MultiValue Covid-19 Catchup – Pick Cloud

Elkie Holland caught up with Mark Pick of Pick Cloud – here's the round-up.

ELKIE: How has COVID-19 affected your daily internal way of working within Pick Cloud? 

Fortunately for us, we have always had the ability to work remotely. When we were asked to initiate a social distancing plan, we already had one in place. One of the advantages of working at Pick Cloud is every one of our employees has the ability to work remotely or from their home offices. We have always been a cloud-based company, so we don’t require any physical office space to operate. In fact, our employees are a lot more productive, since we don’t have to drive to a physical location to start each and every day. 

ELKIE: What were your main challenges working through the pandemic?

We haven’t experienced any challenges so far that have affected our ability to provide service to our clients. In fact, our business has surged as a result of this awful pandemic. Currently we are looking for a few good people to consider joining our team and help us continue to grow in the booming MultiValue cloud market. We're currently looking to increase our team with people who have knowledge of both cloud technology and PICK. 

ELKIE: What were the main challenges that seemed to face your User Base ? 

One of the main challenges for the MultiValue/PICK user base has been adopting the working remote mentality. So many MultiValue clients today continue to operate from an on-premise server and aren’t prepared to work and access their servers remotely and securely. This is where our products and services can really help. We have years of cloud and MultiValue experience and know where all the pitfalls are when it comes to connecting and working remotely.

ELKIE: How do you feel you managed to help your User Base through this time? 

We have used our many years of cloud and MultiValue expertise. We are a CLOUD company first and foremost. All of our products and services are based on a cloud model, down to our OpenQM database as a service. This pandemic has actually exposed our strengths and allowed us to help the MultiValue community move to a cloud solution a lot faster. We have even waived setup fees for those who were affected by COVID-19.

ELKIE: Any suggestions or support for your users on how you can help moving forwards? 

Find and use a cloud provider that has done this before to ensure you follow the right path. Take time to test!!! We have had clients who tested their application but may have forgotten to test the simplest of tasks, like printing checks. What you think may be a small thing might have a large impact on your organization. There are so many unforeseen factors that many overlook or take for granted. 

ELKIE: Any wonderful feel-good Covid stories to share from yourselves or your customers?

We have several. All Vend Management is just one such example. They needed to access their server securely and remotely, and we helped them do a full migration over a weekend. They were very happy. “If it ain't broke doesn't mean it can't get better. If I had known moving to cloud computing was this smooth and cost-effective, I'd have made the move earlier.” They haven’t looked back and are actually looking ahead to what else they can accomplish now that they have moved to the cloud.

ELKIE: Any positives to come out of the Covid times ? 

Yes, it forced our clients and prospects to work remotely. They see how easily they can access the cloud and how secure, cost-effective and how fast the cloud really can be. They no longer have to worry about managing their on-premise equipment and can focus on what they do best – their business and bottom line.

ELKIE: What have been the effects so far on Pick Cloud? 

For Pick Cloud, it has been non-stop since the pandemic hit and companies have been forced to work remotely. We have seen an increase in business since March and have helped many companies move to the cloud. They haven’t looked back! Companies are scrambling to move to a more secure, reliable infrastructure that they can count on that won’t break the bank.

ELKIE: Was there anything you changed / concentrated on during Covid?

We’ve done what we have always done – helped MultiValue companies take advantage of the many new cloud technologies while maintaining a secure, reliable, and cost-effective solution.

ELKIE: What can you see in Pick Cloud’s near future? Maybe Conference in a new format? 

A lot more of the same! Lots of webinars and plenty of Zoom calls! We continue to educate the MultiValue base on the benefits of cloud computing and why working with companies like us can help them. Not only do we help companies save money, we help them transition into a more secure, reliable environment so they can focus on what they know best – their business!

ELKIE: And longer term? 

We are going to continue to do what we do best – providing MultiValue/Pick companies with a cost-effective, low latency, secure cloud solution. We have been doing this for many years and we are passionate about cloud and MultiValue.