Cloudy With A Chance Of Trillions 💸

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Build your playbook with 30+ free SOP templates

Documenting your policies and procedures used to be really hard. But not anymore. Our free SOP and process templates make building your business playbook easy, so you can start training your team faster.

All you need to do is find any and all policies that your team needs and start editing to make them your own. (Spoiler: Get even more free templates in the Trainual app!)

👉  Get the SOP templates.

A SILVER LINING

The cloud is all sunshine since the pandemic

Thanks to the pandemic, the cloud is absolutely booming. Here's our proof:

• Cloud companies are now collectively worth roughly $2T (doubled from 2020)
• 2x as many cloud companies went public in 2020 than in 2019
• The top 100 cloud companies grew 80% on average YoY
• 3 cloud companies are worth over $200B each - last year, there were none

And the catalyst for the sudden boom? That we're all working from home.

Source: Funraise

Since the pandemic hit, 90% of companies have adopted some sort of cloud-based technology. That way, they could keep doing their routine tasks (like taking online payments) from anywhere with internet access. 

But even if we all head back to the office tomorrow, the cloud is here to stay. Because seemingly every day, another cloud solution pops up to make running your SMB easier (and cheaper). Such as Intercom for CX, Gusto for payroll/benefits, and Trainual for training and onboarding. 

And no business problem is off-limits. Even DE&I progress can be tracked in a cloud-based app. So, if you’re still looking for that perfect business solution, chances are good your answer lies in the cloud.

👉  Read the full report here.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT

4 ways to rally your team around change

Every business will inevitably face changes – whether it’s process updates, system overhauls, or personnel switches. But the challenge is implementing those changes effectively while also getting buy-in from your team. That’s where change management comes into play!

Simply put, change management is getting employees to embrace what your company should look like moving forward. And ultimately, it makes whatever your company is going through easier.

But despite "change management" getting thrown around this past year, it's not just another buzzword. In fact, companies are 6x more likely to meet or exceed objectives when they invest in change management.

Here are a few easy ways to start managing change today:

• Train for resilience. Make change your company norm by consistently improving processes. That way, unplanned change feels more manageable.
• Be transparent. Start telling your team what's happening as soon as you know. Then, give constant updates on any new information.
• Don’t let empathy get in the way. Meaning, talk about how your team feels about the change. But don't let their feelings get in the way of it happening.
• Measure the results. Moving forward, these numbers will prove that your company is resilient. And it'll make the next big change a bit easier.  

👉 Get the full guide to change management.

THE ROBOT REVOLUTION

Copy.ai raised $2.9M so robots can write for you

Social media advertising might get all the hype, but content marketing is still the ringer. In fact, content marketing costs roughly 62% less than traditional marketing. And it generates 3x as many leads. 

That's because you can use it to educate leads, establish credibility, and solve your customer's problems - without being super sales-y (ew). 

But we'll just say it - getting content marketing right is freaking hard. So, it's not totally surprising that Copy.ai raised $2.9M in VC funding. 

Using just a few pieces of information (like topic, audience, and type of content), Copy.ai spits out content. In as little as 30 seconds. And it's eerily human-like, thanks to GPT-3 technology. 

But content marketers shouldn't start sweating yet. The content produced still needs editing (Copy.ai says so themselves) because GPT-3 doesn't know what the words actually mean. So, it needs a human to check that it's not spitting out nonsense. 

Copywriters are currently using the tool to brainstorm ideas, clear writer's block, and whip up the first draft. Meaning, more marketing content in a lot less time! 

(And before you ask, no - we didn't use it to write this post. 😎)

👉 Get the full breakdown of why it's a big deal.

TL;DR

Other news you'll want to know

• 2 small business solutions are better than one. That's why Trainual partnered with Slack to get you the answers you need - without the back-and-forth.
• SPAC’s are the hottest thing on Wall Street since (we hate to say it) GameStop. But what the heck are they? Here’s what you need to know.
• For years, big tech has leaned on Wikipedia at no cost. But with the launch of Wikimedia Enterprise, the online encyclopedia is forcing companies to pay up.