Washington Works Blog

For years, business owners viewed cloud security as a technical necessity; a line item on the balance sheet tucked away under IT expenses, right next to printer ink and laptop repairs. But as we navigate the landscape of 2026, the narrative has fundamentally shifted.

SMBs tend to pride themselves on how well they’re able to treat their customers. Larger enterprises sometimes lack the personalized attention that customers of small businesses get, despite having the tools to make it happen. Small businesses can also achieve this goal, and it’s all thanks to customer relationship management solutions. The right tool can improve sales, marketing efforts, and even customer satisfaction.

One piece of technology that's become essential to modern business is the cloud. You hear the term constantly, but what does it actually mean for your business, especially as we navigate 2025? Today, we unpack this very topic.

Our team specializes in proactive business technology support, and helping organizations understand and leverage the cloud is a core part of what we do. Forget confusing jargon; let's break down what the cloud is and why it's a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes.

If you’re a smart manager, you're always looking for ways to optimize spending and enhance your organization’s ability to be efficient. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) isn't just a trendy tech term; it's a strategic financial move that can significantly impact your bottom line. Today, we get into how VoIP translates to real cost savings.

How much time and money do you spend wrestling with your business’ software? Between updates, license renewals, and that one employee who keeps accidentally deleting their email app, it’s enough to make you want to scream. Unfortunately, software is kind of non-negotiable. You need it. So, should you go old school and buy it outright, or should you consider moving to the cloud and employing Software-as-a-Service?

Good communication is essential for any business. It can be as basic as having a phone line or as advanced as using tools that help your business grow. For small businesses, communication can be challenging. Limited budgets, growing teams, and the need to stay flexible often make traditional systems too expensive or outdated. That’s where cloud-hosted communications come in as a modern and better option.

Cloud computing has become a really useful tool for businesses, allowing them to grow, be more flexible, and save money. But even with all its benefits, businesses face some challenges when using cloud services. One big issue is keeping data safe and private.

Cutting costs on IT while maintaining the security you depend on requires a fair amount of consideration. One of the most effective ways to maintain security and manage IT costs is through the use of cloud services. The problem is that there are horror stories surrounding data security in the cloud that persist even as a larger and larger percentage of people and businesses use the cloud for their computing needs. This month, we take a brief look at how the cloud serves to cut down their computing costs. 

The cloud has revolutionized how businesses operate across various industries, particularly in terms of financial efficiency. Today, we'll explore three significant ways your business can cut costs by integrating cloud solutions into your operations.

Many organizations have become reliant on cloud computing, which provides many benefits like cost savings and access to computing resources. However, they do run into complications with data security. One way to gain control and maintain accessibility is to use a private cloud. We’ll discuss why a business would consider using the private cloud over the more affordable public cloud platforms available today.

The cloud has the potential to revolutionize a company’s operations in countless ways. Let's explore the cloud and how it can support your operational goals and needs.

The cloud comes in a few different forms. You have private cloud solutions, which are those that a business maintains in-house for their own use, and you have public cloud solutions, which are those that an external business hosts and provides to subscribers. While both have their place in modern business operations, we wanted to take a few moments to focus on the public cloud and the various benefits that it has to offer.

Most businesses who utilize the cloud report that they have managed to cut costs while still getting the resources they need to perform to spec. Businesses can use the cloud for processing and storing data, as well as application deployment, making it a very dynamic solution to a business’ needs. However, you cannot make decisions based on cost alone. Here are some other factors to consider.

The telephone, as a technology, has been around for quite a while, more or less serving businesses for that entire time. Of course, we’ve seen quite a few advancements in telephony over the years, which has helped it to remain a cornerstone of modern business communications to this day in the form of Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

Rarely is there a problem that a cloud solution cannot fix, and as such, businesses are more often turning to the cloud to find ways to handle the many challenges presented to them on a daily basis. Is this reliance on the cloud a good thing, or does it hold businesses back? Let’s take a look at what can happen as a result of overreliance on the cloud.

Your business depends on software for many of its day-to-day operations, whether it’s an email system, productivity suite, or other specialized software. When it comes to acquiring software, you have two options: the traditional method of acquisition, i.e. buying it from a vendor, or subscribing to a Software as a Service solution. What are the differences and how can you make sure your organization is getting value out of its investment?

Cloud computing has been touted as one of the most innovative and important technologies for smaller businesses as they look to compete with larger organizations. How it makes this possible is by offering the dynamic computing environments that can help bring these smaller businesses into the information age without saddling them with massive infrastructure costs while doing so. That’s not to say that the cloud is cheap by any means, and this month we will discuss how cloud computing is a great option and how if it isn’t managed properly, it can be problematic for the businesses that rely on it. 

When you think of the government, you don’t immediately think of an organization that is at the forefront of innovation. Sure, they have all that money at their disposal, but most of it goes here and there to try to help the people of a constituency; and, frankly it isn’t terribly efficient. What may surprise you is that governments are embracing cloud services and it tends to benefit everyone. Let’s see how governments are taking advantage of cloud computing.

Cloud computing is being used by nearly everyone nowadays, and most of the time it presents a lot of value that can’t be found with purchasing, managing, and maintaining an in-house computing infrastructure. As an organization begins moving more and more of their computing to the cloud, there is a situation that arises that industry professionals call “cloud sprawl”. 

You might be familiar with the concept of hosting a service or application in-house on your own server units, and if you are, you know all about the struggles that come along with doing so. But what if we told you that you can get the same benefits of hosting your own applications and IT systems without the need for any of the bulky equipment taking up space in your office? Yes, that’s right—you too can host your business applications, even if you do not have the space to do so, and it’s all thanks to the cloud.