We have discussed new ways a User can install our Windows Agent from the command line. Now we’ll explore more goodies for Users deploying the command line on Windows.
«Recurring Revenue» Panel By @AriaSystemsInc | @CloudExpo [#Cloud]
With the explosion of the cloud, more businesses are transitioning to a recurring revenue model to generate reliable sales, grow profits, and open new markets. This opportunity requires businesses to get to market quickly with the pricing and packaging options customers want. In addition, you will want to take advantage of the ensuing tidal wave of data to more effectively upsell, cross-sell and manage your customers. All of this is possible, but only with the right approach.
At 15th Cloud Expo, Brendan O’Brien, Co-founder at Aria Systems and the inventor of cloud billing panelists, will lead a panel discussion on what it takes to launch and manage a successful recurring revenue business. The panelists will offer their insights about what each department will need to consider, from financial management to line of business and IT. The panelists will also offer examples from their success in recurring revenue with companies such as Audi, Constant Contact, Experian, Pitney-Bowes, Telekom Denmark and others. This panel will include Brendan O’Brien from Aria Systems, Chief Architect and inventor of cloud billing, and a host of executives with varying subject matter and department expertise.
The new cloud darling: How cloud computing transforms field service management
Picture credit: Antony Hammond/Flickr
If I asked you to name a multi-billion dollar market that’s getting a long overdue cloud makeover, would field service management be at the forefront of your mind?
It should. This $15 billion industry has only just begun to dip its toe into the huge pool of possibility thanks to software as a service, the tablet and smartphone revolution, and senior management’s recognition that service is indeed strategic. Add to this the commercial insight into addressable revenue-generating opportunities and the resulting top line growth, and you’ve got a new cloud darling.
Service businesses represent around 70% of the world’s economy, yet to date, only about a third of the world’s large service businesses currently use field service management solutions. It’s a market poised for growth, and it’s applicable to all vertical service industries and businesses of any size.
Until now the efficiency, productivity and disruption of the cloud had passed the field service industry by
Over the past forty years, service hasn’t really changed that much. There’s a lot of paper, a lot of disjointed, manual processes, and no meaningful connection between the field service technician and the context of a customer’s business challenges. You can’t actually track data on paper, particularly in an economy that depends upon the swift, accurate transmission of information. Field service is an industry that was comparatively slow to join the information economy and typically does not move at the same pace as the rest of the business. Until now, the efficiency, productivity and disruption of the cloud had passed the field service industry by.
But that’s all changing. Empowering service technicians with cloud-based, real time tools in the field means they can do work-orders, request parts, schedule and be scheduled, look up manuals, take payments, renew maintenance agreements, use social channels to communicate problems swiftly and effectively and upsell and cross sell products and solutions where appropriate.
All of this is done on a smartphone or a tablet. All the data is real-time and technicians have the ability to work offline, saving time consuming administration at the end of a job. And customer relationship management systems pick up the information and ensure that the customer receives future communications, advice, updates and education. And of course, all of that data is delivering valuable new insights about your businesses and customers.
There are more than fifteen million field technicians globally. Most of them are not working this way…yet. But CEOs are increasingly waking up to the ‘sleeping giant’ that is their service department.
On average, service margins are nearly eleven percent higher than equipment margins, and in a recovering economy with delayed capital equipment purchases, that counts for a lot. Better yet, with the right tools in place, service centres can transform from being a cost overhead to a profit centre, delivering leads, taking orders and providing customer intelligence.
CEOs are increasingly waking up to the sleeping giant that is their service department
Field service isn’t exactly known for being a sexy or even innovative industry, but there are some major developments on the horizon that could soon change its image. The Industrial Internet is just one example. There are currently around 25 billion devices connected to the internet. By 2020, this figure is expected to rise to 50 billion. As a planet, our civilisation now depends on machines working. It’s already commonplace for manufacturers to track machine performance of high end equipment with technicians determining whether a problem can be resolved remotely, reducing the costs of unnecessary service visits.
However, in the future, machine to machine learning will mean that equipment will communicate with technicians about specific faulty parts, with the machine essentially telling the service department when it is ‘sick’. Likewise, in another ten years, it may be commonplace for field techs to have 3D printers in their vans to simply print the parts they require. Gamification techniques may also be used to reward service techs for making an SLA, cross selling, or supporting another engineer with a phone fix.
Granted, this is not how conventional field service operates today, but I think these sorts of advances are just a matter of time. Joining the cloud revolution is just the first step, and as a result, we will see incredible changes in both the short term and longer term.
Cloud and mobility adoption are creating a new breed of field service management solutions that are radically re-defining what ‘business as usual’ means for the field service industry.
Financial firms still stricken with fear of the cloud, survey shows
Picture credit: SeniorLiving.Org
Three quarters of businesses in the financial sector are still concerned about adopting cloud-based applications, according to survey data from the NCC Group.
The research, which surveyed CIOs from financial services firms with more than 1000 employees, saw that 72% of respondents fear the cloud because of concerns over data not being backed up, and issues of disaster recovery.
Two in five (40%) respondents aren’t currently using cloud because they fear sudden data loss on a mass scale, while three quarters (74%) of firms would need at least a week to implement a disaster recovery plan – 5% said it would take two to three months.
This is a particularly interesting admission given some of the scare stories from cloud computing firms over the past several months. These have ranged from the likes of Joyent and Autotask, which went down for a matter of hours, to vendors such as CodeSpaces, which was forced to cease trading altogether after what it described as a “well-orchestrated” DDoS attack.
“Without a proper disaster recovery plan, a company can quickly fall to its knees,” said Daniel Liptrott, managing director of NCC Group’s escrow division. “However, there are comprehensive backup solutions available to those using cloud applications, so businesses needn’t shy away from cloud adoption due to fear of data loss.”
Liptrott added that business spend an awful lot on cloud services, but comparatively little in keeping operations afloat. It’s an important point to make, and a part of the IT infrastructure companies seem to forget. As Gartner analyst Kyle Hilgendorf wrote, cloud exits are not nearly as sexy as cloud deployments – and your business can be brutally exposed when the proverbial excrement hits the air oscillating machine.
Recent figures from cloud provider Databarracks found that only 30% of smaller businesses had a business continuity plan in place, compared to 54% of medium organisations and 73% of large businesses.
Latest Australian cloud computing policy further adopts “cloud first” approach
Picture credit: Max Anderson/Flickr
The latest draft of Australia’s federal cloud computing policy insists that agencies “must” adopt cloud so long as it’s fit for purpose, protects user data and represents value for money.
The 14 page paper, signed by minister for finance Mathias Cormann and minister for communications Malcolm Turnbull, aims to “reduce the cost of government ICT by eliminating duplication and fragmentation, and will lead by example in using cloud services to reduce costs, lift productivity and develop better services.”
Cloud services will have their value for money determined as per the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, and security of data assesses by the Protective Security Policy Framework. The government has issued a six step outline as a ‘high level approach to the process of evaluating cloud services’:
- Assess information against legislative and regulatory requirements
- Evaluate the market for cloud services including existing initiatives by other agencies
- Determine the suitability of the cloud service against the information requirements
- Procure and implement the cloud service
- Monitor the cloud service for performance and compliance
- Review the cloud service for ongoing benefits realisation
Adoption figures show a slow uptake, according to the report. Cloud procurements in AusTender – the centralised hub for business opportunities, cloud or otherwise – have only totalled $4.7m since July 2010. The Australian government spends approximately $6bn a year on IT.
As a result the report discusses key plans going forward, including evaluation of cloud services for new IT services, and the establishment of a Cloud Services Panel by January 2015. The key recommendation, however, is to move AusTender to a cloud based service, after an options analysis by the Department of Finance.
“Agencies have made limited progress in adopting cloud,” the report warns. “A significant opportunity exists for agencies to increase their use of cloud services through the Australian Government Cloud Computing Policy.”
Despite a few teething snags, the UK government’s G-Cloud programme is making steady progress, replacing the CloudStore with the Digital Marketplace for cloud procurements. Australia currently ranks third in the latest Asia Pacific cloud readiness survey, behind Japan and New Zealand, according to ACCA – an increase of four places from the previous year.
Read the full report here.
Bitcoin and Network Security | @CloudExpo
The trend of virtual currencies is likely not a fad; we’re merely seeing the beginning of what will likely turn into a common practice. Network security revolving around virtual currency exchanges still needs to improve, but once that happens, those improvements may even solve network security problems in other industries as well. Whatever the future holds, the likes of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies will surely be a major part of it.
Data Privacy Perspectives: US vs Europe By @CiscoCloud | @CloudExpo
It’s time to face reality: «Americans are from Mars, Europeans are from Venus,» and in today’s increasingly connected world, understanding “inter-planetary” alignments and deviations is mission-critical for cloud. In her session at 15th Cloud Expo, Evelyn de Souza, Data Privacy and Compliance Strategy Leader at Cisco Systems, will discuss cultural expectations of privacy based on new research across these elements.
Live @SAP Webinar: Monetize Your Cloud with @SAPInMemory | @CloudExpo
Join both SAP and Channel Cloud Consulting for a webcast on October 29 at 11 am EST and uncover how you can extend your reach to capture a piece of the US$17 billion cloud application services market with SAP. Moderated by Roger Strukhoff, @ThingsExpo and Cloud Expo Conference Chair, this webinar will discuss SAP’s market-leading SAP HANA Cloud Platform and the exciting opportunity to join SAP’s growing ecosystem of Application Development partners.
Announcing @Appcore «Exhibitor» of @CloudExpo Silcon Valley [#Cloud]
Appcore automates the business of cloud computing by delivering cloud automation management platforms for enterprise private clouds and service provider public clouds. Appcore AMP™ is cloud automation designed to simplify cloud environments through a single management and monitoring interface; delivered in three deployment methods as cloud appliance, converged infrastructure or white label, in under 30 days.
Transporter to Exhibit at @CloudExpo Silicon Valley | @Connected_Data [#Cloud]
SYS-CON Events announced today that Connected Data, the creator of Transporter, the world’s first peer-to-peer private cloud storage device, will exhibit at SYS-CON’s 15th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Connected Data is the creator of Transporter, the world’s first peer-to-peer private cloud storage device. Connected Data is focused on providing elegantly designed solutions for consumers, professionals and businesses. Transporter devices allow customers to privately share and protect data at a fraction of the cost of fee based cloud services. The Connected Data team consists of the same professionals responsible for the popular Drobo storage array and the creation of the high performance BlueArc Silicon Server. Connected Data is privately funded and based in San Jose, California.
For more information, visit www.connecteddata.com.