Crafting the Right Cloud Strategy For Businesses
The hype created by cloud technology is the result of the groundbreaking efficiency and productivity experienced by businesses. Due to the success history, there have been many misconceptions around cloud technology, where many businesses consider cloud to be the one-fit solution to all IT related issue. However, that is not always the case. Toronto based IT support services Edmonton and businesses need to set their deliverables and expectations to their capacity. The following article highlights what cloud technology is all about, and what can be expected from it:
Cloud 101: Setting Customer Expectations
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but, no, cloud computing is not going to cure the common cold.
By any measure, the cloud has proved to be a boon for enterprise productivity and efficiency. By the end of the decade,Gartner estimates, it will be as rare to find corporate “no-cloud” policies as it is to encounter “no-Internet” policies today.
While this is a disruptive technology, the understandable excitement surrounding all things cloud has also fostered no small amount of hype.
It’s not the cloud that’s at fault here. While cloud computing justifies its reputation as a game changer, problems invariably will to crop up when companies don’t understand–or fail to have a realistic appreciation of–what cloud computing can and cannot do for them. The blunt fact is that the cloud can’t resolve all of a company’s IT problems; if that’s not made clear from the start, then prepare to hear about it from disgruntled customers suffering from buyer’s remorse. When reality sets in, clients are going to blame someone for selling them a false bill of goods, so make sure that it isn’t you! Click to read full post…
If you are a cloud and IT support company looking to increase your service quality, or a business looking to solidify cloud infrastructure, here are some of the key things to keep in mind and keep your cloud technology flowing:
CLOUD SERVICES PROVIDERS – LEARNING TO KEEP THE LIGHTS ON
The True Meaning of Availability
What is real availability? In our line of work, cloud service providers approach availability from the inside out. And in many cases, some never make it past their own front door given how challenging it is to keep the lights on at home let alone factors that are out of your control. But in order to effectively provide quality services with the focus on the customer, providers need to ensure availability from all perspectives, this is what we like to call real availability. Real availability captures the real user experience from end to end. This includes everything within our control (our infrastructure and network) and things out of our control (customer or third party providers).
It’s not enough to only consider the factors within our own infrastructure that might lead to more down time or further disruption. Even when achieving 100 percent uptime within your own network, you have to recognize the services being used by the customer are only as good as the weakest point in the process. A hardware failure on the customer side or an outage at the internet service provider are all factors that impact the overall availability of the services. And while you should do all you can to not be the weak link, from a customer’s point of view, a disruption is a disruption regardless of the source. Click to read more…
Now that you have a better understanding of how to approach cloud structures, it might be time for you to craft your own cloud-based strategy. IT expert Nick Earle shares some of his insights to help you create your very own concrete cloud-based strategy:
THREE FACTORS FOR CHOOSING YOUR LONG-TERM CLOUD STRATEGY
A few weeks ago I visited the global headquarters of a large multi-national company to discuss cloud strategy with the CIO. I arrived 30 minutes early and took a tour of the area where the marketing team showcased their award winning brands. I was impressed by the digital marketing strategy and the way they were clearly leveraging the world of social, mobile analytics and cloud. So I mentioned to our account manager, who was accompanying me on the tour, that I would compliment the CIO on this when I saw her. “Oh I wouldn’t if I were you,” he replied. “This was all done without the IT department’s involvement. They are working on our legacy ERP implementation, not this new stuff.”
On the one hand, this is impressive as it illustrates what can be done by lines of business with today’s new cloud capabilities. But on the other hand it also shows the widening gulf between the role of the CIO and the business when it comes to digital transformation. Marketing department cloud projects are fine but at some point security and compliance concerns have to be addressed across the whole company. In addition, CIOs do need to be involved so they can protect their company’s data and utilize the in house IT infrastructure to maximum effect in a hybrid cloud model. Full post here…
Whether your are a business who is thinking of exploring cloud opportunities, or a IT support company looking to expand your service quality and performance, the above articles shares some great insights to help you get started on the right track and mindset.
