Ah, the cloud—the place in the cybersky that enables all those applications and holds all that data for businesses both big and small. It seems like most companies these days have opted to take at least some tentative steps toward cloud—and if they haven’t yet, you can bet it’s been discussed. The more moving parts within a company, though, the …
The Sharing Economy is People Fueled and Cloud Powered
Sharing technology is all around us. Some well-known companies like Uber (get a ride) and AirBnB (get a room) have mastered it, providing utility and relevancy from their always-available apps. Note that now, though, there are sharing apps for more than just cars and beds. From food to friendship, we can get on-demand, geographically useful access to whatever we need, …
Why More Businesses Should Be Pursuing Hybrid Cloud
The hybrid cloud combines a public cloud provider with an organization’s private cloud platform. Because the two halves operate independently of one another, it’s possible to store proprietary data on the private cloud while placing noncritical information on the public one. The two systems, although stand-alone, can still communicate through an encrypted connection. This platform duality makes the hybrid cloud …
Cloud: Your Business Evolution Strategy
If you’re an MSP for whom “cloud” has become a dirty word—raise your hand. Following your metamorphosis from channel companies into MSPs you might have wanted to resist the rush toward cloud services, and the reselling efforts that cloud adoption would entail. But in reality, that could be a dangerous path—especially if your customers perceive you to just be an …
Hybrid Cloud: The Public and Private Cloud Mash-Up and its Benefits
Many organizations have adopted at least some public cloud solutions for the convenience, scalability, and affordability they offer—but security is a common hang-up, particularly for companies that handle sensitive or heavily regulated information. Having full control over dedicated servers is one benefit of building a private cloud—infrastructure that’s used by just one organization—but many businesses don’t have the budget or …
Hybrid Cloud Means Hybrid Security Measures
I recently walked you through a check-list, on what CIOs need to know about hybrid cloud—the IT sweet spot that marries in-house and cloud-based infrastructure—and what it could mean to their organizations. With all its versatility and promise, there is no doubt that hybrid clouds are the future for many at the enterprise level. But, with all that versatility and …
Looking at Hybrid Cloud and Security? Welcome to the Matrix
As a strategist, I’ve really enjoyed working on this hybrid cloud series. I love how hybrid cloud acts as an extension of what most organizations already have—providing an extremely effective additional tier to on-site physical storage infrastructure. It’s a highly scalable option for businesses that don’t need to keep all their data physically in-house. And I know that if you’re …
The Enterprise and Hybrid Cloud: What CIOs Need to Know
When it comes to the enterprise and the hybrid cloud, and what CIOs need to know about that, let’s start here: Nine out of 10 IT decision makers say embracing the hybrid cloud for their business is necessary for building a future-ready enterprise. Odds are that those same nine out of 10 CIOs are still struggling to agree on exactly …
The Public Cloud’s Growth is a Perfect Storm for MSPs
Cloud computing is everywhere, and the public cloud is leading the charge. Businesses can use the public cloud for applications or storage in a shared, accessible network on either a free or pay-per-usage basis. That’s the long way of saying something simple—that the public cloud is the happy home of applications like Google Drive, Dropbox and Salesforce. Many more examples …
How to Assess Your Cloud Migration Opportunities
Cloud computing is on just about every IT pro or business owner’s mind, and assessing your cloud migration opportunities is a fundamental first step. Cloud technology is exciting because it’s the great equalizer—not just something for the big business players; cloud has potential benefits for businesses of all sizes and at all stages of the business cycle. But jumping into …