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When the Single Point of Failure Actually Fails

February 5, 2016/in Education, General

While the heavy, wet snow continues to fall and cling to the power and fiber optic lines in our area, today’s Internet outage was not due to the first real storm this winter. Being fully in the cloud, any Internet outage could be a disaster, bringing business to a halt. In reality, the “single point of failure” really isn’t. True, we do not have multiple routers. Nor do we have multiple broadband connections. What we do have, is the ability to work over any form of Internet connection. Here is our case study (still in progress).

Late yesterday afternoon, our trusted Cisco 5505 stopped working. Poof. Red Status light on; activity lights on the embedded switch ports blinking; no traffic. A few reboots and a few attempted hard resets later, we are still not working. A quick call and discussion, and our Cisco guru tells us “it’s a brick”. Covered by warranty and a solid support/service plan, a new unit will arrive in several days. In the meantime, we must continue to service our customers.

Quick Fix

The immediate response is to get our staff connected to the Internet in any way possible. A few mobile hotspots activated on our phones and one MiFi device booted up, and we are back in business. Performance is acceptable, not great, and we will plow through our data plan, but we are in business with only a few minutes disruption.

Interim Fix

Our FiOS service enters our office through a service unit that converts the Fiber to Gigabit Ethernet. We split this signal through a switch to 2 routers — one provided by our VoiP service and the FiOS router/cable modem that comes with our service. The now dead Cisco ASA plugs into the FiOS router.

Why two routers in sequence? Having 2 routers in sequence creates a physical DMZ: a network that can receive traffic from inside and the outside while letting us stop traffic from going all the way out or coming all the way in. It’s “old school” as virtual DMZs are the trend. We use the DMZ and the FiOS router for a guest network and wireless. Guests can gain access to a physical or wireless connection while staying completely outside our secure network. The Cisco ASA, at the secure end of the DMZ, manages our inbound traffic, NAT, and legacy DMZ services (let over from the days when we had a few systems on-premise and needed remote access). Our secure WiFi runs off a Cisco/Linksys WAP inside the secure border of the ASA router.

With a few minutes of work, we reconfigured the FiOS router, removing the DMZ and mimicking the settings and security configured in the ASA. Moving a few wires, we are up and running until the new ASA comes in.

Lessons Learned

Our focus has always been on the FiOS service as the single point of failure at greatest risk. Outages have traditionally been short and as we have been able to adapt by using hotspots, MiFi, and working from home or other locations, we have not seen the need to bring in another ISP as an alternate service. The ASA failing was never really a consideration. The box is not yet out of warranty and our prior Cisco routers lasted much longer than the 5 year extended warranty (we upgraded for features, not out of necessity).

Not having seen this scenario coming, we had to rebuild the FiOS router from scratch. Going forward, we have now saved this “emergency configuration” for future use. Once our new Cisco ASA arrives, we will create an emergency configuration that will let us remove the FiOS router from the network. Finally, we will build a configuration for the Cisco/Linksys WAP, as this has routing features and could replace the FiOS router in a pinch.

The biggest lesson, however, is the value of a cloud-based infrastructure with respect to business continuity. Storm or no storm, hardware failure or not, we know that we will always have options to keep our business up and running. Even when the “single point of failure” happens to fail.

Changing the Way You Buy Office

December 16, 2015/in Education, General

At Microsoft’s 2015 Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft openly discussed plans to replace Enterprise Agreements and most Open Value licensing with subscription based models. Going away are the per-device, traditional “box” software. For Microsoft, this is more than a change in method, it represents a change for the better in how the company will distribute, update, and enhance MS Office and other products. Forget major releases every 2 years, a subscription model enables continuous incremental improvements and will make Microsoft even more responsive to customers’ needs.

This Change is Good for You, the Microsoft User

In addition to better access to innovation, the new Office 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus licenses are the best fit for most small and mid-size businesses.

Each license covers 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets, & 5 phones per user
Your team can install MS Office on any device they use, giving them the ability to work on nearly any device, from anywhere, at anytime.
Local and/or Web Versions of MS Office
Depending on your license choice, you can have both the local and web versions of MS Office. Your team has added flexibility and features, and the ability to work securely from anywhere at anytime.
1TB of Cloud Storage
Keep documents secure, usable, and sharable without messy sync-and-share apps, email attachments, or thumbdrives.
License Flexibility
Adjust your license count, as needed, on a monthly or annual basis, avoiding sunken costs on unused licenses and features.
Lower Cost
Licenses with local and cloud Office licensing are as low as $99 per user per year, about 1/3 less than purchasing Office with Software Assurance or paying for upgrades every 3 to 4 years.

If you are thinking about, or ready to upgrade to your MS Office licensing, contact us for a free license consultation and Office 365 Business or Office 365 ProPlus quote. We will match you the best license option.

And, through January 31, 2016, you can save at 5% or more on annual prepay Office 365 Business licensing.

The Internet of (Incompatible) Things

December 4, 2015/in Education, General

One of the scourges of technology for small and mid-size businesses, is how compatible technologies and systems often become incompatible over time. As IT professionals and business owners, we have all seen this happen. An operating system update “breaks” your backup software, which you upgrade only to find out your older tape drive is no longer supported.

As we enter the age of the Internet of Things (“IoT”) in which nearly every device will be connected, expect to see more of the same, only different. In fact, it is happening already. In February 2015, we received a Moto 360 as a demo unit. A few of our Android users tried it out and connected it to their phones. Preferring other devices, the Moto 360 ended up in the hands of an iPhone user. No connection; no support until Android Wear for iOS was released.

Or so we thought. Android Wear required an iOS upgrade that would not fit on the iPhone 5. An upgrade to an iPhone 6S and the latest version of iOS should do the trick. Except the Moto 360 is not compatible with the iPhone 6 phones. Moto 360 support ended with the iPhone 5.

Historically, operating systems and equipment in the PC world had roughly a 3 year life cycle between generations. In the post-PC world, hardware generations are running between 12 and 18 months with major operating system updates and versions every 6 to 9 months.

As we increase the number of attached and connected devices in our workplace and our personal lives, the speed at which compatibility is lost seems to be accelerating.

To be fair to consumers and businesses, device and software manufacturers should publish their compatibility policies. For example, Google could set a policy that their devices will be kept current with only 2 generations of hardware and/or 3 generations of each mobile operating system. This type of transparency will enable businesses to purchase with a forward looking view and accurate expectations. Vendors will benefit as well, as companies may elect to purchase higher end products with a longer shelf life

Cloud Resiliency: Overview, Benefits & Steps for Implementation

October 7, 2015/in General

What is Resiliency in Cloud Computing?

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, where businesses increasingly rely on cloud computing for their critical operations, the need to ensure uninterrupted services and data availability has become paramount. This is where “Cloud Resiliency” steps in as a fundamental aspect of modern IT strategy.

Cloud resiliency refers to the ability of a cloud-based system or infrastructure to withstand and recover from unexpected disruptions, whether they arise from hardware failures, software glitches, cyberattacks, natural disasters, or any other unforeseen events. It involves designing and implementing a robust framework that can promptly detect issues, gracefully handle failures, and swiftly restore normal operations without significant downtime.

The unexpected will happen. It is inevitable. Sometimes the unexpected is a good thing. In technology, the unexpected is usually bad. It may be small … or big … or catastrophic.

Part of our role as IT professionals is to expect and prepare for the unexpected. We backup data so that we can restore files that are accidentally deleted, overwritten, or damaged. We backup systems so that we can recover them in case of hardware or software failures. Many business designs and implement disaster recovery plans. These plans provide the means for companies to recover from larger incidents, ranging from burst pipes and building fires to blizzards and hurricanes.

In recent years, the focus has been on “Business Continuity” planning. Business continuity intends to prevent disruption to operations, even in the face of larger incidents or disasters. While great in concept, most small and mid-size enterprises cannot afford to fully duplicate systems in redundant data centers and provide alternate work sites for employees.

Cloud Resiliency in Business

Business Resiliency is based on the objective of enabling a business to continue (or rapidly resume) operations with some accommodations. In other words, you may not be running 100%, but you will be running soon enough and well enough, given the situation. Resiliency is about bending without breaking.

Consider Hurricane Sandy which devastated parts of the US Eastern Seaboard. Many businesses were physically destroyed by the flooding. Many others were shut down by the indirect effects of the flooding as some areas along the coast lost critical infrastructure — including water and sewer. Businesses left physically intact but without power for days considered themselves lucky as some areas waited months for reconstruction.

Consider the ice storms and blizzards throughout the Northeast US in recent years. For many businesses, the only disruption was loss of power. And while in many of the storms, outages where generally localized, some businesses went without power for as long as three weeks.

The same holds true for businesses in “tornado alley” in the Midwest. A tornado may leave your business unscathed, but it may take days or weeks for power and water to be restored.

In each of these scenarios, backup/restore/recovery is not enough to get the business back up and running. And, again, most small and mid-size businesses cannot afford to maintain disaster recovery systems and sites.

Benefits of Cloud Resiliency

Cloud resiliency offers a wide range of benefits to businesses and organizations that rely on managed cloud-based services and infrastructures. These advantages contribute to the overall stability, availability, and security of digital assets, ensuring uninterrupted operations and safeguarding against potential disruptions. Here are some key benefits of cloud resiliency:

High Availability: Cloud resiliency ensures that critical applications and services remain available even in the face of hardware failures, software glitches, or other unforeseen events. Redundancy and failover mechanisms enable seamless transitions to backup systems, minimizing downtime and maintaining continuous access for users.
Disaster Recovery: Resilient cloud architectures provide robust disaster recovery capabilities. Regular data backups, real-time data replication, and well-defined recovery processes allow businesses to recover quickly from data loss, cyberattacks, or natural disasters, minimizing potential data and revenue loss.
Reduced Downtime: With cloud resiliency in place, businesses experience reduced downtime during system failures or maintenance activities. Quick detection and automatic recovery mechanisms help prevent prolonged service interruptions, enhancing productivity and customer satisfaction.
Business Continuity: Cloud resiliency ensures business continuity by allowing organizations to maintain essential operations even during disruptive events. Critical business functions can continue operating, meeting customer commitments and minimizing financial losses.
Cost Efficiency: While implementing cloud resiliency may involve upfront investments, it ultimately proves cost-effective in the long run. The ability to prevent extended downtime or data loss reduces potential revenue losses and protects a company’s reputation.
Scalability: Resilient cloud infrastructures are designed to scale dynamically to meet changing demands. As businesses grow or experience fluctuating workloads, the cloud resiliency framework can seamlessly adapt, ensuring optimal performance and resource utilization.
Enhanced Security: Cloud resiliency often goes hand-in-hand with robust security measures. Proactive identification and mitigation of vulnerabilities help protect against cyber threats and unauthorized access, safeguarding sensitive data and intellectual property.
Improved Customer Trust: Reliability and continuous availability of services build trust with customers and partners. Knowing that their data and operations are in safe hands, clients are more likely to choose a resilient cloud service provider, giving businesses a competitive advantage.
Regulatory Compliance: Resilient cloud architectures often adhere to industry-specific regulations and compliance requirements. Meeting these standards is critical for businesses operating in regulated sectors, ensuring legal adherence and avoiding potential penalties.
Faster Recovery Times: In the event of a disruption or disaster, cloud resiliency enables faster recovery times compared to traditional on-premises solutions. Automated recovery processes and failover capabilities reduce the time required to restore services and operations.
Geographical Redundancy: Resilient cloud infrastructures can be distributed across multiple data centers in different geographic locations. This geographical redundancy further enhances data protection and disaster recovery capabilities, minimizing the impact of regional outages or natural disasters.

Cloud Resiliency Requirements

Achieving cloud resiliency involves careful planning, robust architecture design, and the implementation of various measures to ensure the system can withstand and recover from unexpected disruptions.

Most businesses can afford to move IT systems into cloud computing and hosted solutions. And in doing so, businesses can affordably build resiliency.

With all of these disasters, you did not have to travel too far inland to be out of the damage zone. Businesses with on-premise equipment had to purchase and wait for delivery of replacements, rebuild their systems, and (hopefully) recover their data from their off-site backups. Certainly doable, but costly and time consuming. It can take 2 to 4 days just to get the equipment in place and ready to restore.

Businesses in the cloud faced a different scenario and outcome. Moving to an area with power and Internet, businesses running in the cloud were up and running in hours (some in minutes) and some were never “down” at all.

Take the Next Step Today to Implement Resilience in Your Cloud Computing Strategy

To discuss how cloud computing can improve the resiliency of your business, contact us for a no-obligation conversation or click here to learn about our RestartIT solutions.

Not a Good Time? Do it Now Anyway!

September 18, 2015/in Education, General

Working with small and mid-size enterprises, one of the challenges we see is time. Stating the incredibly obvious, time is often a commodity in short supply and your company’s leaders may struggle to manage it well. The result, we often hear something along the lines of:

“We are definitely going forward, but …”

Sometimes, there are other projects that need to finish first. Sometimes, it’s your busy season. Sometimes, it is just too difficult to schedule meetings with all of the people that need to be there.

Let’s face facts: It is never the “perfect”, “right”, or “most convenient” time to make changes to your IT systems.

Your business — your team — will always be in the middle of something that should not be disrupted. Whenever you decide to move forward, you will be busy and you will risk some disruption.

Do not let the fear of disruption prevent you from gaining the advantages change.

In a recent study by Forrester, and in conversations with our customers, moving IT infrastructure and apps into the cloud has measurable impacts.

Better collaboration saves knowledge workers ~2 hours per week
Review and acceptance of documents takes 20% to 60% less time
Chat and video reduces travel expenses by up to 70%
Mobile access enables shorter sales cycles, by as much as 22%

Often times, we see how modernizing IT services via cloud solutions can improve workflows and access to information, thereby reducing the backlog and some of the “busy-ness” of the team.

Facing challenges and armed with the facts, many small business leaders still put off changes, hoping a “better time” will arrive.

Let’s face reality: your business will probably never reach that elusive (maybe even mythical) “right” time to make IT changes. By waiting, you prolong the problems and the frustration of your staff. You are missing the opportunity to improve to very systems that are contributing to your challenges.

If there is never going to be a “right” time, why not move forward now?

You Win in Microsoft’s $129 Billion Give-Away

September 11, 2015/in Education, General

At this summer’s Worldwide Partner Conference, several Microsoft executives mentioned that they expect 1 billion users to download the Windows 10 for free. With a “street price” of about $129, this equates to $129 billion give-away. The cynics among us might argue that this is a great strategic play for Microsoft as a way to maintain its customers base amid increasing competition from other operating platforms, including Chrome, Linux, Android, and iOS.

You, however, are the real winner in this give-away. And here is why …

Windows 10 is the first Microsoft operating system that is truly a single environment across all hardware platforms, from servers to smartphones. For software developers, it means that apps written for Windows 10 easily run across mobile and traditional (desktop and server) platforms.
- You win: Expect better functional and operational equivalence for applications; no more waiting for phone and tablet versions to catch up to the desktop version.
Windows 10 is the first Microsoft operating system that is truly network-first. Microsoft has made a huge shift to a cloud-first, mobile-first strategy, and Windows 10 is part of this shift. Network services now launch with the core operating system, not as a service later in the boot cycle.
- You win: Expect faster boot times as your networked and cloud apps will no longer ‘sit and spin’ while waiting for the network to come online.
Windows 10 is the first Microsoft operating system designed to evolve. The age of the monthly updated and periodic service packs is coming to an end. Microsoft will update, patch, and enhance Windows 10 as part of a continuous process. While domain system managers can still control when different types of updates propagate, updates will now happen “when ready and when needed”.
- You win: Expect more feature and capability enhancements and a more secure/robust environment, as Windows 10 will more nimbly adapt to changing needs.
Windows 10 is the first Microsoft operating system with a user interface that matches user preferences. Let’s face it, Windows 8.x was a great experiment in a mobile-friendly user interface that was welcomed with mixed results. Windows 10, however, gives users the option of creating the environment that is most effective from them. Yes, you still have live tiles. But you also have desktops (yes, more than one if you want).
- You win: Expect to create efficient workspaces for your different roles and tasks. Separate desktop environments (including settings and apps) for personal versus work activity on your laptop. Customize desktops for different roles you may fill — manager, finance, marketing, operations — throughout your workday. In short, create environments that make life easier for you, and switch between them as y0u see fit.

With these firsts, and others, Microsoft is demonstrating that it “gets” the new cloud and mobile centric world order and that Microsoft is ready to be a significant player. Microsoft’s Office 365 and Azure services, and many others from many vendors, are already moving to leverage the new capabilities of Windows 10. Regardless of your overall strategy, you should be prepping to move your Windows ecosystem to Windows 10.

Interested in discussing your go to strategy for Windows 10 and the cloud? Drop us a note; we are happy to listen, learn, and share.

Introducing Coffee and Clouds

September 10, 2015/in Education, General

One of the challenges we see with cloud computing is the growing complexity of options and solutions, particularly for small and mid-size enterprises. It’s not as easy as going IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS and deciding on public, private, or hybrid anymore. Most businesses are finding their path to the cloud is a mix of solutions.

Relax, grab a cup, and join us for some clarity.

We are launching a new series of live and web events, Coffee and Clouds, where we aim to help clear out the clutter. We will help you keep abreast of the market, technologies, and best-practices, and give you an opportunity to network with your peers. Forget about hype, we will focus on actionable ideas and tangible results. And, we will plan content in response to your feedback.

Our first set of live events are already on our events calendar. Learn more about the series and register today.

Cumulus Global Grows In Southern New England with New Haven Office

September 9, 2015/in General

News-Beacon
We are proud to announce the opening of a regional office in New Haven, Connecticut in response to the expanding interest in, and demand for, business-effective cloud solutions and services across Connecticut and Southern New England. Located at The Grove New Haven, Cumulus Global’s new office will connect us, our industry-recognized services, and our best-of-breed cloud solutions with small and mid-size businesses and local governments throughout the region.

“With this new office, we are better able to meet the needs of area businesses,” notes Allen Falcon, CEO of Cumulus Global. “While we are national in scope, our New Haven office gives us better insights into the local economies within Connecticut and helps us better respond to the needs and priorities of our clients.”

A Microsoft Silver Cloud Partner and Google Premier Partner, Cumulus Global focuses on their customers’ results — helping small and mid-size enterprises enhance, augment, or even replace their current IT systems with more productive and cost-effective solutions. Cumulus Global has seen rapid growth over the past few years, landing at #914 on the 2015 Inc. 5000 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies in America.

“The Grove and New Haven give us a great location for serving Connecticut and Southern New England,” stated Falcon. “In addition to the local connections we will foster, we have a great space for events through which businesses can learn about cloud computing and trending IT issues while networking with peers.”

As a cloud solutions provider, Cumulus Global focuses on bringing cloud and hosted solutions into the IT mix for small and mid-size enterprises. As such, Cumulus Global works with and complements — rather than replacing — customers’ existing IT resources. This cooperative strategy helps customer gain the most value from their IT spending.

Drive Sales Enablement In Your Business by Leveraging the Cloud

July 31, 2015/in General

It’s not news that the environment in which your sales team operates is changing dramatically. According to Gartner, customers will soon manage 85% of their relationships without talking to a human; that means your sales team will need to be more efficient with their prospects and be empowered to deliver the right information at the right time.

And they’re not the only ones dealing with changes. CFOs are no longer dealing only with financial reporting, compliance and cost control. According to a study by BI company, Adaptive Insights, “By driving a culture of agile, data-driven decision making throughout a company, CFOs can help create a significant competitive advantage.” CFOs are more plugged into data than ever, and that is pushing entire organizations to adopt managed cloud services, technologies and practices that support this.

Sales teams and their support systems are no different. With all the changes empowered customers are presenting to sales teams, it’s more important than ever to know what tools and techniques will really work to help your sales team operate more productively, spending less time on non-productive administrative functions and more time delivering value and closing deals.

Cloud Sales Enablement

A key focus of discussion in how mid-sized businesses are addressing this change has been sales enablement. It’s widely agreed that sales enablement is constantly evolving, and there’s been plenty written about it to-date with multiple interpretations and definitions of just what it means to organizations. We prefer the definition that spun out of IDC a few years back:

Sales enablement is “getting the right information into the hands of the right sellers at the right time and place, and in the right format, to move a sales opportunity forward.”

So let’s break down sales enablement into its individual components, and see how your sales team might address each aspect by leveraging cloud-based technologies to make them faster, more efficient, and more responsive to your existing—and future—clients’ needs.

Getting the right information to sales members

How often has your salesperson been sitting down with a prospect, and they’ve had to respond to a request with the words, “I don’t have that, but I can get it to you when I get back to my (room, office, house)”? Often, sales people don’t have exactly what they need right when they need it. Perhaps it’s a PDF of a sell sheet they forgot at the last minute. Maybe it’s the contract is MS Word format, and they can’t edit it in the moment. Or, it could be a performance report showing how much more competitive your solution will help your prospect become. Depending on who you talk to, approximately 40% of sales go to the company that responds to your prospect first.

Imagine empowering your sales teams to get the right information in the hands of their prospect—right when they need it.

No need to return to the office and email a document. No need to leave, make a change to a contract, and delay signing (or worse) losing momentum. Better yet—being able to access proprietary and competitive information in the moment it’s needed to close the sale. Having your sales team plugged into and empowered by the cloud can really help them get the right information to those who need it.

With Cloud Solutions, More Team Members Can Collaborate

Who’s to say that your salesperson is the one that’s going to move the next big deal through the next phase of the pipeline? A seller might be a customer service rep who’s helping your existing customer with an issue and has an opportunity to upsell them on your services. Anyone in your organization has an opportunity—given the chance—to sell to new and existing accounts.

In this scenario, having your data and collaboration tools in the cloud allows for a few things:

Real-time communication. With cloud-based tools and apps, if a customer service rep is on the phone with a customer, they can instant message another employee to help solve a problem or meet a need. Or, imagine for a moment that you’re closing a deal without an engineer on hand to answer a critical question. With cloud-based communication, on-demand video conferencing brings the engineer into your meeting.
Real-time collaboration. With the ability to upload, store, and access documents in the cloud, multiple users in different locations (or even right next to each other) can now comment and update documents in real time. The ability for a salesperson to update a proposal during a meeting, while project teams are on-hand to review, is a true game changer for many organizations.
Assisted information and context. Cloud-based solutions allow you to bring all your tools and data together in one place. For example, in a properly implemented Google Workspace or Office 365 cloud solution, you’re able to do a number of things that aren’t possible with on premise solutions:
1. With email, you can see your current chain, as well as other recent conversations with that person.
2. When you’re searching for material and information on a particular topic (for example, a client or engagement), you’re able to search emails AND documents stored online.
3. With cloud integration, you can view social and business content alongside the email you are responding to or the voicemail transcript you are reading, providing context to conversations.

All of these combine to empower sales teams and other employees when they’re in a position of adding value to prospects and existing accounts.

Enable Employees With Access to Documents at any Time

It’s 8:00 AM in Boston, and your top sales team is getting ready to deliver that huge financial pitch over breakfast in the CEO’s conference room. Based on a late night email from the prospective customer, they realize that they need information from another presentation — but it’s 5:00 AM in your Los Angeles office and no one’s home. Fortunately, with the cloud, your team can remotely and securely access your file services, update the document, and be ready to go without batting an eyelash.

Sales Members Can Access Key Info From Any Location

VPN has long been the go to for providing employees remote access to company assets. Everyone has a story about trying to work remotely and having to deal with VPN issues. These go away almost entirely when dealing with the cloud.

With the Proper Format, Cloud Can Drive Sales

We’re all pretty familiar with having our email and calendars on our phones now. But today, we have full editing suites that include document editing, presentation development, and spreadsheet tools available on mobile phones and tablets. The ability to work remotely directly in the environment, with the necessary tools, in the application preferred by a prospect, is invaluable to a sales person. No more looking at a printed page or pdf on your phone and waiting until you get back to the office to make changes. With the cloud, you make critical changes right on the spot.

Sales Cloud Enablement is Key in Modern Business

If your sales team isn’t focusing on moving opportunities to the next stage (closing), then they aren’t being productive. Research by Innoppl Technologies shows that 65% of sales reps who have adopted mobile CRM (cloud-based) have achieved their sales quotas, while only 22% of reps using non-mobile CRM have reached the same targets.

What are key components of the cloud that drive enablement?

Three of the ways that the cloud can enable your sales team:

Assistive Information: the ability for your salespeople to access related information and context, in real time, while on the phone or responding to emails.

Mobility: true integration of mobile and remote users into your environment (or, no more VPN!).

Personal Communication Modes: We operate in a time when 3 or 4 generations of people work on the same team. Preferred communication methods vary wildly. Cloud-based infrastructure communications help bridge the gap between those that prefer face-to-face meetings, phone calls, emails, and texts.

One final bonus for Sales Cloud Enablement

Once you’re in the cloud, the cost of making incremental improvements goes down. There’s no need to invest in expensive software to see if it works with your sales team. You can begin implementing trial versions and adding incremental features to see what sticks and what adds value to your business.

Do you have a sales team that is mobile, but struggling to respond quickly to prospect demands because they’re ultimately tethered to a desk? What opportunities do you see in your organization for mobile solutions? Think it might be time to switch?

What is a Workload in Cloud Computing?

July 25, 2015/in Education, General

As any new technology takes hold, our vocabulary inevitably changes. New terms and phrases, or new meanings, take hold, and our vernacular grows and changes. When you talk to technologists about the cloud, the term du jour is Cloud Workload.

Cloud Workload Definition

Talking cloud environment, workload refers to any measurable utilization of cloud services. Cloud computing allows users to access and utilize computing resources, such as processing power, storage, and networking, on-demand over the internet from a managed cloud service provider. The more technical use refers to processor, memory, storage, or network loads. Workload often refers to a “package” of cloud use. The package may be part of an application, a full application, or a set of integrated applications.

Example of a Cloud Workload

Email is a workload; a file sync-and-share service is a workload; a back-end database is a workload; website analytics is a workload. The challenge, of course, is that your business does not think or run on technology components. You have people, processes, systems, and services.

Workloads can vary significantly based on their nature and purpose. Some common examples of cloud workloads include:

Web Applications: Cloud platforms are commonly used to host web applications, websites, and web services. These applications can range from simple blogs to complex e-commerce platforms.
Data Storage and Backup: Cloud storage services allow users to store and access data over the internet. These services often provide features like data redundancy and automated backups.
Big Data Analytics: Cloud computing strategy enables organizations to perform large-scale data analysis and processing, leveraging the scalability of cloud resources to handle vast datasets.
Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence: Cloud platforms provide tools and infrastructure to develop and deploy machine learning models, making it easier for developers to integrate AI capabilities into their applications.
Video and Media Streaming: Cloud-based video and media streaming services enable the distribution of multimedia content to a wide audience over the internet.
Development and Testing: Cloud environments are frequently used for software development and testing, allowing developers to provision and configure virtual machines and other resources quickly.
Internet of Things (IoT): Cloud platforms can handle data processing and storage for IoT devices, supporting the massive influx of data generated by interconnected devices.

The main advantages of running workloads in the cloud include flexibility, scalability, cost-efficiency, and reduced management overhead. Cloud providers offer various service models like Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS), or more recently SaaSOps to cater to different workload requirements.

When deploying a cloud workload, considerations include selecting the appropriate cloud service model, provisioning the required resources, ensuring data security, and optimizing performance to achieve the desired outcomes efficiently.

Importance of Managing Cloud Workload in Your Business

When planning your cloud presence, think of workloads in terms of business functions and systems. Yes, email may be a workload. But so maybe your “communication services,” your “customer service” function, or your “analytics services.” By looking at workload in terms of your business, you will be less likely to fragment your cloud and on-premise systems. Building and managing the hybrid environment will be simpler and more effective over time.

To discuss your workloads and which may be best in the cloud, contact us for a free and no obligation consultation.

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