Cloud Services - A Leap in Technology or Simply Outsourcing?

Cloud Services – is it the next step in technology or is it just outsourcing your IT needs?

What a great question!  I hear it a lot from both my prospects and customers.  In years past, companies have begun to allow 3^rd party companies host their data servers in remote locations, on the premise it provides better disaster recovery and better security than housing on-site.  Does it really?  Let’s discuss…

While the practice of keeping your equipment in a remote location (commonly referred to as “Co-Location services) has been around for some time, the actual benefit is up in the air.  Yes, co-location does provide some added piece of mind.  Typically “Co-Lo” facilities come with emergency power supplies, diesel generators, battery backup, 24 hour security, etc.  Sounds good, and you can probably save some cap-ex costs by not having to build the power grid yourself.  Throw in the added value of saving the real estate costs of housing it yourself and co-location seems like a reasonable way to go.

Cloud Computing comes with many advantages

With cloud services, you get all the benefits of co-location, plus a lot more.  No longer are you using your own servers, paying your own maintenance fees, or paying the salary of the IT guy to visit the co-lo site every time you need to change some hardware.  Using cloud services gives your company the benefit of state of the art, enterprise grade equipment with 24x7x365 on-site monitoring.  With the right provider, your data is automatically backed up at multiple data centers across the country, providing true disaster recovery protection.  If you live in Boston, your data could be backed up in California.  It would take quite a disaster to reach across the United States!   

If you need to add hardware, you visit the web portal to the server on your local PC, make a couple entries on a web page and Voila!  You have additional server space within a few minutes.  No longer are you dependent on waiting for a new server to be built and shipped from your vendor.  I’ve seen this take process up to 4 weeks.

After we discuss these facts, the conversations with my clients usually then quickly turn to “But my IT staff has been with me for years. I don't want to eliminate their jobs.  They have families to support. ”  

Sure they do.  We all do.   Cloud services doesn’t need to reduce headcount.  The use of cloud services simply changes  the focus for your IT staff,  allowing them to concentrate on issues critical to growing your business, rather than maintaining it.  By removing the daily chore of monitoring the platform and network, they now have the time needed to create the new software program your marketing group has requested; they can finish the bandwidth reports your CFO has been waiting for to evaluate network costs.  There are loads of projects they can do.  Take a quick look at the IT task schedule at your next staff meeting.  There’s plenty to do…….

The age-old saying “Time is Money” comes back into play and creates more revenues for your company because the use of cloud services will add time back into your IT staff’s day.  It may even save you some money too!

If you’re interested in more detailed information on the benefits of cloud services for your business, please reach out to me via email dave@davehanron.com or via Twitter @DaveHanron.  I can also tell you how you can get a free 30 day no-risk trial in the “Cloud”.

If anyone has some other benefits of “cloud services” I’d enjoying hearing about your personal experiences……

Part 4 - Cloud Storage

Understanding Cloud Storage

In this segment of my “Cloud” discussion, I’d like to explore the recent growth in businesses utilizing the “Cloud” for their storage needs……

In past years, businesses would purchase servers and maintain them at their business locations.  IT staffs were responsible for maintaining the servers, constantly updating storage capacity and maintaining adequate bandwidth for the business’ customers to access the information.  Sounds simple?  Well, it worked OK, but not great.

IT staffs needed to order new equipment to add storage capacity.  This came with lag time in getting the equipment and the added capital expense (CAPEX) of buying the additional equipment.  Throw in the need for additional network bandwidth and the time to have it installed, we’re now looking at a significant time period before a new program or offering could be implemented.

There were other detriments to this approach…..  Disaster recovery.   Take the recent super storm Sandy.  It knocked out businesses all along the eastern US seaboard.  Many companies were unable to open their doors for weeks, resulting in unknown loss of business.  If you’re an auto parts store in NJ, when a loyal customer calls from California looking for the custom part they always get from you, and no one is available to take their order and fulfill the shipment, do they wait for you?  Nope, they feel sorry for your situation, but they call your competition whose business remained open and get the part.  You might or might not ever get that customer back!  Think about it, what is the value of a lost Customer?

How can all of this be avoided?  The latest advances in technology have created an opportunity for small and mid-sized businesses to improve their IT solutions.  “Cloud Storage” enables a business to take advantage of virtually unlimited storage capacity, unlimited bandwidth, disaster recovery, and data backup.  All in a one-stop location, and at VERY reasonable prices.  By determining the size number of CPU’s, amount of RAM, size of required storage, and amount of bandwidth, companies can easily and quickly upload their IT needs to a cloud provider and free up both CAPEX dollars and their IT staff’s time. 

Today’s cloud providers have large data centers throughout the United States, providing inherent redundancy for a business’ vital data.  Gone is the lag time to add storage or bandwidth.  Additional storage or access can often be added in minutes from a computer terminal through the cloud provider’s portal.  Imagine adding 100Mb of additional bandwidth for your new promotional video in a matter of minutes.  Using the outdated method of self-hosting, this could take 60-90 days and involve substantial upfront build out costs.

The use of a “Cloud Storage” solution makes sense for every business.  No longer does a business have to maintain equipment rooms, back-up generators, off-site storage for retention, etc.  The cloud solutions solve all the problems, and help a business focus on what they do best….improving profitability. 

The advantages of entering the “Cloud” are vast.  A business can upload any number of hundreds of supported platforms for use on the “Cloud”, including Microsoft Office, Exchange, Lotus, Salesforce, VMware, etc.  The cloud package can be customized and/or the business owner can choose from a pre-packaged option.  Monthly costs can start at under $100.  A very small price to pay for peace-of-mind and an upgraded IT solutuion.

I’m always happy to help explain any of my topics….to get more information on available cloud offerings, please contact me either via email at dave@davehanron.com or via Twitter @DaveHanron