NJVC, an information technology (IT) solutions provider headquartered in Northern Virginia, introduces Cloudcuity, a new framework for the company’s cloud service offerings to help customers transition their technology applications to a cloud environment while cutting spending, improving process and billing efficiencies and complying with a myriad of regulatory and security requirements.
“Cloudcuity is not your typical cloud service,” noted Jody Tedesco, NJVC president. “This family of NJVC cloud capabilities, beginning with the Cloudcuity Management Portal, is designed for technology decision makers who must deploy IT applications to the cloud with transparency for managing risk and governance under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) and the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).”
NJVC Unveils Cloudcuity Umbrella Framework for NJVC Cloud Services
NJVC®, an information technology (IT) solutions provider headquartered in Northern Virginia, introduces Cloudcuity™, a new framework for the company’s cloud service offerings to help customers transition their technology applications to a cloud environment while cutting spending, improving process and billing efficiencies and complying with a myriad of regulatory and security requirements.
The first service being introduced under the framework is the Cloudcuity Management Portal—the first commercial, multi-cloud broker service specifically designed to support federal government customers.
The DNA of Cloud Security
When it comes to the cloud, there is a great deal of misconception. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, does that make your application or service truly cloud-based? No. If it doesn’t have the proper “cloud DNA,” it means the end user organization is not realizing the oft-hyped benefits and true ROI the cloud promises.
Just like the Boston Red Sox and lo-cal deserts and hybrid cars, everybody loves a bandwagon. We get caught up in the hype. Business concepts are not immune. Cloud and cloud-centric computing have been getting a great deal of play in business media and the blogosphere, and most companies are quickly moving to adopt various cloud platforms. So much so that that many solutions that claim to be cloud, really are nothing but server-based enterprise applications wrapped in a browser experience.
Just because you access an application from the Internet, does NOT make it a cloud solution. It might look like a duck and quack like a duck, but when you look at its DNA, it’s more like an old goose. So what? If it doesn’t have the proper “cloud DNA,” it means the end user organization is not realizing the oft-hyped benefits and true ROI the cloud promises. AND, if an organizations goal is meant to embrace the cloud as a go-forward enterprise IT strategy, it will discover that applications and solutions without the right DNA will need to be replaced.
Why NGOs Are Moving IT to the Cloud
TechSoup Global (www.techsoupglobal.org) announced today the results of its 2012 Global Cloud Computing Survey of 10,500 nonprofits, charities, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from 88 countries — the most extensive technology survey ever conducted of NGOs worldwide.
TechSoup Global’s report on barriers and motivators in cloud computing reveals that a majority of NGOs are planning to move their information technology (IT) to the cloud. However, they need more education and support to take full advantage of the benefits cloud computing offers regarding costs, productivity, and collaboration. Many NGOs are not even aware that they are using cloud applications already, or they are not familiar with the full suite of cloud-based applications available to them.
The survey results will enable the global NGO sector to make more informed decisions about cloud computing adoption and will also help capacity-building organizations, funders, corporate donors, and partners develop programs that maximize the potential of these technologies. For example, NGOs state that startup costs of moving information to the cloud and externalities such as lack of consistent electricity or Internet access are barriers that prevent them from using cloud computing.
Key results of the 2012 Global Cloud Computing Survey include:
- 90% of respondents worldwide are using at least one cloud computing
application. - 53% report plans to move a “significant portion” of their IT to the
cloud within three years. - 60% say lack of knowledge is the greatest barrier to greater use of
the cloud. - 79% say the greatest advantage is easier software or hardware
administration. - 47% say cost-related changes and ease of setup would be the greatest
motivators for moving their IT to the cloud. - NGOs in Egypt, Mexico, India, and South Africa have the most
accelerated timetables for moving their IT to the cloud.
Leveraging the resources of TechSoup Global’s 36 partner organizations and more than 200,000 registered member organizations, the survey was translated into 21 languages. It includes statistically significant results (more than 100 responses) from 26 countries around the world.
“TechSoup Global is thrilled to better understand how and why cloud computing can rapidly advance the causes of every social benefit organization in all parts of the world,” said TechSoup Global co-CEO Rebecca Masisak. “By sharing the voices of NGOs with the sector as a whole, this survey will allow us to better use cloud computing to improve organizations’ effectiveness, collaboration, and access to data.”
“TechSoup Global has long worked to bring available technologies to nonprofit organizations. And this survey shows that the global NGO sector can do more to make the cloud easier by creating solutions that address the precise needs of organizations across the world,” said Dan Webb, TechSoup Global’s director of solutions and services.
The 2012 Global Cloud Computing Survey was conducted online using FluidSurveys, a product donated by Chide.it, a TechSoup Global donor partner.
To access the full report, visit www.techsoupglobal.org/2012-global-cloud-computing-survey. Details on responses by country are available in the appendix of the full report. TechSoup Global is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Fision Partners with 3Cinteractive to Integrate Mobile into Its Distributed Marketing Automation
Fision, the leading sales and marketing automation SaaS provider, today announced an agreement with 3Cinteractive, the leading provider of cloud-based, enterprise mobile solutions, to leverage its Switchblade platform to extend sales and marketing automation across messaging, mobile web, smartphone apps, voice, and social media.
“Control, compliance and measurement of campaign distribution across all media channels has always been a recurring problem for businesses,” said Mike Brown, CEO of Fision. “This agreement furthers our mission to provide a simple solution that optimizes that effort. Mobility is the next mainstream media channel and the capabilities of 3Cinteractive extend the power of Fision to address that demand.”
Fision’s platform allows enterprises and small businesses in manufacturing, health care, retail, financial and business services to store, customize and distribute marketing materials, giving companies real-time metrics on customer behavior. Switchblade, 3Ci’s cloud-based mobile platform, provides businesses with a single platform to deploy multi-channel mobile applications to any mobile device throughout the world. The combination of these capabilities will extend Fision’s offering to include mobile solutions that engage consumers and increase their lifetime value.
Cloud Expo Silicon Valley: Unlocking the Power of Hadoop
Does Hadoop makes the storage and operation of arbitrary enterprise data both scalable and cost effective?
In his session at the 11th International Cloud Expo, Ari Zilka, Chief Products Officer at Hortonworks, will answer frequently asked questions like, “What does it take to move Hadoop from one or two use cases in the average organization to an enterprise-wide data management platform?” and “What can a Hadoop user do to make their jobs easier and more efficient?” He will also project a roadmap two to five years out, explaining how the community can help Hadoop find its rightful place at the core of big data storage and management.
athenahealth Acquires Healthcare Data Services
athenahealth, Inc., a provider of cloud-based practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and care coordination services, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Healthcare Data Services LLC (HDS), a web-based solutions provider and expert in health care data analysis and population health management for payers and providers. It is anticipated that the transaction will close in October 2012.
This acquisition is expected to expand athenahealth’s cloud-based services portfolio to include high-value, population-based cost and quality data analysis and reporting capabilities. By expanding its services in this way, athenahealth will be strengthening its ability to support health care organizations to navigate the growing number of risk-based payment models, and align care coordination with patient population needs.
“Value-based payment models are fundamentally changing the way patient care is coordinated, delivered, and reimbursed,” said Jonathan Bush, CEO and chairman of athenahealth. “With HDS, we can help health care organizations to thrive in the face of change—to drive down costs through smart, high quality care coordination and to understand the totality of services being provided. This acquisition supports our existing efforts to create an information backbone that makes health care work as it should.”
New payment models offered by the U.S. government and commercial health plans aim to create a reimbursement system that links care reimbursement to the quality of care delivered and, ultimately, to reduce overall health care expenses for populations of patients. These risk-based contracts come in a variety of models, including pay-for-performance (P4P) incentives, bundled payments, shared savings, and global capitation; each requires improved insight into patient population data so that health care organizations can gauge and manage patient needs while simultaneously tracking and adjusting their own performance against risk-based reimbursement contracts.
The addition of HDS would bring many advantages and synergies that would expand athenahealth’s recognition as a single-source provider of best-in-class workflow and data insight solutions to support all payment models:
- Proven Innovation Excellence – HDS has led the market for population
health tools in Massachusetts, which in turn has led the country in
transforming toward more of an accountable care health care
marketplace. Together, the combined organization would be able to help
a broader set of health care organizations to drive quality and
improvement to the way care is coordinated and reimbursed. - Key and Differentiating Services – The proven services and value of
HDS would be able to leverage athenahealth’s investment, sales force
capacity, and complementary cloud-based services. HDS complements
athenahealth’s commitment to support risk-based payment models, as
well as athenahealth’s mission to be the best in the world at getting
medical caregivers paid for doing the right thing. - Advancement to Health Information Open Exchange – With HDS,
athenahealth could better support health care organizations in their
access and use of data as a means to drive clinical and financial
improvement. HDS complements athenahealth’s clinical-cycle,
patient-cycle, and care coordination workflows, as well as
athenahealth’s efforts to create a health care information backbone to
make health care work as it should. - Accelerated Growth within the Large-to-Enterprise Market – HDS brings
valuable relationships within the medium-to-large health systems
market. Greater access to these organizations would accelerate
athenahealth’s delivery of its cloud-based services and in turn
contribute to growing revenue streams.
“By combining HDS with athenahealth, we expect to create a comprehensive, easy-to-access platform for health care organizations to take on and succeed in the face of payment reform and the shift to accountable care,” said Jonathan Porter, co-founder of HDS. “The massive changes going on in health care reimbursement create challenges, but more so create opportunities. Together with athenahealth, we would be able to bridge the gap between providers, payers, and patients by providing ready-to-use population health management capabilities as part of EHR workflows that support restructured payment models and ensure the delivery of appropriate and necessary care to patients.”
Keep the Old, In with the New
For decades, the infrastructure needed to keep your public-facing websites online has had a relatively simple design. After all, it was all contained in one or a few datacenters under your control, or under the control of a contractor who did your bidding where network architecture was concerned.
Requests came in, DNS resolved them, the correct server or pool of servers handled them. There was security, and sometimes a few other steps in between, but that still didn’t change that it was a pretty simplistic architecture. Even after virtualization took hold in the datacenter, the servers were still the same, just where they sat became more fluid.
Cloud Encryption and Healthcare “as a Service” Solutions
Healthcare “as a Service” providers are coming up strong in the market right now. It’s a growing segment, attracting a lot of interest from businesses and investors, but as expected, cloud security, and more specifically cloud encryption and HIPAA requirements, is critical customers considering a healthcare application as a service. In this article I’ll review some aspects as well as relate to data security solutions such as split-key management.
Our recent conversations with Healthcare SaaS providers have highlighted several common aspects, across many solutions.
Obviously, they all need to be “cloudy” (else they would not be SaaS providers). Their customer will access them through the web and their business model includes a pay-as-you-go component. They need their underlying infrastructure to support this model.
It’s DevOps, or It’s the Wrong Conversation
As I was watching this thread develop, with various comments from people that live and breathe IT, one thing kept coming to mind. IT people often try and justify new technology with technology reasoning. It’s analogous to answering a question with another question.
Far too often, because IT has almost always been looked at as a cost-center and measured for ROI based on cost-reduction or productivity improvements, technologist feel the need to drive the justification for a new project based on cost.