Josh Rowe from RealAs explains how cloud-based tools can help you hammer out a business strategy: My Best Tech

The one technology I can’t live without – and it’s a ubiquitous thing – is what’s known as SaaS (software as a service), and now often gets called cloud services.

I’m flying up to Sydney tomorrow for a face-to-face meeting, but I have all the materials I need in front of me and can work on them right now. For me, this ability to collaborate is the most important thing. We mostly use the Google suite of tools – so Google Docs, Google Drive and the like – but you could also use DropBox, or something else to do the same thing.

Aside from Google’s tools, there’s also [cloud-based project management platform] Trello and Zendesk. Here are some other cloud tools I regularly use.

Why that’s important is it allows us to share information behind-the-scenes with staff. Why that’s important is because we have staff here in Australia, but we also have support and developers offshore. So we need a way to communicate across time zones.

One of the features of Google’s tools is called Templates, and there’s one in particular that I’m using. We’re doing strategic planning at the moment, looking at what we’ve achieved and where we want to go. We’re using the Business Model Template for that.

It covers the problem, solution, key metrics, cost structure, unique value proposition, unfair advantages, customer segments, channels and revenue streams. I’ve been able to share it inside and outside to test our strategy, and the results will form our overarching strategy going forward.

A full explanation of the theory behind the Business Model Template can be found here.