In my blog from September 2014, I wrote “encryption and access controls are your front-line defenses for defending data-at-rest. Given today’s threat environment, encrypt everything possible, everywhere possible.” While lots of things change in 6 months – the projected World Series Champion, the Super Bowl front-runner, Taylor Swift going from tweeting about dating to tweeting about hacking – this recommendation remains constant.

Data-at-rest is susceptible to many forces, not least of which are malicious and non-malicious insiders. As we noted in our recent 2015 Insider Threat Report, the insider threat landscape is becoming more difficult to deal with as the range of miscreant’s moves beyond employees and privileged IT staff. It now includes outsiders who have stolen valid user credentials; business partners, suppliers, and contractors with inappropriate access rights; and third-party service providers with excessive admin privileges. Unless properly controlled, all of these groups have the opportunity to reach inside corporate networks and steal unprotected data.

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There is no arguing the cloud is hot. In a recent blog post The Cloud – Is it your actual destination? I raise the point that the cloud itself is not the destination. It’s a vehicle, a conduit that can help you solve challenges and provide value back to the business. It is a powerful vehicle. IDC forecasts global public IT Cloud services spending to reach nearly $108B by 2017. Gartner expects that by 2016 the bulk of IT spend will be for the cloud. For all the hype, the cloud and its benefits are real.

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Selling is a professional that you can never take lightly. To be successful at marketing and selling something you have got to be the best, on top of your game, ahead of the competition and ready to do what nobody else dares to do. The world of SaaS sales is no different. Competition can be cut throat, with every next company offering the best shiniest object that can help you cure your worst nightmares and keep your numbers and yes the boss happy. That’s far too easy !

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At Logentries we chat to new users everyday who are looking for an improved solution for centralizing and analyzing their log data. They have often tried rolling their own solution, have previously gone the open source route, or are using an “old school” logging technology.

But, what we find across new users, regardless of how they are managing their log data, are some common challenges that have historically made log management and real-time analytics challenging.

We decided to take our data, along with some similar research from a recent SANs report, and show you some of these challenges, and possible solutions!

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(c)iStock.com/denphumi

By Bernardo Reyes

We’ve reached it, the critical stage between cloud growth and cloud maturity. And there’s no need to deny that with cloud maturity come great opportunities. Just like Uncle Ben said, right? But more seriously, as a Managed Service Provider (MSP), how can you be sure that adding the cloud to your organisation now is right? Did you at all consider the cloud as a more profitable model for your business in 2015?

Understanding recurring revenues

Try to think of an industry that generates billions of dollars and that is based on recurring revenues. Hint: most of us depend – and are highly addicted – to its services. We are so hooked that we’re willing to blindly pay high fees each and every month. And that’s just to access the service. Wondering what industry I’m talking about? Mobile network companies. Yes, cellphone companies are very profitable companies. May I kindly remind you of the billing model they’re using to bill us? The recurring revenues billing model.

Most MSPs are used to the traditional services model, which can be very lucrative when sales are booming, yet it can also be unforgiving if sales are not performing so well.

The beauty of the recurring revenue model resides in its long term profitability. The challenge for MSPs? Manage the rate of churn and keep down to a minimum the number of lost customers. An achievement that should not be too hard to accomplish if you’re offering great customer support.

The model’s fairly simple, each customer generates XYZ amount of profit per month. The more customers are on board, the higher profits are. These 3 charts from the IDC eBook “Successful Cloud Partners 2.0: What IT Solution Providers Need to Know to Build Profitable Cloud Practices” offer a good visual comparison between the traditional services model and the Cloud/Managed services model. You can notice that the recurring revenue model offers more predictability in terms of incoming revenues. Just imagine if you can’t close enough sales during a specific period and don’t reach the predicted profits. Well at least with recurring revenues, you have a safety net and money is still piling up in your bank account.

The eternal quest of a common denominator with customers

Adding the cloud to your offering does not mean you should stop selling on-premises solutions altogether. On the contrary! Offering both gives your end-customers the power of choice. Some are still scared by the cloud, therefore they might choose to stick with an on-prem solution. Others may choose to move half of their solutions to the cloud while keeping the rest in-house.

At the end of the day, you want to know the advantages selling the cloud has for you. Especially in a competitive market like the IT industry where you must stay ahead of the game.

We’re all customers. And as customers, we usually opt for products that are intuitive (just think about the popularity of tablets) and affordable. Basically we want as much as we can for our buck, and we won’t compromise quality. And we want it to be as simple as possible.

The quadrant below explains quite well customer behaviour. Most of us fall in the top left category. And very few of us want to fall in the bottom right category. Why? Because cheap and easy is the way to go. If you run a business, your ultimate goal is to make profits. And to make profits, you want to cut expenses.

How does the cloud fit in there? Well it’s affordable, especially for SMBs or growing companies, and it’s simple. How? Let’s say your clients already have in-house servers, which have been running for a few years. They probably have IT tech(s) in their team or are very dependable on their service provider. In either situation, this results in high costs and complicated in-house deployments. Plus, the servers need frequent maintenance and will most likely be obsolete in a couple years.

The cloud, on the other hand, grants the access to up-to-date software and services. Migration is seamless and easy: it’s taken care for by professionals. Plus, there is no need to worry about maintaining the hardware, it’s all taken care of. No more insomnia worrying about downtime, cooling of hardware, power outages, etc. Furthermore with the cloud resources are unlimited. You can sell as much as the customer asks for without having to worry about employee turnover and attrition.

Success in the cloud

The key is choosing the right provider. That’s it. There are many well-established companies selling the cloud right now. What’s the most important feature to take into account when you choose your provider? Reliability. When choosing a reliable provider, you offer peace of mind to yourself and your customers.

The post What can MSPs gain from linear growth and recurring revenue appeared first on SherWeb.

Thanks to an early season skiing accident, I found myself sitting in the Emergency Department of a small hospital in a Colorado ski town. The hospital had recently gone through a major renovation and was proud of its investment on HIT (Health care IT). Most patient workflows are now automated.
Check-in and registration were a breeze. Within a few minutes, my patient record was updated, and my case was well documented. With an electronic signature of consent and a scan of my insurance card, all I needed to do was wait for my turn. A large monitor displayed my name as well as the names of others waiting to be seen, as well as the likely waiting time.

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(c)iStock.com/pixelfit

A report published by BCSG has revealed how awareness and uptake of cloud services in small to medium businesses (SMBs) is on the rise.

The survey, of 600 European participants across all stages of small business, from micro businesses to pre-startups, found 64% of SMBs are already using cloud-based software, while the average number of applications in use is three.

78% of respondents say they are considering purchasing new solutions in the next two to three years – potentially the average number of cloud software applications in use will be 7, with 88% consuming at least one service.

The report assesses eight primary areas which will see a significant uptake of cloud services, from marketing and financial management to managing customers and legislation. 35% of users are currently using cloud apps to manage marketing duties, with a further third expecting to adopt cloud software for marketing within the next three years. As businesses go through the lifecycle, uptake in cloud services increases.

In terms of collaboration, 25% of firms surveyed said they were currently using cloud apps, while 36% expect to see uptake in the next three years. Again, this figure rises the further a business gets into making profit.

For small businesses ensuring they keep their heads about water, it comes at a cost. Two thirds (66%) of those surveyed say they put more than 40 hours a week in at work. 56% polled cited a lack of customers as a primary issue, compared to lack of money (46%), lack of time (36%) and lack of support (28%).

“Getting a business off the ground means hard work, difficult decisions and learning on the job,” commented John Davis, BCSG managing director. “Access to much-needed expertise and support can be hard to find. However, cloud-based services are increasingly providing a viable solution.”

Do you agree with these survey results?

Since enterprise digital transformation efforts involve organizational, process, and technology changes that better connect the customer to the technology systems of record, formulating the best way of accomplishing the goals of digital sounds like a perfect application of enterprise architecture. Only most organizations don’t see this connection.

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SYS-CON Events announced today that that Innodisk, the service-driven provider of industrial embedded flash and DRAM storage products and technologies, will exhibit at SYS-CON’s 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Innodisk is a service-driven provider of industrial embedded flash and DRAM storage products and technologies. With satisfied customers across the embedded, aerospace and defense, cloud storage markets and more, it has set itself apart with a commitment to dependable products and unparalleled service. This has resulted in products including embedded peripherals designed to supplement existing industrial solutions and high IOPS flash arrays for industrial and enterprise applications. The expanded business lines are leading its next step in being a comprehensive solution and service provider in the industrial storage industry.

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This is the first of a series of posts and links to resources on server storage I/O performance and benchmarking (view more and follow-up posts here).
The best I/O is the I/O that you do not have to do, the second best is the one with the least impact as well as low overhead.
Drew Robb (@robbdrew) has a Data Storage Benchmarking Guide article over at Enterprise Storage Forum that provides a good framework and summary quick guide to server storage I/O benchmarking.

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