Fear of cloud convenience

Not long ago, the world was turned upside down when Google presented its voice robot. Google Duplex makes lifelike phone calls and makes an appointment at the hair salon without the hairdresser realizing that there is no human being on the other end of the line. People are constantly looking for ways to make life easier, but not everyone finds this desirable. This instills fear. I also notice this every day in my work, when I talk to our customers about migrating to the cloud.

Software is moving to the cloud. Basware, of which ICreative is a reseller, is no exception and is very clearly moving with this trend. The road to Software-as-a-Service (Saas) seems inevitable. That makes me have daily conversations with our customers about the convenience that Basware Alusta SaaS - Basware's cloud application - brings.

This eliminates the need for businesses to have hardware, ensures security by default and makes the software available on any device. Basware hosts the software at Amazon Web Services, where security and backups are part of the core business. Complicated upgrades are also no longer necessary because users always have the latest version of the software.

IT as a core business

When companies see what we can do for them, it is still somewhat oppressive for many. This is mainly prompted by the fact that the (repetitive) work they do now will be taken over by technology. But I actually see this as an advantage. This is work they should no longer be doing in this day and age.

After all, the purchase-to-pay process is not the core business of these companies. IT staff are not there for the technical management of IT systems that do not directly affect the company's core business, such as Basware's application.

Making better use of time

In short, advancing technology will solve big and small problems. Employees should see this not as a threat to their jobs, but as an opportunity. The time that remains can be used differently; better utilized.

The extra time can be invested, for example, in improving supplier relations. By keeping better contact with suppliers, more unambiguous agreements can be made, for example about the way of invoicing. There is still much to be gained here. And in this way, the same employee adds value to the entire chain, keeping the autonomy of our humanity intact.