The True Cost Of Public Cloud

CRN’s Steve Burke says it's vital for companies to have trusted cloud advisers to determine which solution will provide the most value.

"There’s a good reason why strategic service provider CPP Associates’ Infrastructure Anywhere assessment, which is aimed at determining where workloads should reside— on-premises or off-premises—is driving big sales growth.

It’s because CPP Associates is doing the hard work as a trusted adviser, crunching the real numbers to determine which solution will provide the biggest competitive advantage and the biggest bang for the buck.

“We’ve done 27 of these Infrastructure Anywhere assessments and almost every single one has turned out to be the same: On-premises done correctly is always less expensive than off-premises done correctly,” said Paul O’Dell, a director at CPP Associates, Clinton, N.J., which counts Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and VMware among its premier partners, along with nine software-defined data center partners, four networking/security partners and four cloud enablement partners.

“It’s a runaway landslide if off-premises is done incorrectly. The savings of 50 [percent] to 75 percent are very realistic. What we tell our customers is: ‘We believe in company-first, but not-cloud first.’ I can assure you that it is in their best interest to have us do one of these studies.”

The assessment is based on a several-week drill down into a customer’s IT systems and environment, including data collection for target workloads with detailed comparisons between public cloud infrastructure costs and on-premises HPE costs. The assessments helped drive 80 percent growth for CPP Associates on the HPE value portfolio in 2018 and 100 percent growth on that portfolio in the first fiscal quarter....."

Read more at the original Source: CRN News

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Cloud Computing: Evolution in the next year or so.

Cloud computing has been developing rapidly since the term was coined in 2006. It’s played an integral role in the transformation of many businesses over the last decade, particularly valued for the reliability, scalability and versatility that cloud technology brings compared to traditional dedicated servers. And this race to the cloud will only gather pace as technology matures.

Having the ability to understand, evaluate and implement cloud computing is crucial for today’s business leaders, regardless of whether they operate in IT or not. As business needs evolve, so too does cloud infrastructure. There has been a strong growth within the private and hybrid cloud computing market, and in the next twelve months we can only expect that the technology will gain further importance and adoption. Research company IDC’s findings back this prediction up, by pointing out that a year ago traditional data centres accounted for 62 per cent of IT infrastructure spending, while public cloud captured 23 per cent and private cloud, 15 per cent. Illustrating a rapid shift, IDG predicts that by 2020 data centres will represent 50 per cent of the market, with public cloud forming just under a third of the market and private cloud making up 20 per cent. In simple terms, data centres’ importance is diminishing, while public and private cloud technology’s value and usability is growing and gaining traction. As the current cloud landscape is changing, what can we expect from this market in 2018?

Hybrid cloud computing will gain traction

Going back to basics, a hybrid cloud enables businesses to use a combination of different cloud model types. For example: a public cloud with a private cloud, or one private cloud with another one, or one public cloud with a second public cloud. Some businesses see hybrid cloud use as a way to deal with IT demand peaks, while others view it as a central management experience. Many companies tend to start working with hybrid clouds to complement their present investments. For instance, as most businesses usually use a sliding scale for what aspects of their operations are most crucial, some would place the less valuable or security-demanding areas in the public cloud. Meanwhile, other aspects that need more control and safety would be directed to the private cloud within that hybrid cloud space. This way, they can control and oversee their operations and systems management. With the increasing adoption of hybrid cloud computing, we will see the market grow steadily.

While last year was important for experimenting and learning about the technology, cloud vendors will continue to crystallise their strategies throughout this year. One vivid example is Microsoft’s launch of private cloud platform Azure Stack, the purpose of which is to mirror the Azure public cloud. Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services partnered with platform virtualisation giant VMware, to offer a new hybrid cloud extension. Further, Oracle and IBM now have their own hybrid cloud offerings. These are only a few examples of how, as major cloud vendors’ strategies are gelling, they will gain momentum as their clients continue to seek the best ways to manage their public and private clouds.

Another important development will be the optimisation of connections to the cloud. Very few companies use only one cloud model – many have both public and private clouds. This means that if a business uses a hybrid cloud, it can certainly benefit from access to an optimised network connection to that cloud. This need has led to a growth in the interconnection providers market, known as multi-clouds, and as hybrid cloud computing becomes popular, businesses will need to prioritise creating, maintaining and optimising such connections.

The emergence of multi-clouds

With the increased exploration of hybrid cloud, people will also start turning their heads to emerging options such as multi-clouds, which are naturally evolving from hybrid cloud use. Multi-clouds enable the use of multiple cloud computing services in a single infrastructure. For example, a company can use separate cloud providers for its infrastructure and software services, or it can use a number of infrastructure providers for a variety of workloads. This is when multi-cloud architecture comes into play, as it enables businesses to increase their cloud operations’ availability. So, if one of the cloud vendors in the architecture is experiencing a problem, the business can switch workloads from it to a different vendor’s infrastructure.

There are a number of reasons why multi-clouds will become increasingly powerful and valued. They enable the complete integration of all the prevalent public clouds like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. They also optimise multi-cloud management into one sole activity, by allowing a wide-ranging cloud network to exist in a single platform. Furthermore, multi-clouds enable the automation of IT networking, which makes it easy to connect to and switch between public and private clouds. More importantly, centralised cloud networking management enables a business to access, control, analyse and trace faults in all its cloud resources in one unifying place. This can bring business optimisation and increased efficiency – and what business doesn’t want that?

All of this means that the emergence, and eventually adoption, of multi-cloud computing focuses on connectivity and therefore brings more relevance to networking and to the easier ways of managing networks. Having looked at the emerging cloud options and the changing landscape, we also need to consider the reasons why more enterprises turn to cloud providers.

The hyperscale of cloud providers

Amazon, Microsoft and Google’s cloud infrastructure is on such a large scale, that we talk about them as a hyperscale cloud, as opposed to a mere cloud. While they offer a hosting service that is safe, scalable and global, they are also constantly innovating and collaborating, ensuring that they’re experiencing immense growth because of it. Hyperscale providers are in a features arms race, the latest battleground being the creation of machine learning and artificial intelligence platforms, steadily revolutionising these spaces. Over the next twelve months we can be certain to observe a further consolidation of their services, with hyperscale providers building platforms that are easy to consume and reduce operational costs. This will naturally lead to decreasing cloud expenditure as these become more mature, more accessible and easier to work with, driving a further decline in traditional computing.

Companies’ digital transformations have come a long way, but as cloud platforms continue to innovate and as machine learning and artificial intelligence become increasingly efficient, businesses need to carefully evaluate what is right for them long term. This is not a decision that can just be taken by the IT team any more. Consequently, many organisations, wondering where to start, turn to managed service providers accredited by hyperscale cloud providers, as they can design and deliver bespoke cloud computing solutions that are tailored to an organisation’s specific needs. Using the help of a trusted expert and solution-led infrastructure company is often the best way to solve a business challenge with technology, and to be safely guided through the journey to the cloud.

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Review: Fulcrum

Fulcrum is a mobile data collection tool that allows users to easily design custom forms and quickly conduct field data collection on Android and iOS. Fulcrum works in connected and disconnected environments.

Official Website

Fulcrum Features

Collect data in forms even when offline

Capture audio, video, photos, barcodes and more inside forms

Use built-in maps or upload your own custom maps to use for geolocation—even indoors

Turn data into PDF reports from mobile app

Use webhooks and API to build your own integrations with apps

iOS and Android apps available

Fulcrum Pricing

$18/month per user Essentials plan for basic features and 10GB storage

$22/month per user Standard plan for extended features and 20GB storage

$25/month per user Professional plan for full features and 30GB storage

Fulcrum Review

Knowing where something happened can often be just as important as knowing when or how it happened. But if you're using paper forms or a standard online form to gather data about your work, odds are you're not keeping track of where you filled out the form. Perhaps you'll enter a job site's address and hope Google Maps understands it next time, or at best you're checking a GPS and writing down coordinates—or marking where inside a building you performed your job.

Fulcrum has better options. As a mobile form app designed for gather data on the go, it can tap into your phone's GPS and record precisely where data was collected automatically. Then, it lets you pinpoint that location on a map, even if you're in a remote area with poor Google Maps coverage—or inside a facility. It includes data from Mapbox, MapQuest, and OpenStreetMap, then you can upload your own .mbtiles map texture files with detailed location or building maps. That lets you precisely tag where you worked no matter where you are. And it all works offline, letting you conduct research in remote places and still gather all the data you need.

You'll need to collect more than just locations, of course. As with most form builders for mobile data collection, Fulcrum lets you take photos, scan QR and barcodes, and capture signatures right from your form, along with standard text data. It even lets you capture and upload videos, and Fulcrum adds geotag info to your videos while they're being captured.

Collecting data is only half of the challenge. Once your field work is done, you'll have to turn your data into documents, plot it on maps, and more. Fulcrum has features to help there, too. You can create your own PDF document templates, and then whenever a form is filled out Fulcrum can use the form data to fill in the PDF template blanks and create a custom invoice, report, work order, or anything else you need right from your mobile device. You'll never have to copy and paste form data into Word again.

Plotting your captured data is easy, too. In Fulcrum's web app, you can visualize your data entries on any of Fulcrum's built-in map services or your custom maps. Or, Fulcrum can sync your form data to CartoDB, Arc2Earth, and more to plot your data, create map visualizations, monitor team activity, and more. Or, you can export data in CSV, Shapefile, KML, GeoJSON and other popular formats to plot data in your own apps.

Fulcrum is a great tool for making mobile data capture forms, one that's especially great at mapping. If you need to gather data remotely and know exactly where it was gathered, Fulcrum's tools can help you never worry you overlooked anything. You'll just have to fill out your forms, and Fulcrum will take care of your data and mapping needs automatically.Fulcrum Review

Knowing where something happened can often be just as important as knowing when or how it happened. But if you're using paper forms or a standard online form to gather data about your work, odds are you're not keeping track of where you filled out the form. Perhaps you'll enter a job site's address and hope Google Maps understands it next time, or at best you're checking a GPS and writing down coordinates—or marking where inside a building you performed your job.

Fulcrum has better options. As a mobile form app designed for gather data on the go, it can tap into your phone's GPS and record precisely where data was collected automatically. Then, it lets you pinpoint that location on a map, even if you're in a remote area with poor Google Maps coverage—or inside a facility. It includes data from Mapbox, MapQuest, and OpenStreetMap, then you can upload your own .mbtiles map texture files with detailed location or building maps. That lets you precisely tag where you worked no matter where you are. And it all works offline, letting you conduct research in remote places and still gather all the data you need.

You'll need to collect more than just locations, of course. As with most form builders for mobile data collection, Fulcrum lets you take photos, scan QR and barcodes, and capture signatures right from your form, along with standard text data. It even lets you capture and upload videos, and Fulcrum adds geotag info to your videos while they're being captured.

Collecting data is only half of the challenge. Once your field work is done, you'll have to turn your data into documents, plot it on maps, and more. Fulcrum has features to help there, too. You can create your own PDF document templates, and then whenever a form is filled out Fulcrum can use the form data to fill in the PDF template blanks and create a custom invoice, report, work order, or anything else you need right from your mobile device. You'll never have to copy and paste form data into Word again.

Plotting your captured data is easy, too. In Fulcrum's web app, you can visualize your data entries on any of Fulcrum's built-in map services or your custom maps. Or, Fulcrum can sync your form data to CartoDB, Arc2Earth, and more to plot your data, create map visualizations, monitor team activity, and more. Or, you can export data in CSV, Shapefile, KML, GeoJSON and other popular formats to plot data in your own apps.

Fulcrum is a great tool for making mobile data capture forms, one that's especially great at mapping. If you need to gather data remotely and know exactly where it was gathered, Fulcrum's tools can help you never worry you overlooked anything. You'll just have to fill out your forms, and Fulcrum will take care of your data and mapping needs automatically.

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History of the Cloud

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Technology and Small Business :Cloud, mobile and security in 2016

Cloud, mobile and security top the list of technology trends in small business again for
the coming year. But this is no business-as-usual report; these trends come with refined twists that pack a wallop. In other words, it's not just about using cloud and mobile; it's about data convergence and reimagined work. And while security earns intensified focus this year, it also comes with new mandates from some of your biggest customers.

Here's what you need to know about cloud computing, mobile and security to stay on top of new business demands and opportunities in 2016.

1. Small Business Trends in Cloud Computing

It's no secret that small businesses are flocking to the cloud. Indeed, 92 percent of

small businesses use at least one cloud business solution, according to SMB Group analyst Laurie McCabe's blog post.

The most common use of the cloud thus far is subscription software. Increasingly, small businesses subscribe to software rather than purchasing it outright and installing it on company computers.

Subscription software, otherwise known as Software-as-a-Service or SaaS, not only reduces the cash outlay for software, but it also lets you and your employees remotely access the data from home office desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

While small businesses pay more over the life of the subscription than they would if they purchased the software outright, the monthly "rental" model is easier on cash flow, includes automatic software updates, and places the onus of IT maintenance on the vendor rather than the small business owner. The "use anywhere on any device" flexibility also untethers SMB owners and workers from their desks, which increases both productivity levels and workflow options.

But that's just the beginning.

Subscription software whetted the SMB appetite for more remote access to the company data. This year will see more SMBs moving data to the cloud precisely for that purpose. Both plentiful and cheap, cloud storage makes adding hardware to the company data center an unpalatable choice in most cases. Although some companies use a hybrid approach—wherein some data resides in the cloud and other data in the companies' on-premises servers—primarily as an additional security measure.

Small businesses are also turning to the cloud for infrastructure services. "Eighty-seven percent use at least one cloud infrastructure solution," says McCabe in her post.

"In 2015, cloud solutions are poised for hockey stick growth as more SMB decision-makers turn to a cloud-first approach that not only supports existing business models, but also enables them to develop innovative new products, services and business models."

All of these changes will result in the restructuring and repurposing of small business IT staff. According to McCabe, this is the year that "SMB IT staff and channel partners evolve into cloud managers."

In a statement to the press Steve King, of Emergent Research and co-author of a joint Intuit report, Small Business Success in the Cloud, said:

"Today, the U.S. and global economy is going through a series of shifts and changes that are reshaping the economic landscape. In this new landscape, many people are using the power of the cloud to re-imagine the idea of small business and create new, innovative models that work for their needs."

How the Cloud has Redefined Small Business

But the cloud isn't just making work easier and more productive; it's changing how small businesses attack business opportunities and threats too. According to an Intuit study, small businesses that find great success in the cloud fall in four broad categories:

Plug-in Players

Small businesses will increasingly adapt to the cloud by taking advantage of specialized services that they can seamlessly integrate into back-office operations. Instead of spending time and effort on the nuts-and-bolts of finance, marketing and human resources, cloud-adapted small businesses will plug into cloud-based providers who deliver comprehensive, tailored solutions, giving small business operators the ability to focus on mission-critical areas of business.

Hives

Cloud-adapted small businesses will increasingly be made up of individuals who share talent to form a team. These businesses will operate virtually, with employees working in different locations, and increasingly flexible staffing levels will rise and fall to meet project needs. For example, independent contractors will use virtual spaces to connect and market themselves. On Main Street, small manufacturers and producers may share a commercial facility.

Head-to-Headers 

A growing number of cloud-adapted small businesses will compete head-to-head with major firms, using the growing number of platforms and plug-in services to reach markets once only accessible to large corporations. This is already happening with platforms such as AirBnB, which provide individuals with the ability to reach a mass market through community infrastructure.

Portfolioists

Successful cloud-adapted freelancers will bring together multiple income streams to create a career portfolio. These largely will be people who start with a passion, or a specific skill. They're motivated primarily by the desire to live and work according to their values, passions, and convictions. They will increasingly build personal empires in the cloud, finding previously unseen opportunities for revenue generation.

2. The Convergence of Mobile, Cloud and Data

Small business data is on the move—thanks to the cloud—and mobile devices provide far more than a standard means of communication. Two prime trends breaking on this front: mobile payments and using geo-location in mobile advertising

and marketing.

"We're seeing the use of geo-location—meaning pushing out ads to people within a given radius of a business," says Ken Wisnefski, founder and CEO of internet marketer, WebiMax. "It used to be a difficult prospect to incorporate people's vicinity to your business into your Internet marketing and advertising campaigns. But social media makes this simple and cheap, for example using Facebook's Local Awareness Ad product, you can create ad campaigns for as little as $5 a day."

In short, mobile isn't just about getting your work done; it's about attracting customers to your business in myriad ways, too.

Mobile payments are on the upswing too, in ways that go beyond the usual services such as Swipe, Square, Dwolla, and PayPass. New services, such as Apple Pay, require that small businesses have a POS system that supports the NFC chip. It will be awhile before the mobile payment services industry goes through a shakeout that will shorten the list of options an SMB must accommodate. For now, Current trends in mobile payment options mean that accepting mobile payments in almost any form is essential.

Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs are on the rise in small businesses, too. But these days, small businesses want to store company data in the cloud rather than on mobile devices to increase data protection should devices be lost, stolen or broken. It's also easier to block a former employee from accessing company data that way.

"A growing majority of small businesses now regard mobile solutions as essential business enablers, with 60 percent saying that mobile solutions are critical to their business," says McCabe. "Eighty-six percent of SMBs agree or strongly agree that mobile apps are a complement to traditional business applications, and 71 percent believe that mobile apps will replace some traditional solutions entirely."

As mobile and data converge, rather than operate as two independent tools, they become more central to how business is done. And this, of course, requires renewed attention to security.

3. Security: A Top Priority, But SMBs Lag Behind

While small businesses notoriously assume that they're too small to attract cybercriminals, the opposite is true. Hackers often view SMBs as the best entry points to a larger organization. That was the case in the infamous Target breach, where hackers gained access to Target's data via an unprotected small company's access to Target's vendor portal.

But access to big companies is not the only appeal in attacking smaller companies.

"The cost of entry into an organization for a cybercriminal is decreasing and commercialization of malware and advanced persistent threats (APT) in particular grow at a rapid pace," says Mark Bermingham, director of global B2B marketing at Kaspersky Lab.  "As a result, small businesses will see attacks from a wider range of sources."

"However, small businesses today are not very aware of this trend and are extremely vulnerable to an attack," he added. "Small businesses need to be aware that cybercriminals, especially as malware actors become more prevalent, will follow the path of least resistance. In addition, the concept of the cyber-mercenary is very real today. As a result, we expect to see larger operations and more surgical strikes against small businesses."

Because of this cybercriminal shift in focus, SMBs can expect their customers, particularly customers that are big companies, to insist that they meet security standards. SMBs that cannot prove they have adequate and reliable security measures in place will lose business in droves this year.

That's the year ahead. Are you prepared for it?

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Technology Strategy for Small Businesses

The technology trends most likely to affect the small business in the next year look remarkably similar to those of a year or two ago.

Mobile, cloud, and software automation (particularly of marketing) remain dominant forces at work. But they are stronger, more pervasive, and more affordable—and thus more irresistible—than ever.

Let's take a quick look at what small business technology trends you can expect to draw your attention—and potentially your budget—and help your business prosper and grow.

Abandon or Reduce On-Premises Technology

Over the last 15 years, the way small business operates has changed markedly. Offices host an often dizzying array of desktops, printers, monitors, servers, and network switches and other technology paraphernalia. But the cost of buying and maintaining all that hardware has severely dented the bottom lineMaybe it isn’t worth hanging on to all of it. As IT equipment ages and pricey upgrades or service contract renewals loom, weigh the value proposition of moving some of that IT infrastructure to the cloud. Compare the cost of running some of those functions in the cloud to the time and budget required by retaining them in-house. You may well relieve some of the burden and expense.


For some small businesses, it will make sense to "get rid of as much on-premises technology as possible and rely on the cloud instead," said Greg Schulz, an analyst with Server and StorageIO Group. "Others will need to figure out which IT functions they can move to the cloud to reduce complexity and cost—and do so as a complement to their on-premises equipment and software."

Start New Projects in the Cloud

If you're happy with your current in-house technology, e.g., it works and provides value, consider using the cloud for new projects—perhaps for mobility, to analyze the customer database, or other IT
functions.

"The cloud will continue to grow as the default platform to launch any new project, whether a hot new mobile or social app, or rebuilding a legacy internal system," said Greg Arnette, chief technology officer and founder of cloud-based email archiving vendor Sonian.

Increased Cloud Backup and Recovery

An obvious area of expense and internal resources is backup and disaster recovery. Mike Karp, an analyst at Ptak Associates, expects a sharp uptick in small businesses that look to the cloud for data backup, data recovery, data archiving, and disaster recovery. Companies that want to invest in such off-premises services, he said, should keep these two issues in mind: the cost of the service, and how rapidly the cloud provider can deliver your data when a recovery is necessary.

Karp also said that small businesses should not rely completely on the cloud to safeguard them in the event of a disaster.

"Any company sending data to the cloud would be wise to keep a local copy of the most recent backup" said Karp. "Keeping the most recent backup locally makes data recovery much faster than recovering from the cloud."

Sensible Data Archiving

Certain businesses have a legal requirement to keep every piece of data they generate or receive. And as the price of storage continues to plummet, it has become the norm to store everything and keep it for posterity.

But many SMBs don’t need to hold onto everything. They can actually delete large quantities of data and only retain vital business data, such as customer information and financial records. As more companies store data in the cloud, a growing trend involves lowering cloud costs by being highly selective about what data they keep.

"If data provides value to your business, then protect, store it, and treat it as a business asset," said Schulz. "But if there is no value, why are you keeping it?"

Mobile Technology is a Must

As younger workers enter the workforce, they demand the ability to run business applications via smartphones. Similarly, bosses and staff who own the latest tablets or smartphones want to use them at work. There is simply no point in fighting the mobile wave—resistance is futile.

"A growing majority of SMBs regard mobile solutions as essential business enablers with 60 percent saying mobile solutions are critical to business," said Laurie McCabe, an analyst with SMB Group. "Mobile solutions also account for a growing share of small business technology budgets when we compare findings over the past four years."

Automated Marketing

The primary reason most new small businesses fail in the first two years is generally attributed to a lack of marketing savvy. Companies that make it past that initial period must continue best-practice marketing to remain operational. But with bigger competitors using all sorts of sophisticated marketing technology to attract customers, it is time for many small business owners to up their game. Thanks to a plethora of cloud-based marketing applications, small business marketing costs are much more affordable.

Laurie McCabe says that choosing the right automated marketing tools may be one of the most important decisions a business makes.

"Many vendors offer a solid, valuable approach for small businesses, but because they're designed for different types of SMB requirements; there is no one-size-fits-all solution," says McCabe. "Thoroughly research different solutions to determine which best suit your business. Develop a short list that includes solutions that offer the capabilities and services you need, as well as integration with other solutions your business requires."

McCabe cautions SMBs against blindly buying into the marketing hype that most vendors serve up. The best way to progress is to attend a webinar or an on-site event where you can ask questions, and take advantage of free trials. Ask for references from customers that are similar to your business, and talk to them to find out about their experiences in deploying, using and getting value from that product.

"Try to test-drive at least a couple of different solutions to get a better idea of the options, as well as which type will work well for your business," said McCabe.

 Integrated Marketing

A study by Software Advice, a company that helps buyers find the right software, found that small businesses in the U.S. are realizing the importance of connecting with customers throughout the entire buying cycle. As a result, they're looking for integrated sales and marketing functions, typically provided within a Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) suite.

Software Advice numbers show that 62 percent of small-business CRM buyers are still looking for basic contact management as provided in a standalone application for sales force automation (SFA). That’s no surprise. SFA is typically the first step for businesses to organize their customer data and track customer interactions across the sales funnel. As such, it’s long been the first thing small businesses look for when it comes time to adopt a real CRM technology strategy.

"However, we also found that 42 percent of small-business buyers in the U.S. were looking for an integrated suite of multiple CRM applications, as opposed to a single standalone solution for just sales force automation, just basic marketing automation, or just customer service," said Jay Ivey, an analyst with Software Advice. "That number has jumped from 7 percent in 2013."

Of U.S. buyers seeking an integrated suite, 88 percent want a combination of sales and marketing automation. Bottom line: more small businesses want fuller-featured CRM to better align marketing and sales. Further, 71 percent expressed a preference for cloud-based over on-premises CRM systems—up from 48 percent in 2013.

CRM: Skip the Social Bells and Whistles

Social technology has no doubt been a great benefit to some small businesses perhaps a blog that attracts new clientele or a Facebook page with thousands of followers. But many small business forays into the social scene bear little fruit. It just doesn’t make sense for them to integrate their CRM applications with social media channels.

"Rather than social functionality, we found that most buyers request basic CRM integration with popular email clients, such as Microsoft Outlook or Gmail (58 percent), or calendar apps, such as Google Calendar or Apple’s iCloud Calendar (36 percent)," said Ivey. "The ability to keep all professional calendars synchronized helps employees stay on top of follow-up reminders, tasks and meetings, regardless of whether they’re working within their CRM system or not."

Leveling the Playing Field

Whereas traditional software products were frequently categorized as "enterprise" or "small business," cloud software is becoming an equalizer as vendors settle on user-based pricing. Software that might have been accessible only to large enterprises in on-premises form due to pricing models is now available to companies of all sizes (a small business can buy a single Salesforce license, for example).

"Expect vendors to continue driving this trend, as it allows them to target functional areas within companies, regardless of their size," said Chris Neumann, CEO of  data analysis vendor DataHero.

Increased Security Awareness

While cloud computing paves the way to greater functionality and lower costs, it can also open the doors to outside attack. Businesses of all sizes must pay more attention than ever to security. But don’t just take a technology centric approach.

Security Awareness Training is particularly important in a cloud-based world. It helps make staff aware of attack avenues such as various scams that entice employees to click on a link or to open a document that gives the bad guys an all-access pass to your company data.

"Even when an organization has published policies and has implemented many security procedures and technologies, it still needs to train its employees," said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of security training firm KnowBe4.

Showing a few PowerPoint slides during a lunch-and-learn session isn't enough, says Sjouwerman. Instead, he suggests regular and repeated training followed by simulated attacks. Prior to the training, his organization sends fake emails to how many employees click on a link or open an attachment. After educating employees on the various tricks of the trade, Sjouwerman's company launches another fake attack. Over a few weeks, the number of employees messing up drops to near but not quite zero—thus the need to remain ever vigilant.

"The rule is: think before you click," says Sjouwerman.

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Google for Canadian NonProfits

Google Tools for NonProfits

This is a membership program for nonprofits based in various countries with country-specific programs, who is looking to amplify its online engagement. Though it has eligibility requirements, once accepted, you have access to free versions of all Google products, including tutorials for each to help you get started (not too shabby, we know).

As a Canadian NonProfit the eligibility requirements are

• Organizations must be currently registered with TechSoup Canada, TechSoup Global's regional arm.
• Organizations must be registered as a federal charity, a federal non-profit or a provincial non-profit.

For other countries or updated eligibility requirements go here.

Here are the List of Offerings by Google to Help NonProfits.

Google Ad Grants: 

Free AdWords advertising to promote your website on Google through keyword targeting. Google Ad Grants (formally known as Google Grants) is a $10,000 monthly grant given to organizations looking to advertise on Google. With the potential of driving 10,000 to 40,000 new visitors a month to your website, using this “free money” to attract new constituents to engage with your organization online is an excellent offer.

Google Apps for NonProfits: 

Free version of the Google Apps business productivity suite, including Gmail, Docs, Calendar, and more. Google Apps includes 30GB of storage on Gmail and Google Drive, a cloud-based document-sharing and creation tool. Your nonprofit also receives 24/7 support for any technical issues you may encounter with these features.

The benefits of the apps are substantial. For instance, if your team is disbursed in the field or operates in different countries, you can share and store information securely with Google Drive. Meanwhile, you can communicate online with people in various countries with Gmail and stay up-to-date on events with Google Calendar.

YouTube for NonProfits:

Not only can your nonprofit use YouTube channels to share videos about your organization, its events, its achievements, and even to say thank you, you are also able to collect donations through it. Video is a great medium to connect with a large audience and inspire them to support your organization.

With YouTube, your nonprofit is able to:

• Drive viewers to action by placing a call-to-action overlay directly on your videos.
• Customize the look and feel of your channel with your organization’s logo and branding.
• Boost fundraising through a Google Checkout “Donate” button on your channel homepage.

Google Earth Outreach Grants: 

Free licensing for Google Earth Pro and Maps API for Business.Showing the impact of your work in the field is a constant challenge, but it’s a growing demand from supporters and can drive a lot of attention if done effectively. Google Earth Outreach is a mapping tool that includes Google Earth and Google Maps to allow your supporters to see your work. 

With Google Earth Outreach, you can:

• Create a custom map of your project sites in 10 minutes.   
• Create a narrative Google Earth movie and make it available on YouTube.
• Collect data in the field with Android devices and Open Data kit and map your data.
• View online tutorials to help you get the most out of the available mapping tools.

Google Analytics:

Understanding which of your marketing efforts, whether it's via social media or Google AdWords, is driving the most traffic to your website is crucial to growing your online presence and using the right channels to your advantage. Google Analytics provides your nonprofit with information on how people find and interact with your website and eventually take action to support your mission. 

With Google Analytics, you can:

• Measure engagement of your supporters with your website.
• Determine which of your AdWords ads are most effective.
• Identify and understand how volunteers, donors, and stakeholders interact with your website.
• Track the effectiveness of social media for your campaign.

Google+:

Similar to Facebook, Google+ provides a medium for you to converse with your audience and share photos, videos, and all of your beautiful stories to your community of followers and supporters. Google+ also allows you to use Google Hangouts to host live video conferences with individuals across the world. You’re even able to tailor and target your message to your Google Circles, creating communities within your larger Google+ community for volunteers, donors, sponsors, and even your staff.

One Today by Google:

Free access to a mobile fundraising platform. This Android app allows nonprofits to launch projects that can make a big impact with $1 donations made via mobile devices. Once you’re a member of Google for Nonprofits, you have complete access to set up your projects and fundraise through One Today.

How to ?

If you meet the eligibility criteria and would wish to avail of the Google Set of tools for you NonProfit then click on the Image below to Join.

2Create³⁶⁰ specializes in Google Apps  Strategy and Implementation.  Contact us for more information.

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Non-Profits and Google Apps

Google and Non-Profits     

Leverage Google Apps Reduce your IT costs and help staff and volunteers collaborate more effectively.

Google Apps:

Google Apps for Nonprofit offers your organization the freedom and cost-effectiveness of cloud computing and the richness  of real-time collaboration.

• Work better with colleagues through real-time collaboration online
• Store documents in the cloud; 25GB for email; 5GB of storage for Google Drive
• Stay connected from anywhere; securely access data anywhere
• Get things done faster by automating processes
• 24/7 support; no hardware, no updates
• Free version of Google Apps for Nonprofits with fewer than 3,000 users,
• adwords-64  Reach and engage your supporters through online advertising with AdWords.

Google Grants:     (website)

Google Ad Grants is the nonprofit edition of AdWords, Google's online advertising tool. Google Ad Grants empowers nonprofit organizations, through $10,000 per month in in-kind AdWords™ advertising, to promote their missions and initiatives on Google search result pages.

With Google Grants, you can:

• Leverage online advertising to reach donors, volunteers and constituents when they’re searching on Google
• Raise awareness by choosing relevant keywords and creating unique ads to highlight your work
• Track online donations, newsletter sign-ups, volunteer registrations and more so you can see what’s working and what’s not
• Promote your organization’s website on Google with in-kind AdWords advertising

View the video for more information.

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Why the Cloud ?

 Why the Cloud? 

Cloud computing has turned out to be a groundbreaking advancement in information technology. It has already enabled many businesses to make profits that were not possible in the past due to no-access to significant information on the cloud to improve sales and costs linked to operation and maintenance of servers.

Cloud computing services are available to users under three categories:

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service),
PaaS (Platform as a Service),
SaaS (Software as a Service).

Small businesses, Startups, Nonprofits used to find technology investments deterring

But not anymore, thanks to cloud computing to make it much easier for business aspirants to set up their businesses in their desired locations. They are no longer required to spend hefty sum of money on buying computer hardware, software to run their businesses.Moreover, they can easily track performance of their businesses, manage resources and increase their ROI through various apt tools available on the cloud.

Another factor that entices to go for cloud computing is scalability, which allows a company to avoid a panic situation where there is unexpected growth in numbers of users. Cloud scalability automatically increases the number of resources as and when there is upsurge in demand. There are many benefits of cloud computing that are leading many businesses, regardless of their sizes, to increasingly opt for cloud computing.

The ability to scale up in the event of skyrocketing business growth makes cloud computing the antidote of system-failure nemesis. It's no hyperbole to say that cloud scalability saves both time and money of cloud customers, who can avail cloud services at any given point of time.  Non-cloud users, on the other hand, often face the labyrinth of installing new hardware, buying new licenses for software and keeping a dedicated staff to deal with system failure ascribed to massive influx of users.

Cloud computing acts as a single point to fulfill your all the computing, networking and storage needs. Hence, cloud computing not only frees your of the dependence on buying personal hardware, software to run your business operations, but also ensures high productivity and helps devise strategies to establish a strong foothold in the market.




2Create³⁶⁰  provides web app scaling consulting services without charging any fee to help businesses enjoy benefits of sophisticated infrastructure automation.

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Disaster Recovery Plan: Using Cloud

CLOUD BASED DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN

A disaster recovery plan helps an organization protect its data in the event of a natural disaster, unplanned downtime or other negative events. As cloud adoption grows, cloud computing is becoming one of the most popular enterprise options for disaster recovery. Cloud-based disaster recovery can involve a simple file back-up in the cloud, or a complete replication in standby mode ready to take over production duties.



When implementing a cloud disaster recovery (DR) plan, organizations must consider a range of factors, including providers, management and security.

These frequently asked questions will help you decide if cloud DR is right for your business, and how to set up a successful blueprint for your DR strategy.

How do I get started with a cloud disaster recovery plan?

A cloud DR plan is key to control costs during downtime and quickly and efficiently restore data. Not having a cloud DR plan is like being stranded without a map and not knowing where you are or how long it will take to get back home.

Before mapping out your plan, look at your DR budget to see what you can afford. Then identify and prioritize data, services and applications into three categories: critical, important and ancillary. Find out how long these services and applications can be down before it negatively impacts the business. When devising your plan, make sure it is possible to restore data in multiple situations, including a single system loss, a multiple node failure or a complete main data loss.

What makes cloud DR different from other DR options?

In a cloud DR model, organizations store copies of their data in the cloud. Cloud DR works well with small and large organizations because it reduces the need for additional data center space, infrastructure and other IT resources. When compared to other DR options, cloud DR is generally the most cost-effective. For instance, unlike traditional DR systems, there is no need to worry about power and cooling costs. Additionally, organizations only have to pay for the resources they consume. Because the cloud offers remote management capabilities, cloud DR can also reduce recovery time.

How should I choose a cloud DR provider?

Due to high demand, there are more than 170 disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) providers. These providers manage the activation and recovery of virtual machines in the cloud. The most popular service providers are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google, but smaller vendors have also entered the race. Large DRaaS providers, however, often have a broader range of DR services than smaller vendors. For example, larger providers might allow you to choose the region in which your data is stored. The downside to choosing a large provider is the cost; users typically pay for the storage they consume, along with bandwidth and storage I/O. Smaller vendors are often cheaper and offer more flexibility in pricing, which might be a better fit for smaller organizations.

When choosing a provider, evaluate the services they offer and if they fit your needs. There are many DR services to choose from, ranging from simple data recovery to virtual machine mounting to full disaster recovery within the service provider's data center. In addition, ask potential providers critical questions about their DR services, such as the percentage of customers they can support during a regional disaster.

How do I make sure my cloud DR environment is secure?

Security is crucial in any DR plan. Companies often fail to address how their normal security controls will fare during downtime. The last thing a company wants to experience is a security breach alongside a recovery situation. Security and incident response are tied together in the sense that the more security controls a business implements, the more efficiently it can respond to data breaches, malware or even a natural disaster. To make sure your DR plan is secure, test your environment and use vulnerability scanning tools. Additionally, ensure your recovery site has updated antivirus and firewall protection. If using third-party recovery, keep in mind that it may be multi-tenancy, so make sure your access controls are protected.

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Top Ten Reasons to Look at Public Cloud

1. No Capitalization and Always the Newest Technology

When you have servers on-site or even at a data center (private cloud), you own your servers. You are also responsible for updates, maintenance and coordination of your IT personnel. If the server is on your premises, there are even higher costs involved. With the public cloud, you pay only for what you use – sometimes this could amount to just pennies a month. There are no initial start-up fees and you don’t buy your own software. This will save you tons of money. With the public cloud the costs of doing IT business have just become an operational expense.

2. Security

For the most part, security levels at privately operated data centers are unknown. While some think that the public cloud is less secure than being on their own server or a local data center’s server, they forget that when they utilize a server at Amazon or Google, they are operating under the security umbrella of a worldwide operation with layers and layers of redundancy and monitoring. These larger companies work very hard on their security platforms, and through them you can take advantage of their position. There are also other services such as security-as-a-service (SECaaS) that you can add onto your public cloud to further enhance your security piece of mind.

3. Utility Pricing

You pay only for what you use. This is a benefit of a commoditized service. When you utilize the service of a data center you are paying a fixed monthly fee. With the public cloud you are able to scale. Amazon even invoices to fractions of a penny for usage.

4. Cloud Experts

Public cloud providers attract the best and brightest employees – Amazon, Google and Microsoft all have serious engineers focusing on very specific lanes of knowledge, and combined they offer the end user the benefits of a tremendous wealth of knowledge.

5. Disaster Recovery

Imagine all your precious data located on a server in your office. You feel all comfy because it is “safe.” Then a fire occurs. Your server is destroyed. Everything is lost. This could also just as easily happen at a single-facility data center. But with the public cloud your data is co-locatedin strategic areas and not just living in your home state. You can rest assured that your data will be “safe” in the public cloud.

6. Economies of Scale

The public cloud is growing exponentially by the day. Worldwide competition among the top public cloud providers is driving down prices and increasing availability. The biggest winner as Amazon, Google and Microsoft race to the bottom is the consumer.

7. Employee Flexibility

When your data and apps are on the public cloud, you have the ability to send your employees home – the cubicle is dead. When employees have the opportunity to work from home, from time to time, you have happier employees, and happier employees equals more productive employees.

8. Freedom of Choice

Come as you are and operate on the device of your choice though robust API access. Because you are merely peering into your service, it is always available regardless of the format or device.

9. Greener

The public cloud’s ecosystem offers a way for IT services to be provided in a more environmentally friendly way. Production of power and recycling of expended hardware can be monitored for better life-cycle management. Through consolidation of physical hardware, collection and recycling/remediation can be more thoroughly channeled and be more successful.

10. Improved Market Position

The immediacy of public cloud services allows for the rapid execution of a fleeting business opportunity by allowing companies to get to market faster.

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Professional Invoice : The Importance

Why Your Invoices Matter 

What do your invoices have in common with your website, your helpdesk and your technicians? They all serve as touchpoints with your customers — among the few recur - ring ones you have if you’re a small or medium-sized MSP — and when they’re done right, they’re a great opportunity to reinforce the value you deliver and strengthen the customer experience. 

Consider these four best practices for creating professional invoices that show existing and potential customers alike that you’re the right MSP for their business: 

1. Accuracy 
2. Professionalism 
3. Timeliness 
4. Service

1. Accuracy

As you grow your managed services business, an accurate invoice is one of the more important keys to building trust with your customers. (Conversely, an inaccurate invoice can spark distrust in your services and your practice.) One of the best ways to ensure accuracy is by automating as much of the billing process as possible. For example, if you can fully integrate your technicians’ field reports and your helpdesk processes with your billing platform, you can deliver accuracy and clarity for every item listed on your invoices.

2. Professionalism 

A clear and easy-to-understand invoice tailored to each customer’s needs allows you to always put your best foot forward. Rather than using a ‘one-size-fits-all’ template across your entire customer base, your invoices should be as simple or as detailed as necessary to reflect the different billing models used by each particular customer, whether that’s hourly, on retainer or fully managed services. This way, you can bill your customers in the way they like best — improving satisfaction while showing a deeper understanding of their business needs.

3. Timeliness 

Nobody likes to get a bill? That’s not entirely true. Customers expect to be billed but they expect that bill to arrive at a specific time and date. When customers know they’ll be billed promptly, it’s easier for them to track costs and plan expenses. A late invoice, on the other hand, can feel like an unexpected expense — and that leads to a negative customer experience. When your ticketing, helpdesk and invoicing tools are working together, previously manual steps can be eliminated, helping you generate and send invoices faster and more efficiently… and the faster your customers receive their invoices, the sooner you get paid.

4. Service 

You should always be ready to answer questions after the invoice has been sent to help build and grow the relationship. An integrated ticketing, helpdesk and invoicing system makes it easier to respond quickly to billing questions making you look professional and that you are on top of things.

An Easier Way to Bill Customers 

There are quite a few cloud-based service management platform for creating support tickets, scheduling technicians and generating professional invoices — everything you need to deliver quality service to your customers. These integrated, customizable billing process saves you time while increasing the accuracy of your invoices. You can also generate multiple invoices simultaneously for faster, more efficient billing — and then export your invoices directly to your preferred accounting software. 

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Platforms

Platforms

Application development, advanced integration architecture and interaction design to help your business stay ahead.

My business needs to innovate – how can I develop new applications and integrate disparate systems to support new services?

Consumer expectation is driving change at a pace that can be hard to match, especially when your business runs on a variety of complex legacy, bespoke and third party systems. Just as customers expect to be able to interact with your business through a mixture of channels and devices, so the users within your company need to be able to access data and processes quickly and easily.

We have extensive experience in the development of bespoke applications, interaction design, complex systems integration and architecture for digital services. Our approach is pragmatic, innovative, customer-focused and designed to deliver the highest value for your business. We utilise a wide spectrum of tools, techniques, skills and expertise to deliver secure and robust solutions that deliver powerful business performance, allowing users to effectively engage however and wherever they want across your digital estate.

Post launch we continue to work with you, supporting business goals and optimising system performance as your business needs and user behaviours evolve. So you’re well equipped to support the most demanding consumers, both now and in the future. 

2Create360

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Leverage Google App's

As many companies, governments, and educational organizations consider making the switch to Google Apps, the question is raised of how productive one can be on the cloud-based system.
Here are some tips to help you leverage Google Apps.

1. Google Drive on the Desktop
Connecting your Google Drive to your desktop creates a local folder that is directly connected to your Google Drive. This feature is not about offline editing capabilities, but it does offer an easy way to drag-and-drop files such as PDF documents from your computer into Google Drive.To connect your Google Drive to your desktop, simple click the "Connect Drive to Desktop" link on the left side of your Drive landing page. It will give you the opportunity to download and install Google Drive for your specific operating system and it will create a Google Drive folder on your computer. That's where you drag and drop files into the folder to save them into your Google Drive.

2. Offline editing

Perhaps one of the most contested points of the use of Google Apps in the enterprise is the necessity of an Internet connection to access documents. There is a little-known way to move your Google Apps files down to your desktop.

Copy and paste the below URL into your browser:

https://drive.google.com/#offline

Once there you simply click the "Enable Offline" button to enable offline editing. Bear in mind, however, that this can only be enabled on one Google account per computer. If this link simply takes you to your list of Google Drive files then you may already have offline editing enabled for another account.

3. Action Buttons in Gmail

With quick action buttons in Gmail, users can respond to event invitations, check-in for flights, view attachments, and review products, among other things, without opening an email. When checking your email in Gmail, look on the far right of the individual subject line and, if there is an action available, there should be a drop-down button where you can select how you want to respond.

4. Share your files

Gmail limits attachments to 25 MB, but it will allow users to insert a link to a Google Drive file, up to 10 GB in size, in an email. When in the "Compose" window, hover over the + at the bottom of the window and it will change to show you  a few different options. Click the Drive logo and you will be able to choose a file from your Google Drive to insert into the email.

 

 Once you insert a file into an email, you will be prompted to choose what access you want to give the recipient. When you have selected the access for the recipient, click "Share and Send" to send your email with the file. The file will appear as a blue link in the body of the email and recipients will have the option to save the file to their own drive.

5. SMS Appointment Reminders

Getting appointment reminders from your Google calendar sent to your phone can really help if you have to be away from your desk during the day. The first step to setting up the SMS alerts is to enable the feature and link your mobile number in calendar settings. Click the gear icon on the top right of your calendar page and select "Settings." Then, click the "Mobile Setup" option at the top and fill out the forms on that page and click save.

Once you have the feature enabled, you will need to select the reminder to be sent to your phone. When you are creating the event, or viewing an event, you have the option to select a reminder. Once the SMS feature in enable, it should show up on the drop-down menu next to "Reminders." Once you have selected SMS, finish creating the reminder and it should text you at the appointed time.

6. Google Tasks

Another oft-overlooked feature of Google Apps is the tasks feature available in Gmail and Google Calendar. To access tasks through Gmail, click on the drop-down arrow next to "Mail" on the top left section of your screen.

 Tasks can be created from the task inbox or an email. There is a + at the bottom of the tasks inbox to create a new task. From an email, click the "More" drop-down button at the top of an email and click "Add to tasks." Tasks created from an email will link back to the original email so you can understand the context of the task. You can also use this button to create an event from an email. For Chrome users, Google also offers a Tasks extension.

7. Email Filters

This is a great resource for folks who are making the move from Microsoft Outlook and are looking for a feature that is similar to the "rules" feature of Outlook. To access filters, first click the gear icon on the top right of your Gmail page. Select settings, and Filters tab will be at the top of the settings page toward the middle.

Once you reach the filters page, you will have the option to create a new filter or import filters. Click "Create a new filter" to create a filter based on sender, recipient, included words, attachments, and a couple other options. The import filters options will let you upload an XML file to import filters from that file.

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