The term “cloud computing” has always upset me because it was developed by a marketing person without any actual technical experience and does nothing to convey any actual information to the person reading it. The “cloud” is just a bunch of servers and networking equipment spread across different datacenters. Aside from some specialized technology, you would be surprised how much your server room looks like a rack in one of these datacenters. The underlying technology is not vastly different than what you use every day, it is just happening on a much larger scale. As with any technology, there are both pros and cons to cloud computing, and I am here to help you sort them out and determine what makes sense for you and your organization.
While most cloud offerings say they will “take care of everything for you”, this is often far from the truth, and there are many details that are left out that must be considered. As with any other type of technology, there are inherent baselines that need to be taken into account when working with these platforms. Most of these services are easy to setup and use, but this also makes it easy to leave a lot of money on the table without realizing it. Many organizations I have worked with are often paying for many licenses, features, or seats they are not even using! Is this starting to sound familiar? This is a common theme among many providers, vendors, and consultants, one I am abjectly against and refuse to participate in.
Together we will determine all the different cloud products your organization is using, and then audit them to make sure you are only paying for what you use. In addition, we will have a look at all your current processes and procedures and see how we can leverage these tools, so you are getting the most out of them. Furthermore, we will investigate your security settings and access roles to make sure you do not have any vulnerabilities in the way your environment was initially setup. Many things have changed with the top providers over the last several years regarding security best practices, so it is important to look at everything as if we were setting it up from scratch. This has the added benefit of a re-education of these services, what they cost, and what you are using them for.
There are a lot of benefits that do come with cloud platforms, they include simplified billing, the ability to forecast costs while growing, quick setup times, and additional security when used correctly. The key is to find the best way of blending them into your organization, so they are being used to their full potential and all limitations are understood and accounted for. Let’s work together to make sure you are getting as much as possible out of every dollar you are spending and see if we can’t recover some money you may have been leaving on the table.
If you are ready to talk, please contact me today!