GREAT 76 IDEA: Run Your Business in the Cloud

Emily Borders, cofounder of Borders + Gratehouse, a San Francisco-based public relations (PR) firm, practices what she preaches. “We work with technology companies across a number of industries that are providing technology solutions for small businesses,” said Borders, who left a big PR agency to start her own business in 2007.

Borders works with six people in San Francisco. Four other professionals in her firm work from their homes in Chicago. “When we started the company, we were faced with a lot of questions about how to set up the infrastructure of the business,” she said.

To walk the talk, she relies on her clients' services to manage her business every day. For example, she's hired freelance talent through Elance.com. She uses Ring Central's “cloud-based” phone service and turns to RocketLawyer.com for legal services. They use Fresh Books for bookkeeping.

Since public relations relies on collaboration, they need to share files. Borders said they started using free platforms like Google Docs, but soon realized they needed something more professional. Now they use Egnyte, an online file server that works like a big company file server.

“We have people in Chicago and Atlanta who are all unified and able to share files with our clients, for a monthly fee of $10 to $60, based on the number of users.”

She has other favorite cloud-based tools, including a program called Slide Rocket. “It allows you to create a Power Point® presentation online,” she explained. “You can integrate a Twitter feed and then link it to YouTube.”

The company also uses High Rise, a customer relationship management tool developed by 37signals.com. “We put all our contacts in there and we can easily see what anyone on the team is doing for clients and prospects. I really love it.”

Borders said, “It can be daunting to put a new business together, but these cloud-based services have helped us establish our business.”