What to look for in a cloud-aware managed/hosted services provider Posted on March 23, 2017 by Tim Burke Choosing the right managed/hosted services provider for your organization can be tough because what such providers offer – and how they deliver – can vary greatly. Continue reading →
The value of adding managed/hosted services as you reach for the clouds Posted on March 7, 2017 by Tim Burke If your organization is like most others, it’s using plenty of cloud services – an average of five if yours is a small or mid–size operation, 18 if it’s large. After all, maintaining in-house IT infrastructure drains valuable time, effort, and management bandwidth for the sake of capabilities that today’s hyperscale public cloud environments can provide far more effectively. Continue reading →
Cloud security in 2017: stronger than ever Posted on February 7, 2017 by Tim Burke If you’ve concluded that the public cloud services you use are as secure, or even more secure, than your traditional on-premises environment, you’re in good company – nearly two-thirds of IT leaders surveyed last year agree with you. Why cloud security tops on-premises security As they bring in yet another cloud service (and mention it only after the fact, if at all), most of the managers of your lines of business probably don’t think much about cybersecurity – but cloud services providers certainly do. Their reputations depend on it, which is why they’re investing in a two-pronged approach to cloud security: Continue reading →
The importance of cloud-transforming technologies Posted on January 26, 2017 by Tim Burke Did you know that the typical cloud user leverages six clouds on average and 80% of enterprise IT organizations will commit to hybrid clouds this year? Here, then, is a quick look at the transformative change now occurring under the hybrid, multi-cloud hood: Accelerated cloud workload automation For the sake of platform-independence, cloud workload automation is reaching above the orchestration layer to ease application management and accelerate app delivery by speeding up both initial deployment and ongoing DevOps integration. Continue reading →
The cloud in 2017: 3 trends to watch out for Posted on January 10, 2017 by Tim Burke In this age of the restless customer – not merely digital-centric but also “adventurous, experimental, and downright fickle” – I notice three crucial cloud-shaping trends: 1 The shadow IT underground Business units everywhere buy cloud services without IT department approval in a mass decentralization of IT “authority.” Why? Because these cloud services help business units stay competitive, responsive, and innovative at a time when 40% of consumers have expressed “a high willingness and ability to shift spend,” and another 25% are leaning that way. Continue reading →
Choosing a business resilience service provider Posted on December 22, 2016 by Tim Burke In my last post, I described key capabilities needed to achieve the IT resilience that’s become so critical to sustaining business resilience in an always-on world. Getting those capabilities to work for your business takes more than a pro–vider with appropriate IT service/product offerings. You’ll also need a provider with considerable depth of business experience and understanding as well as a vendor–neutral willingness to customize and integrate available technologies. It’s this combination of technology, business, and integration acumen that puts IT resilience – and business resilience – within your reach. Continue reading →
Of IT resilience and business recovery: From days to hours to minutes to seconds with 6 capabilities Posted on December 6, 2016 by Tim Burke As I’ve noted, IT resilience requires designing for the continuous availability of all business processes, workflows, technologies, and policies needed for always-on operations. To do this, you need outwardly-focused, cloud-conscious backup and business recovery solutions able to provide continuous data protection and end-to-end recovery automation regardless of what’s in your IT environment or how/where it changes. Continue reading →
Consider This about Unified Communications Posted on November 10, 2016 by Tim Burke Bringing integration and efficiency to your organization’s communications technologies? I recommend you keep these matters front-of-mind: Your budget, your legacy. Older communications installations may not do well in Unified Communications (UC) architectures — so do you attempt to bring along what you already have or replace it? This decision impacts your network. If you haven’t been keeping up with users’ demands for connectivity, a successful UC deployment may require more capacity than you currently possess. Continue reading →
Uh oh, downtime! Posted on November 10, 2016 by Tim Burke The impacts of downtime on a business can be devastating, as this cringe–inducing chart reveals: Downtime impacts Source: 3 Steps to IT Resilience, Forrester Continue reading →
Staying secure in a dangerous age: Overcoming cybersecurity complexity – with cloud and managed security services Posted on October 20, 2016 by Tim Burke The last time I posted, I described several cybersecurity solutions which are moving beyond the reactive, siloed offerings that continue to be necessary, but are no longer sufficient to protect our enterprises. These solutions can seem daunting. The complexity of it all often overwhelms. This is partly due to what’s happening to our information infrastructures, which are also becoming more complex as they go hybrid. They are, essentially, boundless as they accommodate internet communication. Meanwhile, today’s in–house data centers are increasingly virtualized and typically combine a variety of cloud and managed services. Continue reading →
