Tag: cloud IT

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MSP, IT, Telecom, Channel: Convergence and the Cloud

Small and growing businesses have always relied upon various service providers and vendors to deliver the solutions required which support the business operation. Often viewed as the critical infrastructure of the business, phone and computer systems are among the first acquisitions a new business makes.  Phones and voice service, wired and wireless networks and all forms of communications infrastructure are part of IT and represent a large portion of the business information systems.

Small businesses used to have a phone guy they could call for phone stuff. The phone guy was a person or company who got phone lines installed, ran cabling for phones, installed phone systems and set up voicemail. The phone guy could help get cheaper long distance calling rates and train users on how to use the paging system and transfer calls.  The phone guy interacted mostly with the office manager or receptionist – the person in the office most likely to be “in charge” of the phone system, influencing these purchasing decisions greatly.

The computer guy, on the other hand, made sure the workstations and server were working, defragged hard drives, installed software and set up printers. The computer guy was the person or company that sold and supported the IT in the business, and often consulted with the business owner or line manager when it came to addressing information system requirements.

Telephony and networking is now clearly in the realm of IT, which changes how services are selected and purchasing is influenced. Computing and communications infrastructure, networking and mobile is all part of business IT. The separation of services – voice versus data – is gone.  The phone vendors and the IT suppliers are now the same company, providing the critical infrastructure, the platforms and the application services that businesses are buying. These service providers understand that the foundations for delivering voice and data services are the same; the skills of their techs and the tools they use have converged to the point where there is little separation of duties.

Cloud services and outsourced solution providers offering hosted PBX and virtual applications infrastructure have revealed to business owners that there is often little difference in what the phone guy and the computer guy can provide. Business owners want converged solutions: voice and data when and where they need it to support business operations. Just a little research reveals that these anytime/anywhere models are widely available and that the cloud is the key.

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.  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 has [been] created.

Ready. Aim. Fire.

Source: Go Ahead and Shoot the Server: End of Microsoft Small Business Server Inspires Cloud Adoption with Small Businesses « Cooper Mann Consulting

Recognition of the convergence of voice and data services and channels hasn’t really hit home for a lot of resellers and channel partners, and this has rightfully positioned providers on both sides of the equation as viewing the others as direct competitors.  The phone guy thinks he is his customer’s “trusted advisor”, and that the loyal customer will certainly come to him if there is ever a need.  As well does the computer guy believe that he is the trusted advisor, having the ear of the business owner and wielding enough influence to ensure a continued revenue-earning relationship.

In truth, both the phone guy and the computer guy probably have earned their business customer’s trust and were the go-to people when there was a new business need. The problem is that the customer may no longer call one or the other of their “go-to” guys because the forward-thinking guys are offering one-stop service that delivers everything the business needs.  The lines between phone and computer stuff are not so clearly drawn any longer; it is all cloud IT and full service providers are winning the customer business.

Channel resellers, agents and MSPs are all telling their SMB/SME customers the same things, and at a base level they’re selling the same things, too.  Everyone is talking about lower up front investments and improved business productivity… and what they’re all selling is cloud and virtual. “Businesses need cloud in order to compete; move CapX to OpX; mobile is the new office” and “remote workers and devices need a secure quality network”.

Whether it relates to telephone systems with voicemail, automated attendants and a little intelligent voice response thrown in, or if the deal is for servers and workstations, software and network cabling, it is all business information technology and the trusted advisor is the guy who can provide it all. Convergence has clearly arrived.

Make Sense?

J

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CIO, CFO, IT and Procuring the Cloud | buildingUp.biz

CIO, CFO, IT and Procuring the Cloud

For as long as there has been high technology use in business, there has been a struggle between the enterprise CFO and CIO for the power to make IT purchase decisions.   It isn’t rocket science… the reasons for the challenge are fairly straightforward.  The CFO wants to know what the expected return on the investment will be.  The CIO, on the other hand, recognizes that there is rarely a straight line to be drawn between IT expenditures and near-term positive business outcomes.  Sometimes it takes a while to fully realize the benefits of an IT project… and sometimes it’s necessary to spend the money just to maintain status quo.

While there may be indicators that the CFO’s influence in the enterprise is extending into areas where the CIO traditionally ruled (due – at least in part – to SaaS and the Cloud) there are also indicators that the role of the CIO is evolving rather than losing relevance.

A survey performed in 2011 by Gartner and Financial Executives International revealed a number of interesting results which indicated that the balance of IT procurement power was shifting within the enterprise.  344 senior financial executives were surveyed, and they revealed that:

  • in 45% of organizations, the CFO makes or leads IT investment strategy
  • about 75% of surveyed CFOs said they have little confidence in their own IT departments

A CFO.com article on the subject also mentioned a KPMG study from April 2011, in which it was reported that “73% of CFOs identified IT as the greatest risk to finance meeting its objectives”.

With the emergence of “cloud” computing solutions and the plethora of application and service options now available to businesses, some businesses have concluded that “the CFO is better equipped for the cloud world”.  The belief is that the CFO is more attuned to the processes of vendor management and contract term and condition negotiations, which are primary areas of focus when looking to obtain outsourced IT and application services.  The process of comparing pricing and service level agreements is more of a business process than a technology process, placing it squarely in the realm of the CFO.

The real issue here isn’t a struggle for power and influence; it’s a change in business priorities fueled by changes in technology and service models.  IT and the role of the CIO must focus on innovation and improvement of processes and profitability through efficiencies gained with technology, not on defragging hard drives and running software updates.  Brocade.com discusses this evolution of roles and focus with enterprise CIOs and CFOs in the release entitled The CIO Is Dead. Long Live the CIO. The Cloud Redefines the Role of the CIO

“ … the CIO role will evolve and policy enforcement, technology evangelism and mediation between business units and their services providers will become the key responsibilities for the CIO by 2020…. And rather than being replaced by the CFO in this shift in IT provisioning, two-thirds of respondents predicted that the roles of COO and CIO will merge as technology continues to become more operationally vital. http://newsroom.brocade.com/press-releases/the-cio-is-dead-long-live-the-cio-the-cloud-rede-nasdaq-brcd-977455

Who understands better than the internal IT department the time-consuming and frustrating nature of maintaining user environments and applications?  Who in the organization has the technical understanding, coupled with a direct business understanding, sufficient to explore new ways of approaching various process or workflow problems? I think most business IT managers would agree that addressing issues that have a potential to radically improve the way a business operates is much more challenging and interesting than selecting the right make and model of server.

via CIO, CFO, IT and Procuring the Cloud | buildingUp.biz.

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Cloud IT: Hiding Complexity and Risk

jmbunnyfeet

Cloud IT: Hiding Complexity and Risk

Cloud computing and Internet technologies have delivered previously unimagined capability for even the smallest of businesses – capability to compete, build brand recognition, and reach markets in remote geographies.  The mantra for businesses used to be “location, location, location”, but it’s become connectivity – perhaps even more than location – which now delivers business opportunity.  As technology has evolved, allowing businesses and consumers to connect regardless of time or place, the complexity of the systems and networks have also increased dramatically.  Where a business could once easily identify their various vendors or business service providers, the identification of those involved in the service ‘delivery chain’ are no longer so easily recognized.   Among the benefits of cloud computing technologies is the ability to reach beyond traditional boundaries.  The risk for many businesses is in not fully understanding how, and with whom, those boundaries are being crossed.

For many an enterprise, the convenience and efficiency introduced with cloud computing models overshadows the increased risk potential.  Service level agreements and vendor contracts are assumed to be sufficient to protect the business and its information assets, yet recent events (such as the recent reveals of PRISM and the actions of the National Security Agency) should cause businesses to look a little deeper at their entire provider network.  It’s not that the average business should be concerned about government snooping of their emails, but they should be aware of who has access to their systems and data, and which entities are responsible for which parts of the system.  It’s only prudent to know the details, and it is the best first step to mitigate business risk.

Enterprise Clouds are complex, sophisticated entities which invariably rely on a daisy-chain of third parties and contractors to help build, run and maintain their Cloud provider’s systems. The organizational and technical complexities are additive, resulting in increased systemic risk. Systemic risk is the least visible and hardest to eliminate, and those risks become real when the providers’ systemic risks become [yours].

The question is, how well does your Cloud provider manage the ecosystem of contractors and third parties that are farther down the food chain? This is even more relevant in the globalized workforce, where, paradoxically, Cloud and related technologies have greatly facilitated the outsourcing and offshoring of work to low-cost countries. http://www3.cfo.com/article/2013/6/data-security_prism-national-security-agency-edward-snowden-cloud-implications-vendor-management

Before executing a service agreement with an outsourced provider, make certain that the details of facility, connectivity, network, equipment, and other elements of the delivery and system are spelled out.  Business subscribers should know where the various points of failure exist, and which company is responsible for dealing with each.  If a carrier fails and connectivity to the data center is lost, the hosting service provider may be powerless to impact the situation, even though access to service is part of the SLA and requirement.  If a hosted software product has a vulnerability or fails to perform, the developer of the product is likely responsible, rather than a hosting service provider.  The point is that there are often multiple players in the delivery chain, and customers should be aware of this reality prior to engaging with the service.

Ultimately, the business with mission critical data in the possession of a 3rd party service provider should have a healthy helping of doubt as to whether the provider has full control over their environment.  Business owners, managers and CFOs should recognize the increased necessity of evaluating risk within their provider systems and in provider/vendor relationships, to keep trade secrets secret and prevent intellectual property from becoming the property of others.

Joanie Mann Bunny Feet

Make Sense?

J

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A Holistic Approach to Cloud IT

holistic: a. Emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts.

The Internet and cloud computing solutions can help businesses create an environment which allows team members and clients to work together more efficiently; where information can be generated once and used in a variety of ways by different users.  With this new capability to share documents and files in real-time, many businesses are finding that they are generating more electronic information today than ever before – and they’re having a hard time keeping these information assets organized.  With paper documents being digitized to allow for electronic distribution, OCR, and intelligent connecting to transaction data – lots of stored data is being produced and stored in a variety of places.

There are many technology models available, so there are a lot of options for businesses today – options which address the fundamental requirements to convert, store, secure, and distribute the various data types within the enterprise.  When a business elects to use a variety of cloud solutions or providers to address a number of business problems, how does that enterprise wrap its arms around the content which represents, in all actuality, the sum of business intelligence in the enterprise?  Keeping tabs on the business data is critical, but tracking all the data when it is stored with a variety of providers may be very difficult.

Example: If your business uses an online CRM such as Salesforce.com, runs QuickBooks on your local PC, and uses Gmail for email service… exactly where does your business data live?  With Salesforce?  On your local PC?  At Google?  In all 3 places?

Containment of distributed data isn’t the only issue facing businesses today.  Longevity and long-term access to data is a concern, as well.  Solutions and providers that exist today may not exist tomorrow.  If you have data invested in a solution with a short life span (and you probably won’t know this is the case until it’s too late), you may orphan your data and not be able to access it later.   And, if you can get your data from the provider, is it in a useful form or did you lose functionality when you lost the solution?

Example:  Intuit once introduced a paperclip (attached documents service) in QuickBooks, and offered the attached document feature at no charge.  The “free” service from Intuit encouraged a lot of users to migrate from other QuickBooks-connected document management solutions. Then… Intuit announced that the attached documents service would no longer be free.  Users with the service could still get to their documents via a web portal, but not from within QuickBooks, and certainly not as attachments to transactions or other records. Then the attached documents feature was once-again changed, allowing only storage to local PCs rather than on Intuit’s servers. Then, it went away entirely. 

Another issue facing businesses operating in the cloud is one of vendor lock-in (or lock-out), and being able to address the total business requirement.  Point solutions and vendor-specific solutions may address certain business problems, but generally aren’t able to handle all of the needs of a given business.  If your online solution doesn’t address the needs of the entire business, you risk increasing production costs and reducing productivity through duplication of data entry and other activities.

Example: An accounting firm with an insurance division uses Thomson Reuters Virtual Office service, which delivers certain accounting applications along with Microsoft Office on a remote desktop type of connection.  Unfortunately for the firm, the users operating in the insurance division use applications that aren’t supported or available via the Virtual Office solution.  So, certain users have completely disconnected services – a remote desktop serving up their Office apps, and a separate browser-based solution – neither of which integrate or work together.  The complexity and confusion caused by this situation has done little more than increase the burden of duplicate data entry, recreation of documents, and constant download-save-upload activities.

In each of these cases, a “holistic” approach to cloud IT services might have produced better results than by looking at each application or functional “solution” individually.

As an example, consider that a business with in-office and mobile employees needs to use accounting, office productivity, contact management, documents storage, and several browser-based solutions in order to provide the functionality and operational support necessary.    While many of these solutions are individually available online, the business opts to work with a single outsourced IT provider to create their own “private cloud” environment.

The solution includes remote/virtual desktops, hosted accounting applications, hosted Office applications, hosted browser (to allow browser and Internet-based apps to integrate with Office and other apps on the remote desktop), hosted CRM, and hosted document management… all applications that the business selects and might even have been using for years are included.

All  applications are delivered on the remote desktop environment, providing users with the ability to open documents instantly, save and share files seamlessly, and participate in a central company-wide document store.

All applications are licensed to the business, so they have the flexibility of returning to local IT operations simply by implementing their own software in their own network and taking the data off the host.

Because all of the business data resides on this single hosting platform, the business is able to not only keep control of all information assets, but is also able to back up and protect (preserve) that data in its entirety.

Now doesn’t that make sense?

J

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