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Go Ahead and Shoot the Server: End of Microsoft Small Business Server Inspires Cloud Adoption with Small Businesses

shoot_the_serverMicrosoft has made a decision to include more “cloud” capability in its offerings for small business, ending the life of the successful Small Business Server line and replacing it within the Windows Server 2012 family.  Some businesses are continuing with locally installed servers and are upgrading to Windows 2012 Essentials (or other editions) for in-house use, but more businesses every day are electing to deploy their servers and systems in the cloud instead.

Back when Microsoft introduced the Small Business Server, small business owners found that it was now really easy to implement way more technology in the business than they could directly support.  In one happy little package the SMB could get Windows Server, Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, Remote Web Access, an internal Company Website and more.  Information technology service companies, on the other hand, found it to be a big driver for delivering equipment and services to small business customers, and the product line’s adoption and implementation numbers grew.  Even the smallest of businesses could enjoy enterprise-class email, file and document sharing, client-server applications and remote access for a (relatively) affordable price.  It was this type of offering which created opportunity for server virtualization technologies to be used in small business, as the various server types each benefitted from their own “sandbox”, and IT providers recognized another opportunity to leverage their expertise at the customer location.

Business use of technology continues to expand rapidly so it makes sense that the Small Business Server offering from Microsoft is pretty popular.  In fact, Foresitetech.com says in an article on the subject that “The overwhelming majority of small businesses (80%) with less than 75 employees use Microsoft’s Small Business Server (SBS) software.”

But this fast-paced world of technology continues to move along, and Microsoft has ended the life of the SBS 2011 product.  In its place, small business customers are encouraged to upgrade to one of the editions of Windows Server 2012 as a replacement for their beloved SBS and hopefully they can find an edition which (affordably) delivers the functionality and features the business has come to rely on.  Unfortunately, there isn’t an edition of Windows Server 2012 that offers quite what SBS did, so now there is a big buying decision for the customer.  As the Clash sang it: “do I stay or do I go?”

Microsoft’s elimination of the feature-rich and friendly-sounding Small Business Server has created a lot of opportunity for VARs and IT service providers to move their customers to cloud services, SaaS solutions and hosted environments.  Particularly as information technology continues to become more complex, small businesses (well, businesses of all sizes) are recognizing that they may be better off focusing on running the business operation and managing the company as opposed to spending a lot of focus on IT system purchasing, installation, administration and management.  They have come to understand that IT services are critical to the business, but the server doesn’t have to be under the front desk or in a back closet in order to function for the business.  There is simply too much evidence in the market for these business owners to ignore;  shooting the server is now a viable option.

Every day more business owners are being inspired to [shoot their servers] seek out the services that will allow them to continue to benefit from innovations in technology while relieving them of the direct responsibilities of equipment purchasing, implementation, administration and lifecycle management.  Cloud services deliver this capability, and channel partners and Value Added Resellers should recognize their opportunity to get inspired as well, and to start offering cloud-based and hosted services to their customers and capture the “buying decision” opportunity that Microsoft has created.

Ready. Aim. Fire.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

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Keeping Up with Expectations: Buyer Satisfaction and the Customer Experience

Keeping Up with Expectations: Buyer Satisfaction and the Customer Experience

There used to be saying in business that the customer is always right and anything or everything should be done to make the customer happy, even if it includes throwing someone under a bus.  On the other hand, some professionals in sales and service would contend that keeping the company mission in mind and fairly representing the company side of things is a better way even if the customer goes away mad.  Realistically, both mentalities have some merit, and it is the challenge of finding balance between making customers happy and doing what is right for the business that makes things difficult.  What many businesses fail to recognize is that they are no longer directly responsible for setting the customer expectation, so they must understand and adapt to the environment and influences impacting the buyer in order offer a customer experience that satisfies.

A customer experience is not simply what happens after someone buys.  The customer experience is composed of the entire life cycle of interactions between the company and the buyer, including any “impressions” the buyer may have experienced through social venues, personal interactions and in media.  Creating and managing the customer experience doesn’t mean simply tracking interactions like sales calls and emails, as with a customer relationship management or sales force solution.  Crafting a customer experience embodies all aspects of the business – from the outside face shown to the public and market to the internal mechanisms that help get work done, the attitudes of the people involved, and the influences of others.

Businesses used to have more sway over how their customer experience flowed, and a great bunch of people providing quality services would generally be a “win” with the buyer.  In today’s market, the table has turned and it is the consumer who dictates what, exactly, they want their customer experience to be.  If the experience doesn’t meet with expectations, it is likely to be a failure regardless of how well the company executes on it.  The exceptional difficulty introduced is that each and every buyer is different – has different motivations and priorities and agendas – and meeting all the expectations of a diverse audience is not easily accomplished.

It’s sort of like with those advertisements you see now, where prospective college students aren’t willing to accept the “old way” of getting an education.  They want to have classes that interest them, they expect to get educated when and where it is right for them, and to get that education in a manner that fits better into the way of life they imagine.   Everyone wants it “my way”, and they’re getting it because they have come to understand that technology and the Internet have made it possible.

Technology and information systems are the foundations of creating and delivering a customer experience and level of service which will keep customers engaged and coming back for more.  Businesses have been trained to look to technology advances and identify opportunities to leverage new developments towards the defined business goal.  In the market that has now developed, where social and mobile computing are the norms, it is the consumer rather than the technology which is driving change.

The individual experience – how the buyer perceives the solution to fit within their business and lifestyle, and how the buyer benefits from the interaction – has become the basis for measuring quality of service and delivery.  Regardless of how technically perfect and flawless a product or service may be, the overall customer experience is the basis on which a stay or go decision is formed.

This shift in focus has changed how businesses view service delivery and support performance, and has introduced the concept that every department in the business should act a little bit like the marketing department – listening to and learning what the buyer deems important and adjusting the process or message based on the finding.  By placing a focus on the buyer priorities and developing an approach that allows a buyer to guide their own experiences with the company, businesses are finding great success in engaging with increasingly demanding buyers and improving overall satisfaction with the experience.

Make sense?

J

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Why #Accountants Should Implement #Cloud Services | QuickBooks and Beyond

Why Accountants Should Implement Cloud Services

Most professional accounting service providers, accounting pros included, are recognizing that customers are increasingly demanding lower costs for service but want more flexible methods for obtaining the service. Where the business value of the service provided used to be enough, providers are now expected to deliver their services how and when clients want them delivered.

Evidence of the mobile and social impacts of technology is visible everywhere, and no business is immune to the requirement to adapt or perish. Rather than viewing the shift in technology application and use as a threat to previous well-rehearsed process models, wise practitioners are finding opportunity to change things around a bit, facilitating workflow and process improvements and creating new opportunities where they didn’t previously exist.

Breaking Down Time and Distance Barriers

via Why Accountants Should Implement Cloud Services | QuickBooks and Beyond.

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Small #NonProfits, Crummy Computers and the #Cloud

Small NonProfits, Crummy Computers and the Cloud

There are many benefits included in the “value proposition” for cloud computing models, but there are some hidden gems in terms of how these outsourced IT models can specifically and directly address one of the biggest problems facing many smaller nonprofit organizations: they have to use old, outdated, and often just pretty crummy equipment. But now it’s OK, because even crummy old PCs can work just fine when the applications are hosted in the cloud.

picture-pcSmall nonprofit organizations often rely exclusively on donations to keep the business running.  Donations don’t always come in the form of dollars; sometimes donations include used computer equipment.  For many nonprofits, using donated equipment is the only option they have due to various budgeting constraints, and nonprofits need computers just as badly as any other business. Not only do these underfunded businesses have to try to operate with what most users would consider to be sub-par equipment, they frequently operate their systems and networks without the aid of skilled or experienced technicians.  For a small nonprofit organization, keeping up with business is tough when the computers and software aren’t able to fully meet the need.

To complicate things even more, many people working in smaller nonprofit organizations are mobile workers – functioning either as part-time participants or users who simply need to work from a variety of possible locations.  And they almost always have to use their own mobile devices.  Supporting a remote or mobile workforce is particularly challenging when even the most basic of computing requirements are barely met, so addressing the variables of everyone having their own mobile devices and remote computers is frightful at best.

With the introduction of cloud computing, affordable broadband access, and value-priced application hosting services, small nonprofit organizations finally have a workable answer.  Working with an application hosting provider, the business can move applications and data to outsourced infrastructure, where the solution is effectively delivered back in the form of a subscription service.

Accessing applications and data on central servers, and using those applications from a “virtual” or hosted desktop, can allow these small businesses to use current versions of business applications without having to purchase the powerful desktop or portable computers necessary to run them.  The applications run from the host’s servers, reducing the local PC’s involvement to handling the display, keyboard and mouse inputs, and printer outputs.  Even older computers which would be incapable of running current versions of applications like Microsoft Office or QuickBooks are generally able to access and run those applications from the cloud.

Predicting costs of operations is essential for any business but is crucial for the nonprofit.  Budgeting around a limited financial resource, small nonprofits are hard hit when unplanned failures in computer systems occur.  In many cases, there simply isn’t room in the budget to recover from these events, and productivity and performance suffers because of it.

Approaching IT services from an outsourced perspective, these small businesses can build a significant level of predictability into their business technology costs – and get higher levels of fault tolerance and disaster recovery capability along with it.  The hosting service is responsible for maintaining the operating environment, securing the systems, backing up the data, and keeping things running.  The costs associated with server hardware failures, and even regular server and system maintenance, are covered in the subscription service.  This means that unexpected break/fix, update and maintenance costs are no longer of concern.

Every small business, not just the nonprofit, should explore the options available to them with cloud and application hosting services.  Performance within any organization depends on the systems and tools available to get work done.  Owning the problem of managing and maintaining the information technology platforms and systems makes little sense these days; better to outsource the problems to a professional service provider.  Not only can this type of service introduce predictable costs for business IT services, it makes working with crummy old donated equipment a workable situation.

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetMake Sense?

J

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Turning a Product or Service into a Solution: the Value Add of a Reseller

Turning a Product or Service into a Solution: the Value Add of a Reseller

There is quite a bit of chatter on the web and among IT resellers about how opportunities to serve business customers are diminishing, yet business adoption of cloud computing, managed services, and mobile technologies is growing tremendously.  It seems that use of technology is increasing, but the opportunity for “traditional” IT resellers and channel partners to make money by selling IT-related products and services is diminishing.  This is not new, and is simply a finer form of the problem that has been revealing itself for years.  In order to provide value, suppliers must provide businesses with solutions to business problems rather than just trying to sell them products and services with a hefty profit margin.

Whether it is a physical item like a computer or an intangible item like consulting services, businesses will buy if they see value in it.  In the eyes of the consumer, the value is likely tied to far more than the item at hand; the value tracks to some expectation of business benefit to be achieved now and in the future.  Businesses will pay for solutions to problems they experience more readily than they will pay for shiny things or big ideas, and it is this truth that many “value added” resellers tend to forget even though it is part of their business description.

For many years channel resellers have struggled with competitive elements that reduce revenue and profit potential on core products and services.  When computer hardware prices dropped years ago and businesses found that going through distribution or direct to the manufacturer was often a more affordable path than buying through a reseller, the resellers re-trenched and began providing more value in terms of solution architecture, training and implementation support, and system management services.  As the delivery chain for information technology continues to compress and more products and services are delivered direct-to-consumer, the pressure for resellers to discover their “value add” grows even more severe.

The days of simply reselling technology products to make a living are quickly coming to an end. There isn’t enough profit margin available to eek out a living just selling hardware and software, and it takes a large volume of subscribing customers to reach any significant revenue level by reselling commoditized cloud services. Yet the customers are there to be won if the offerings represent solutions to defined and recognized business problems – solutions that introduce quantifiable business benefit rather than creating more business problems – and where the reseller plays an integral part in making the selection a successful one for the customer.

While it may seem that business cloud computing, hosting services and SaaS solutions all come with easy-to-read instructions, do-it-yourself installation and painless upkeep, the truth is often very different. Some consumers realize this when they go shopping for solutions and come up with more questions than answers; some only figure it out after they have made the wrong decision. Either way, these businesses could use the help of a professional who will provide the added value of taking time to understand the problem to be solved, consider the variables which exist in the client organization, and clear a path which takes the customer business to a better place.

Cloud computing and SaaS may be changing HOW businesses purchase and use technology, but it is not changing WHY they do it.  Businesses buy IT because they think it will solve a problem – they have expectations. The reseller can find and provide the added value: the reasoning (meeting expectation) for selecting the solution, why it is the right choice for the customer organization, and how they will ensure that the solution delivers the benefits described and expected.

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetMake Sense?

J

Read  more about Helping a Small Business Customer Choose Your Solution

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The Business Cloud: Hype versus Reality

The Business Cloud: Hype versus Reality

There is no doubt that cloud and mobile computing models are driving technology adoption as well as changing the landscape of how consumers and businesses purchase and use IT.  Accompanying any great shift – which in this case is fueled not simply by cloud technologies but by social computing – are the purveyors of propaganda and hype.  Cloud computing and social media won’t make you popular, is not always safe or free, and it doesn’t whiten your teeth. What it can do is help businesses increase agility, collect and use information better and reduce the cost of change. There are many benefits to be achieved with cloud computing models, yet many providers continue to play on the hype rather taking the more difficult road of communicating how their solution actually solves real business problems.

Gartner research tracks this type of activity, producing reports offering assessments of the “maturity, business benefit and future direction of over 1,900 technologies”.  In the Gartner 2011 Hype Cycle Special Report, entries were grouped into 76 different “Hype Cycles”, revealing the similar patterns of “over-enthusiasm, disillusionment, and eventual realism” that comes with every new technology or innovation.  Hoping to provide guidance business IT decision makers, the report intends to inform businesses about when they should consider adopting technologies or IT models in order maximize the value of the approach.

Yet the market is bursting with definitions for “cloud computing”, and services providers offer their wares with varying levels of service and capability.  It’s really difficult to compare one private cloud solution to another, as they are all seemingly offering the same value proposition described in the same language – and none of it really describing what the solution is, how the business takes the greatest advantage of it, and what disruption can be expected along the way. Layer on top of that confusion a big heap of expectation, and the belief that cloud computing technologies are somehow different from “real” on-premise systems in that they are not subject to the same potential for breakage, failure, or unexpected cost.

elastic-2

For example, even though Amazon may use the term “elastic”, cloud computing does not automatically create a stretchy and eternally-dynamic resource that can grow without end.   There are still limitations and costs associated with growth.

There is also a great deal of hype around applications and their performance in cloud environments.  When a piece of software is poorly designed and crashes frequently on a local computer or network, it is just as likely that the application will perform poorly in the cloud. It’s simply a reality of software that even great products that are designed to run exactly the way they are being run don’t have a guarantee that nothing will ever go wrong. With cloud computing models, however, there may be a service provider working in the background to manage the systems and keep things running.  You simply might not notice the failures and hiccups as much, but they are still there.

And not all cloud services mean everyone is sharing servers and infrastructure.  While the term cloud generally applies to multiple scaled systems, it doesn’t mean that everyone shares everything and benefits from tremendous levels of redundancy and fault tolerance. In most cases, a solution described as a “private” cloud means that the service has been customized for the unique needs of the organization, and that there are resources of certain types allocated exclusively to the use of that customer. On the other hand, a private cloud may mean that the system elements are all contained within the business infrastructure, providing “cloud” type of services but being delivered from company resources.  There are a wide variety of ways to describe these configurations and approaches, and quite a bit of inconsistency in use of terminology.

The best thing for a business owner to do now is to just ignore the term “cloud” and simply consider how the business might leverage resources from service providers to gain more IT capability at reduced costs, and how outsourcing certain technology needs allows a greater focus on internal innovation and improvement.  Centralized management, improved security, disaster recovery, and increased mobility are all benefits to be realized with the right business cloud implementation.  Just because it is to be an outsourced solution does not mean that the business organization should not still architect and understand the solution they will depend on.  If this level of participation and understanding is not in place, the solution is unlikely to deliver the resulting benefits expected and hoped for.

Outsourced IT service, remote access and server-based computing aren’t new concepts.  It still requires using common sense and reasoning when considering any change in business technology and the innovative application of IT in a business – this cannot be outsourced.  When it comes to cloud computing… to put it bluntly, just avoid the hype and stay away from unrealistic marketing and sales messaging.  If it sounds too good to be true… it probably is.  Technology hasn’t come that far.

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetMake Sense?

J