Cloud buzz: is it cheaper or wiser?

I did a piece for an industry website which focused on opportunities for companies like mine.    I'm reusing that content, but thinking about what it means for our customers.

In that article, I discussed some content that my HTG colleague, Reed Wilson from Palmetto Technology, recently sent over.  He saw a marketing pitch a cloud software provider in the healthcare space.   The pitch boiled down to essentially "You were never trained to use Facebook or Gmail and you’ll never need to be trained on our software.  That’s the beauty of Cloud Computing."

Reed intelligently continues with some analysis.  He notes that it sets a very unrealistic expectation for the buyer.    Comparing practice management software to Gmail or Facebook is unrealistic.   Does the cloud application handle complex workflows and work processes?

It does, Reed continues, sell.  And some customers are buying the pitch, even if it doesn't always result in what they think it is.  The perception is that cloud computing is automatically cheaper than going with an on-premise one .   When we compare the on-premise with cloud solutions, they are often very similar.

The true promise of cloud computing is not “simplicity” or “cheap”, but in a wiser way to spend IT dollars, giving higher reliability and lower administration costs.  That doesn’t necessarily result in “simple” or cheap”.   This is critically important to examine when looking at a cloud solution.

This discussion expanded when Mike Ritsema with i3 Business Solutions chimed in.    He brought some facts to bear.

"IBM made 84% of their profit last year from services and software.  They’ve acquired over 100 companies in these areas over the last 10 years.  7% of their profit came from hardware.  They love the complication of integrating disparate technology."

Mike's list of ways companies integrate into the cloud was dead on:

•EDI

•Payroll

•Web browsing

•Buying

•RFP / RFI

•Collaboration

•Blogs, Social Networking

•E-mail

Mike outlined a recent customer solution, showing where he brought value to a small business.   "I just finished a small business a deal:  QuickBooks, Fishbowl Distribution Software, EZ Connector integration software, ASP DOT NET eCommerce, Authorize .NET Credit Card Processing, Cloud email, IBM Server, Cisco Firewall, implementation services, and Redundant internet access."   His company's value, and the area they see growth, opportunity, and the ability to make money in helping customers, is bolting and holding "this stuff together" for the next decade.

Mike continues, however, noting "It’s as complicated or more complicated than an on premise solution."  This means it's not necessarily "cheaper" but it does add significant capabilities to his customer, something they couldn't have before.

We see cloud computing as incredibly powerful -- but we also see more and more confusion in the market place.  Cloud computing is a new paradigm, a new way to deliver some solutions.   It offers high availability where it couldn't be delivered before.   It doesn't always mean "cheap", however.

Little to say, but financials on the mind

I've had little to say.

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, as post WPC i had work to do, and then a week in the UK for HTG11 and a few more days in Chicago for HTG5.    Now that those are done, I'm in those few moments before I dig in again.

I'm doing a financial analysis piece that one of my HTG5 colleagues shared with me this week.  It's an interesting model -- looking at your rate of change over time to understand how the business grows and shrinks as the business ebbs and flows.   I've done the first round by putting the numbers together and seeing the trends.  I want to lay on our history and the information about the economy to see how much was "me" and how much was "outside me".

So I'm off to do that.   Financials on the mind....

Speaking at WPC - and it's

So I'm speaking at WPC.  And some of the meat is stuff I'll be able to talk about at 3:31pm on Wednesday, July 14.

Here's my session:

SMB04 The Meaning of Cloud Computing for My Small or Midsize Business

[full description]

Wednesday, July 14 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM WCC-143AB

Session Type: Breakout Session

Track: Core Infrastructure, Small and Midsize Business Partner

Speaker(s): Marco Di Giacomo

Cloud-based infrastructure solutions can now be delivered at an affordable price that... brings enterprise-class functionality, reliability, and security within the reach of virtually every small and midsized business. Are you ready to build and deploy Windows-based infrastructure and help your customers reduce the cost and complexity of new productivity-enhancing Cloud Computing services? Join this session to learn about how to shift from hands-on tactical hardware and software upgrades, day-to-day maintenance and troubleshooting, and instead focus your limited resources toward leveraging Microsoft infrastructure solutions to deliver new strategic business outcomes that can grow the topline and better control the bottom line.

More

Cloud-based infrastructure solutions can now be delivered at an affordable price that brings enterprise-class functionality, reliability, and security within the reach of virtually every small and midsized business. Are you ready to build and deploy Windows-based infrastructure and help your customers reduce the cost and complexity of new productivity-enhancing Cloud Computing services? Join this session to learn about how to shift from hands-on tactical hardware and software upgrades, day-to-day maintenance and troubleshooting, and instead focus your limited resources toward leveraging Microsoft infrastructure solutions to deliver new strategic business outcomes that can grow the topline and better control the bottom line.



I think you should go.

Help Out Eric Ligman!

Review my performance – Your input counts! - Microsoft SMB Community Blog - By Eric Ligman - Site Home - MSDN Blogs:

I'm reposting this from Eric Ligman, so you can help him out -- he's asking for a few minutes of your time, so if you're in the Microsoft community, help him out.  From his blog post:

"For any of you that have been following me over the years, you know that I have been very open about my goal in my role to help increase the satisfaction of Microsoft partners around the world in working with Microsoft through things like: helping provide information of value and interest, providing correct answers to questions (even when it is not the popular answer), helping address concerns and opportunities, directing you to relevant and important information, providing avenues for input into and out of Microsoft, connection opportunities with Microsoft, and much, much more.  (In fact, I have this openly stated on my overview page about me)  This year has been no exception.

Now is your opportunity to provide your input and feedback into how I am doing.  Here at Microsoft, as many of you know, our fiscal year runs July 1 – June 30, which means we are approaching the end of our year here in a few weeks.  Like every other company, we do annual performance reviews internally where people’s performances are evaluated to determine how well they are performing.  Since I focus so much of my time to helping organizations outside of Microsoft, like our Microsoft partners around the world, I am providing you with an opportunity to have your voice heard in evaluating how I am doing.  "

 

Tracking Systems

I believe in tracking systems.      Not spy movie style tracking systems, but rather the idea of having something that keeps track of everything in your business.

For Evolve, this system is the heart of what we do.  Everything is tracked within it, and we have signs posted around the office that say "if it's not in ConnectWise, it doesn't exist".  Only things written down and documented are managed.  Because if it can't be measured, it can't be managed.   I recently wrote a piece about this for my industry colleagues, and I think it's very relevant for my customers.

If you’re driving a car, you require a pretty steady stream of data to ensure you’re operating well. Your speedometer ensures you’re going the right speed, you keep an eye on the gas tank, your GPS for directions, your mirrors to know what is around you, and even the feel of the car to know how it’s running. But driving your car on feel alone would be impossible.

The same is true of business. Without good metrics, you can’t know how well the business is running without knowing the details. How efficient is your team? How profitable? How does your sales pipe look? Is your marketing functioning?

It’s important to take the time and measure all the parts, so as you adjust and make decisions, you know how well you’re doing. If you make a change to the way services are delivered, did you make it better? You only know if you know how well it worked before, and thus an improvement or slowdown in service will be shown via those metrics. Sales suffer from much the same problem. If you don’t measure, how do you know how well you’re doing?

There are multiple systems to help with tracking these kind of metrics, and generally fit into the category of "Customer Relationship Management", or CRM.   These tools let you track the various pieces of your business, and tie into your financial metrics systems.    Ultimately, you get insight into the various parts of your business, and let your team manage the parts that are important to them.

Embrace the numbers. They’ll help you drive your car better, and help you drive your business better.

 

 

Cloud Services Roundtable -- guess who

Guess who is a new contributor to the Cloud Services Roundtable?

This guy!

http://www.cloudservicesroundtable.com/cloud-services-roundtable-blog.html

Catch me tonight doing Q&A on Virtualization

Want to talk best practices for virtualization?   Catch me tonight doing a roundtable on it.

When: Wednesday, Jun 16, 2010 6:30 PM (PDT)

Where:

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