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Cloud technology has become so integral to running a business that it’s easy to forget how we ever lived without it. Salespeople stream company videos from YouTube during meetings with leads, human resources managers organize company calendars in web browser apps, and almost everyone sends emails from cloud-based inboxes.

Did you know that nearly half of all the data breaches businesses suffer occur at the hands of their vendors? With small businesses having dozens of vendors and large enterprises having hundreds, it’s even more important now for companies to manage the risks across the supply chain.

You know the drill: you’ve just created an online account, and now you’re asked to come up with a strong password. Certain sites even have password guidelines and will judge the strength of your password: Use at least 12 characters! Use a variety of letters, numbers, punctuation, and special characters! Use upper- and lowercase for letters!

Aside from those, they have other rules you need to remember: Do not use real words found in a dictionary! Do not use real words spelled backwards! Never use your birthday, driver’s license number, street name, favorite color! Never use “password,” “123456789,” “1111111111,” “abc123,” and “qwerty” as passwords!

And so you freeze.

It’s a simple question, but one that businesses need to answer. Who do we put first — the customer or the employee? For this chicken-and-egg debate, there’s actually a clear answer. But it may not be what you expect.

The argument for the customer

When it comes to customer satisfaction, there’s no dearth of quotes: The customer is always right.

If you think that AI isn’t already being used to create content in official publications, think again. Such notable sources as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, The Associated Press, and Yahoo! Sports are already generating content with AI. Granted, these stories are mostly the who, what, when, and where variety, like sports shorts that focus on successes, scores, and statistics.

The issues of online security and privacy continue to be of utmost concern for businesses. Last year, nearly half a billion personal records was stolen by hackers; that’s a 126 percent jump from 2017. And so far in 2019, hackers have stolen over $4 billion via crypto crimes.

Having a full schedule isn’t necessarily a sign that someone manages his or her time effectively. Chances are, the opposite is the case. There’s far more to achieving an optimal work-life balance than trying to get your calendar filled up. Having a full diary is more likely a sign of stress and impending burnout.

Even just a decade ago, artificial intelligence (AI) was merely science fiction. Today, it’s a rapidly growing force in the technology sector, and it’s changing business operations beyond measure. Many leading tech companies, as well as countless innovative startups, are now integrating AI into their software to streamline operations and help users make sense of the enormous amount of data being captured from digital workflows.

As a business owner, you are keenly aware of how technology is an integral part of commerce these days. You’ve been told countless times that technology helps drive growth and innovation, increases your competitive advantage, and improves internal and external communication in your organization.

There’s a huge amount of enthusiasm around cloud computing as more businesses take advantage of its promises of greatly improved scalability, productivity, and cost savings. But while these benefits are undeniable, particularly for small organizations, it takes time to migrate to the cloud.