We’ve all been there before—trapped in a conference room during a dull marketing presentation that inspires yawns, makes your eyes glaze over, and completely tune out. Cloud marketing presentations are no exception when it comes to inspiring ennui and boredom. But have you sat through a cloud vendor’s snooze-fest and been jarred back to consciousness by your internal early-warning system? Lori Janjigian at Focus was curious about what red flags folks are seeing, so she asked: “What are the top three things that scare you in the marketing presentation of a vendor providing cloud services?”
Stop snoring, wipe the drool from your chin, and be on the lookout for these warning signs… Read more
There’s no doubt that cloud adoption is on the uptake in both enterprises and SMBs alike. But along with a move toward cloud adoption, many businesses are facing resistance from the IT department. Why are some IT workers dragging their feet when it comes to embracing cloud computing? How can IT leaders dispel the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) that surrounds The Cloud, and what advice should they give to IT workers who feel threatened by cloud adoption? Experts shared their lists of top tips when asked the question, “What are your top tips for IT workers who feel threatened by the move to Cloud Computing?” Read more
With so many vendors jumping on the cloud-computing bandwagon, the choices can be mind-numbing. Companies looking to move to The Cloud have more choices than ever, and must weigh their options carefully. Once a business has assessed its needs, the team tasked with selecting a vendor must research the possibilities, prepare a short list of viable options, then meet with prospective vendors to find the right match. So, what finally sells a business on a particular solution? What must-haves need to be in the messaging that make companies buy? The question was recently posed at focus.com: “What are the critical requirements that must be met in order for a customer to buy a cloud solution?”
As a small-business owner in search of solution, Thompson Writing & Editing’s Lynn Maria Thompson has devised a five-point checklist for determining a winner: Read more
Today’s workers are tech-savvy, mobile, and always-on, and they are increasingly on the move, whether roaming about on a corporate campus, visiting a branch office, working on the road, or doing their job from a home office. From the millennial masses up through the C-suite, employees are using personal technology—be it laptops, tablets, smartphones, or cloud computing services accessing their companies’ networks—at work, fueling the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend. It’s generating a lot of buzz about BYOD, and depending on who’s doing the talking, conversations tend to center around productivity (end-users), security/privacy (CIOs and IT departments), or cost (finance folks).
SummaLogic’s Robert Keahey chummed the BYOD waters recently at focus.com when he wrote: “We’re a couple of years into this new paradigm, and with the use of SaaS, cloud-based integrated business suites and digital supply chains on the rise, we should step back and see what we’ve learned. Has BYOD helped or hindered your business model? Has IT been able to respond to this challenge/opportunity? … What are your experiences (or those of the companies with which you work)? Success stories? Horror stories?”
BYOD class is now in session… Read more
Since its inception, The Cloud (as a term) has been bandied about and attached (as a definition) to any number of concepts. But, has The Cloud been become the New Coke of its generation? Or, more accurately, has it become a generic term that once had the cachet of a brand-name (think Kleenex)? That’s the concept behind a question from Lori Janjigian at Focus, who asked: “Given how tired we all are of cloud-this and cloud-that, what new names would you use for marketing cloud-based services?”
So, what’s in a name? Is it that “The Cloud is a cloud is a cloud”? With all apologies to Gertrude Stein, the experts at focus.com seemed to feel that renaming The Cloud would be reinventing the wheel. The Cloud, indeed, is the cloud—and we’re stuck with the name. But there are some ways to stand out in a crowded market without having to come up with a new name. Read more
Before The Cloud, IT spending and IT policy were tightly controlled. Now end-users can whip out a credit card and acquire IT services on the fly. First there was server sprawl. Then VM sprawl. Do we need policies to prevent cloud sprawl? Lori Janjigian, VP of client marketing at Focus, got to the heart of the matter when she asked: “Is there a need for a cloud policy? What should it cover? How broad should it be in terms of what (purchasing, consumption, security) and who (IT, employees, supply-chain partners, vendors)? Who should own it, and how should it be developed (top-down, bottom-up, crowdsourced)? How often should it be reviewed?”
It’s no surprise that the experts who responded were emphatically pro-policy. But their road maps for reigning in cloud sprawl took some intriguin Read more
Crystal-ball gazing is always a fun pastime, and can make for some pithy punditry—and there’s no shortage of Monday morning quarterbacks in the tech world, from sage thought-leaders to naysaying curmudgeons. When will Apple release the next iPhone? When will Google buy (fill in the blank)? When will Facebook dump Timeline? Predictions about The Cloud are especially fun to bandy about, as prognostications can take real flights of fancy. Case in point: Ben Kepes—commentator, adviser, cloud computing analyst, blogger, and CloudU curator—got said crystal ball rolling at Focus.com when he asked, “What are the top 10 things about cloud we’ll all take for granted in three years?”
Let the soothsaying begin! Read more
From your personal banking records to your company’s intellectual property and confidential information, data security was easier to oversee before so much of our world moved online and into The Cloud. But the convenience of cloud computing is intoxicating, and we’re all living in the cloud more and more every day, both at work and at play. Unfortunately, with convenience comes exposure. The headlines are rife with cautionary tales of personal identity theft and corporate data breaches, and hackers show no signs of slowing their efforts to get their hands on sensitive information. So, just how dangerous is the cloud? Is cloud computing enabling cybercrooks, making it easier for them to practice their nefarious trade? At focus.com, folks tackled the topic of cybercrime in the cloud when answering the question “Does the accessibility of cloud computing make hacking easier?” Read more
It’s an age-old controversy—somewhere between the “chicken/egg” endless loop and a declaration of all-out war—and the gauntlet was thrown down again recently at Focus.com. Pitting the suits against the geeks, BrainWave Consulting’s Andrew S. Baker innocently asked: “Who drives the move to the cloud? Business or IT?”
If you want start a contentious conversation, simply do the following:
- Bring up “The Cloud” at work (you’ll find as many definitions as there are folks who use it)
- Make folks pick sides about ultimate ownership (fight! fight!)
- Stir in the inherent friction between business and IT (for good measure)
Voila!—you have an engaging exchange that’s hard not to follow. Think train wreck, but not as ugly and much more insightful.
Spoiler alert: There was no absolute winner. Here’s how the passions played out. Read more
