as a Virtualization Journal blog puts it, massively scalable. This means that the services can be utilized by the smallest businesses but also that the service can grow and change to serve the needs of a larger company as well. Software as a service provides software that is delivered and managed online, instead of you downloading it yourself. To qualify as SaaS, a product generally has a subscription or pay for use charge attached. One example of such a service is SalesForce.com, an online customer relationship management service. You pay a subscription for SalesForce.com and all your tasks are performed in a browser, so you don’t have to rely on in-house servers or your workstation to run the program, eliminating bottlenecks from outdated hardware.

Using cloud computing and SaaS

As a small business owner, you will find that both of these services are useful to you and your company. For most business owners, money is a major determining factor when choosing how to operate your company. Using cloud computing and SaaS often costs less up front that paying for your own private server or purchasing software. While you may have a monthly charge to pay, it can make things much easier to avoid that large payment early on in your business ownership. Additionally, since the services are scalable, you don’t have to worry so much about outgrowing your web server or software — a good company can help scale the service to meet your needs.

As you can see, cloud computing and SaaS are both tools that can help your business be the best it can be. Learn more about how you can utilize these tools on a day to day basis to handle the technical side of your company, giving you more time to spend on other important business.