January 5th, 2012
Sorenson Media is trailblazing the use of cloud-based applications in the media and entertainment industry. Read the rest of this entry »
December 30th, 2011
As the time for voting on the upcoming anti-piracy legislation gets closer, more of the top rated companies in the cloud hosting business are coming out against SOPA. Many say that the legislative act would make the job of hosting a nightmare and lead to an erosion of free speech on the net. The bill has become a center of contention for many in the cloud hosting community with companies taking sides on both sides of the discussion. For more information on this important web legislation, and how it could affect the production of anyone doing business in the cloud, be sure to follow the link below.
There has been a lot of talk recently of Forrester’s End of Year forecast for technology, particularly cloud technology, to be the driving force for many businesses in 2012. Business to Community’s Tech & Gadgets writer Louis Columbus takes that vision to task, as he looks at two analytical articles that show how customer service remains the most important asset of any company. The articles are by two well respected writers:
He takes the Forrester Report and combines it with the concepts presented by Ray Wang and Paul Greenberg to present some very insightful overviews of the development of cloud technology and how it is truly impacting ongoing business. The overview looks at several important issues including graphs that illustrate:
For a look at how these forecasts from Forester are redefined by the findings of Wang and Greenberg, as well as the links to the two essays, read more:
With the trend towards open source gaining momentum, PC World takes a look at five open source companies that every business should be aware of. The shift towards more businesses considering open source for legitimate business as opposed to seeing it as a small-time alternative may be what is driving this move to a larger share of the market. Among the companies that IDG News writer Joab Jackson details for PC World’s report are:
For a more detailed analysis of what the year may hold for these and two other companies, be sure to read more.
Cloud technology is not only changing how businesses work, it is changing the roles of many employees in businesses as well. Joe Kendrick, a long-time business and technology writer for Forbes Magazine looks at how the introduction of cloud technology is not only changing the IT Department, but also many executive level positions in business.
In this article one of the areas he sites is the role of cloud to move CIOs into “the corner office” as the ability to identify and leverage key cloud resources becomes an increasingly important part of their role in the company. He cites a survey of CIOs that shows:
He also looks at the role of finding the right skill sets to develop business strategies and how these skills will be more important for CIOs in the coming years. For the complete discussion on future roles for CIOs in the coming cloud technology revolution, be sure to read more.
When the New York Times takes a look at a company and calls it the forerunner of the next big thing in an industry, any industry, you pay attention. That is exactly what New York Times technology writer Malia Whalan is saying about Splunk, a little start-up with a big vision. The company takes Big Data, the kind of data thrown off all around us as smartphones, automobile computers and more continue to churn out important data. It then makes that Big Data more useful by indexing the data into searchable links. A few examples are:
For a look at not only other companies that use Splunk in innovative ways, but other innovative start-ups that are tackling the cloud with out of the box thinking, be sure to read more.
If you have ever priced a new car you know that the cost of the car is just the start to your final costs. In the same way, pricing out new electronic medical records (EMR) systems can have a lot of hidden costs. Recently the American Medical Associations site amednews took a look at what kinds of costs need to be addressed, both hidden and on-going when pricing out new EMR systems.
Even with the cost savings from cloud-based EMR systems, there are some budgeting considerations that are part of the on-going costs and need to be included:
These are just a few of the areas that they look at with some detail in the report. They warn that productivity will take a hit for a short while as users get up to speed with the new technology. Also, be prepared for the price of upgrading hardware such as computer monitors, even if the cloud-based EMR system takes care of software upgrades. For more details on the budget planning and hidden costs for upgrading to cloud-based EMR systems, be sure to read more.
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December 29th, 2011
T.H.E. Journal (Transforming education tHrough Technology) recently spoke with Doug Johnson who, amongst many other accomplishments, is the Director of media and technology for Mankato Area Public Schools. Johnson writes about cloud hosting technology through books, columns and blogs and is an active advocate for school librarians. The conversation was sparked by Johnson’s recent talk about School Libraries and the Cloud.
In this interview, Johnson describes how librarians are in a position to lead schools into the cloud age and that cloud hosting technology can help libraries move into the world of “where doing stuff takes precedence over learning how to do stuff”. He spoke of the many ways that cloud hosting technology can be used to help librarians by:
To read the full interview and follow up with links to Doug Johnson’s blog on technology from a non-tech point of view, read the full story at T.H.E. Journal.
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December 28th, 2011
With health information exchanges becoming a vital part of the healthcare system, cloud computing is the perfect way to integrate and store a wide range of data that includes patient records, lab reports and diagnostic images. Cloud computing capabilities can give health practitioners more tools to make effective decisions, but with it comes the concerns for security of patient information.
Gary Palgon, VP of project management and strategy for Liaison Technologies talked to Becker’s Hospital Review about the challenges ahead for integrating patient data and offered some ideas on best practices to consider. He began with a discussion of why the cloud is the next logical step for any patient data integration and also why the planning and roll-out needs to come from somewhere other than the IT Department.
He discusses how to define expectations and what needs to happen to ensure access control is included as the integration of patient data is set in place. For more insights into best practices and planning for security for cloud data services, be sure to read more here.
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December 27th, 2011
We have been seeing how larger enterprise businesses have been taking on virtual servers as part of their overall business strategy for growth. In the shuffle for cloud adaptation many SMBs have struggled to gain the same benefits. A recent look by IT specialist CompTIA at the SpiceWorks’ Voice of IT: State of SMB IT report shows how SMB organizations are quickly adapting as well.
By using channel companies to gain the needed virtual servers technology that will help them to adapt to expanding cloud technology they have become as competitive as their big brothers. The article sites two major areas where the adaptation of virtual servers is most evident:
For a more detailed look at this topic and links to the reports cited, please continue reading here.
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December 26th, 2011
As we begin to look to the coming year, one of the focus points for many SMBs will be data management and how they can strategize making the most of their new cloud vps servers capabilities. Informatica’s Darren Cunningham takes a look at a few articles that have popped up lately regarding trends in cloud data management, as well as a look at some questions SMBs should be asking for the coming year about how they will be able to best use the cloud vps servers they now access. Here are a few of the questions that every SMB should be considering as they plan the coming year’s cloud strategy:
For a look at more of Cunningham’s ideas and some great links to even more data management and cloud vps servers ideas, be sure to read here.
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December 23rd, 2011
While it is almost impossible to scan the net without tripping over a top ten list of what to expect in the coming year, ZDNet has often proven to be accurate in their predictions for technology. In this column, cloud technologist Joe McKendrick says that the next year will see big developments with more of everything including Big Data, larger and more data center power, even more when it comes to user power and lots of opportunities to use this expansion to create more cloud computing across business.
In 2010 the Cloud Convergence Council was formed by the 2112 Group and Channel Partners Magazine to study cloud convergence of IT and telephony in the market. They recently made the decision to change the name of the organization to Cloud & Technology Transformation Alliance to reflect an expansion of its mission. For more information on what the new alliance will embrace, as well as where the organization sees this new mission leading them, read more here.
This week eWeek took a look at the development of independent cloud certification, something that has been discussed at length in the cloud computing industry for some time now. Because the business of cloud services is still relatively new, there is no real litmus test to give businesses an ability to find one that suits their needs. The best way to determine this is to bring in an independent company to test them.
But how secure is your company’s data in the cloud and how can you find out? Gartner is predicting that more businesses will use independent security testing to decide if a cloud service provider does a good enough job to be trusted with their data. But how that testing looks and even how to find a reliable security testing company continues to make the problem of certification a troublesome one for many businesses. For a closer look at how many business will make the leap to find the best possible cloud service provider, read more here.
When it comes to keeping a pulse on the world of technology, Gartner is one research group that everyone pays attention to for information and trends. Looking at the technology trends for next year, the highly-respected research company looked at cloud computing and security as the two biggest trends to play a starring role in the economic climate for 2012.
They see channels in cloud computing as being avenues for opportunity for the forthcoming year and predicted that the security market, in particular when it comes to the cloud, will continue to be a focus for the next year. Bring your own device consumerism is a new trend that they see continuing to grow, along with the need for bigger and better data storage.
Changes in the technology of cloud based call centers are now making it possible for many businesses to have call centers manned by operators working out of their home. 3CLogic, a leading cloud-based call center provider sees this leap in the cloud technology as a way to bring those jobs back from overseas.
They point to a reversal in the trend of outsourcing call centers to foreign countries and see this new technological ability as having a positive effect on the unemployment rate for the U.S. For a closer look at how this new approach to cloud based call centers may be impacting many SMBs, read more here.
Although cloud computing is no longer a new concept, many smaller businesses still think that only larger enterprise companies can benefit from how cloud computing works. In the latest Fox Business report, Renee Schmidt from Madison Technology illustrates how SMBs in particular can benefit from the latest innovations that cloud computing has to offer. From a short lesson on cloud servers to checking out business tools in the cloud Schmidt shows many SMBs that one of the best things to come out of the cloud computing revolution is that it gives many smaller businesses a level playing field against their larger enterprise competitors.
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December 22nd, 2011
How do you make virtual servers work for you to help your business grow? MaidPro CEO Mark Kushinsky knew that to grow a business you need to find a way to have the people who really know how to service your business not get bogged down in the daily tasks all businesses need to do. So he decided to take his tech background and grow his one-man office that supplied home cleaning services into a franchise that would support new branches with software to run scheduling, customer data and lead management. The only problem was the software didn’t exist so he had to create it himself. As his business grew to the current 120 locations nationwide, he adapted his business software to the emerging cloud technology by utilizing virtual servers to host his in-house software.
In Information Week’s SMB Technology section, they take a look at how this one person business used virtual servers and the new cloud technology to grow and made it the core strength that separates him from his competitors. Among other things the interview with Kushinsky looks at how he uses virtual servers to run a host of vital services such as:
For a closer look at how these and other cloud server ideas were implemented to make a small business more competitive, and how other SMBs can learn from these ideas to make their own business more cloud-centric, be sure to follow our link to the story.
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December 21st, 2011
If you are like many businesses, you have used SAP as part of your data centers for quite a few years and have gotten comfortable with this vital part of your business being right nearby. But with so many businesses looking at moving that part of the business to virtual servers in the cloud, this means you will need to look at ways to move your SAP solution, as well.
Luckily, SAP has developed a series of cloud management tools that will allow a transition from your data centers into the cloud much easier to accomplish. IT BusinessEdge takes a look at these tools, with links to applications and explanations of what to expect.
Be sure the read more here for the complete rundown on how you can migrate your SAP from the database system you have in house now to your virtual servers in the cloud.
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December 20th, 2011
Recently Information Week took a look at how small and medium business (SMBs) are adapting to the cloud through a survey done by Symantec, an internet security firm that specializes in cloud security. Although they found that basic cloud computing services have been adapted by a large number of SMBs, virtualization is still seen as primarily the purview of larger enterprise companies.
The major points discovered in the Small Business Virtualization Poll of 658 small and medium sized businesses across 28 countries were:
For more information on how your SMB can improve its security in the clouds and a link to a checklist to help you implement and maintain cloud computing security measures, please continue reading here.
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