On August 14th, Google Inc. (GOOG) bestowed Westborough, MA with the honor of “digital capital” of Massachusetts as a 2013 eCity. Research firm Ipsos and Google analyzed how small businesses in communities across the state utilize the Internet to market and grow their businesses. Factors in Google’s and Ipsos’ analysis included the number of small businesses actively using web sites, web services, mobile apps, and cloud services.
Beyond a robust community of small businesses using Internet-based technologies to market their businesses and grow, Westborough is home to many firms that provide the infrastructure and services. With more than 600 employees in Westborough, the electronic medical records firm eClinicalWorks, LLC provides advanced IT solutions for more than 236,000 providers and 472,000 healthcare professionals across all 50 states.
Smaller, and less well known, Cumulus Global helps small and midsize businesses, schools, nonprofits, and governments move to cloud computing solutions. The eight person firm has resided in Westborough for more than 8 years in modest offices off Bellows Road, behind the Post Office.
A Google Apps Premier SMB Reseller, Cumulus Global offers a wide range of cloud and hosted solutions, including managed file services, cloud storage, cloud servers, and off-site backup services. Cumulus Global is also authorized to offer Google Apps for Government and Chromebooks for Education and Business.
“We are proud to help local businesses, and those across the country, improve their IT solutions and profitability”, stated Allen Falcon, CEO of Cumulus Global. “And, our team finds working with K-12 schools inspiring. It is great to see how technology can transform the classroom in creative and effective ways.”
As acceptance of cloud computing grows, Cumulus Global continues to see rapid growth. Sales jumped from under $1 million in 2011 to over $3 million in 2012. The firm is on track to exceed $6 million in sales for 2013 with more than 1100 customers from Maine to Hawaii.
According to Paul Drotch, Cumulus Global’s CFO, much of the growth is attributable to expanding services to K-12 schools and districts. “With schools moving to Google Apps for Education and deploying Chromebooks in the classroom, the opportunity has exceeded our expectations.”
To further the options available for small businesses, Cumulus Global recently began offering advanced cloud solution packages that give companies secure, managed file services and virtual servers in the cloud. “We are going beyond email and calendars”, notes Chris Caldwell, Cumulus Global’s co-founder and COO. “Our integrated solutions replace in-house servers with secure cloud services that increase accessibility and reliability.”
Going forward, Cumulus Global is continuing to expand. In July, the company opened its first remote office in New York City, and is currently planning the launch of several new services.
For schools, adding Google Apps Vault is affordable and easy.
One of the challenges of cloud computing solutions is effectively managing the services. While most cloud services let you manage the service, they do not always provide tools that help manage how the service is used. As a BetterCloud Preferred Partner, Cumulus Global offers organizations using Google Apps for Business, Education, and Government an admin-friendly cloud management tool. FlashPanel’s simplifies many management tasks, enhances administrators’ ability to secure and control the Google Apps domain, automates common management tasks, and enables delegation of responsibilities.
