How Walker’s Small Engine Runs Their Dealership From Anywhere with Ideal Cloud

In early 2019, Suzanne Walker and her husband, Larry, took a leap of faith. They saw an opportunity to bring quality outdoor power equipment and reliable service to their community, so they purchased the remaining inventory and fixtures from a recently closed dealership, leased the building, and opened Walker’s Small Engine & Equipment, LLC in Ivor, VA.

At first, they kept things simple, using the on-premises server that came with the purchase to run their dealership operations. But it didn’t take long for frustration to set in. The aging system was unreliable, backups were a daily chore, and every technical hiccup meant lost time and added stress.

Then, the server died completely. That’s when they decided it was time to upgrade to Ideal Cloud. Today, Walker’s Small Engine runs smoother, faster, and without the constant worry of server failures—and those old, outdated servers? They’re still sitting unplugged in the back, a reminder of the challenges they left behind.

What was your dealership setup like before you transitioned to Ideal Cloud?

Suzanne: “We had a server on-premises, and then we had a few desktop computers. The server is part of the equipment purchase that we got from another dealership, and it basically died.

At the time, the initial investment wasn’t there for me. Then, every time something would happen, the computer would go down, the backups wouldn’t work, and my husband and I just kept saying, if we had the Cloud, we wouldn’t have to do this. If we had the Cloud, we wouldn’t have to do a backup every night.

So then we just decided to do it and pull the trigger, and it was great. We haven’t really looked back. We haven’t been sorry about it for sure.”

What was the transition to Ideal Cloud like for you and your team?

Suzanne: “I think it took way less time than we had anticipated. I mean, I guess not remembering it being a big deal is probably the biggest thing. We just switched.”

What are the most significant changes you’ve experienced since upgrading to Ideal Cloud?

Suzanne: “Honestly, the biggest thing that the Cloud did for me is I can log in on my laptop at home. I can literally log in on my laptop if I’m sick or if my kid is sick or if at 10 o’clock at night, my husband says, well, what do we do about so-and-so?

I can just open up my laptop and log right in from the house. And it’s great because there are no extra steps. It’s pretty seamless.”

How has Ideal Cloud affected your ability to serve customers?

Suzanne: “This year, we did a county fair, which is like a four-day thing, and I could have the laptop open with all our parts available, our equipment inventory.

I sold a piece of equipment to somebody that was there. We sold some smaller stuff, too, and I could do the transaction and print the receipt right there at the fair instead of saying I’ll email you the receipt and have to go back on Sunday and enter all the transactions.”

What advice do you have for someone else who is looking to switch their dealership to the Cloud?

Suzanne: “I think it was the best decision we ever made.

One, I don’t have to stress about servers or power outages or a fire because the information is stored somewhere else. The onus is on you guys instead of on me, so I don’t have to worry.

When all the hurricanes happened in Western North Carolina, all I could think of was all the businesses that were literally wiped out. All of my accounting information would be gone, all of the sales. I wouldn’t have any of that if I didn’t do the Cloud.

I think for me, it’s a no-brainer.

I wish we would have done it as soon as it was available. I would have saved myself buying backup drives and buying a whole new server. We spent three grand on the server that we used for a year or so.”