3 Considerations to Make Before a Cloud Network Migration

3 considerations to make before a cloud network migration
cloud-computing

Cloud network migration for most organizations is part of the future IT roadmap.

Though cloud migrations sometimes remain stalled due to concerns over security as well as maintaining total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI), the next few years will see an inordinate growth in the amount of data center traffic coming exclusively from cloud services. When cloud network migrations are part of a company’s march into the future, there are some key considerations to make.

Providers Are Not All Are the Same

The number of cloud service providers has grown rapidly, with Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Rackspace being just a few of the organizations that offer enterprise cloud services. They also all happen to have existing track records of delivering such services, giving a discerning organization plenty of history and information with which to judge the best partner to meet its network needs. Pricing is typically one the main points of consideration when choosing a vendor.

Though most cost models are usage-based, rates, policies, service tiers, and SLAs vary greatly among providers. Cost, however, should not be totally overshadow less tangible factors such as how well a cloud provider’s technological direction aligns with strategic vision.

Transitioning Systems in a Simple, Slow, Staged Approach

An organization will often have to start somewhere when moving systems to the cloud. This approach should be phased – cloud migrations that fail tend to do so due to the lack of planning. The guideline for beginning such a migration is to select a system component that has low complexity, lax security requirements, and limited risk of failure to the organization.

Straight Replication of the Existing Infrastructure Never Works

It behooves an organization to not plan on a one-to-one mapping of existing resources into the cloud. Doing so would mitigate the advantages in terms of scalability and better resource allocation that justify the move to the cloud in the first place.

Cloud solutions offer many ways to improve tech mainstays such as application servers, DMZs, and database service. Such improvements should be an essential part of any cloud migration plan rather than an afterthought.

Outsource the IT Department: The Growing Demand for Managed Services

outsource the it department the growing demand for managed services

Business owners know just how costly downtime can be. If your business suffers from technology problems, and your staff isn’t able to properly do their job, then you could be spending a whole lot of money with little or no reward. There is a solution to mitigate technology problems, and we will discuss every aspect of it in this five-part series. Today we discuss how to outsource the IT department, and how being proactive is the proper approach to business technology.

WHAT ARE MANAGED IT SERVICES?

Picture this: Your business suddenly encounters an IT-related issue. Your primary business system is no longer working. What do you do? You call your IT department and hope that someone can resolve the issue. So what benefit do managed IT services have that traditional approaches cannot bring to the table?

Well, traditional IT departments typically are comprised of a couple employees who know their way around a computer. However, these individuals typically do not know effective business solutions. Managed IT providers use state-of-the-art tools to constantly monitor your business’ network and hardware. Certified technicians are able to determine the operating state of your technology, and repair concerns before they become an issue. Remote management platforms allow technicians to repair individual software concerns, without the wait times of traditional IT departments.

So where is the value in these managed services? Simple. You aren’t paying an hourly rate for members of an IT staff to wait around for something to break. Providers handle IT in a proactive manner, meaning not only does your hardware last longer, but it is able to perform better.

If constantly paying your employees to sit around because your technology is slow or constantly breaking is the business strategy you prefer, then a re-evaluation may be necessary. Some of the money you are spending on employee downtime could be put towards a cost-saving IT solution, increasing business profitability. Managed IT services offer businesses a strategy which can keep their technology up and running effectively. Maintaining up-time increases productivity, efficiency, and overall organizational effectiveness.

PROACTIVE > REACTIVE

Proactiveness is the deliverable that managed IT services provide. The proactive approach is the sole reason why the service provides so much value. Having experienced professionals available at the push of a button (or click of a mouse) is what AE Technology Group has to offer. Actively monitoring your business, and doing so for a fraction of the price you would be paying with onsite IT technicians, allows you to focus on the true aspects of your business.

Do you really want to walk around your office reminding your employees to constantly patch and update their computers and other devices? Managed IT services offer comprehensive patch management. It is more important now than it ever has been to update your software. With the overwhelming cost of a data breach, shortcomings in security are no longer an option. Can you really afford the sensitive and personal data of both your customers and staff being breached? Will you be able to overcome the effect a breach will have on your business’ reputation?

Managed IT services provide an immense value to any size business. AE Technology Group has trained technicians whose primary concern is your business’ security. If you would like to learn more about what managed IT services can offer, fill out a form to speak to one of our technical advisors.

What is cloud computing? Finding a trusted partner for cloud application management

what is cloud computing finding a trusted partner for cloud application management

Cloud computing allows an organization to take advantage of a wide range of new services to address its needs. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) gives acess to powerful web-based applications that are updated automatically and require no installation.

Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) provides a portal from which a business can install or develop solutions for its IT needs (such as web applications). Infrastructure/hardware-as-a-service (IaaS/HaaS) allows resources such as storage and servers to be provisioned remotely so that an organization does not have to worry about physical resources.

There is a cloud-based technology to meet any of the challenges that a business must face: SaaS applications like Zarafa and iceCRM for productivity, PaaS platforms such as Heroku for deploying Ruby on Rails, IaaS/HaaS services like ASK4Cloud for storage, and countless more examples.

Of course, with this proliferation of technologies comes the added complication of managing them, and ensuring interoperability between vendors. Cloud solutions can typically engage parties from all over the world and across many private clouds.

In fact, for the cloud PaaS layer, technology providers have come together to introduce an open cloud application management standard. It has been taken up by the organization OASIS, which is a consortium that drives open information technology standards. The goal of the standard is to introduce an API and set of tools to allow multiple vendors to take advantage of common features from PaaS solutions.

However, the problem of application management with cloud computing is greater than just the ability to use standardized tools for platform management. Though such a standard will help organizations move and adapt their systems more easily, there are other aspects to the challenges that can be best met by finding an experienced cloud computing consulting partner. The savings and efficiency that can be realized through adopting cloud solutions can only be realized through the following steps:

  • Assess the migration of current IT implementations to cloud services
  • Implement and extend those solutions with cloud-specific capabilities
  • Maintain and monitor the cloud transition effort with an ongoing, proactive relationship

It is best to think of cloud computing as a change that occurs most effectively through an intelligent, guided process. Look for an experienced and trusted consulting partner to learn how to manage cloud applications for optimal success.

Watch this video for more information:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txvGNDnKNWw

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What is BYOD? How Can Unified Endpoint Data Management Make Better Use of BYOD?

what is byod how can unified endpoint data management make better use of byod

The idea of BYOD or Bring Your Own Device is in motion and companies are encouraging employees to work from any device they can. This new proliferation of employee owned endpoints has great value, creating a new means of collaborating that is lowering costs, increasing agility, and driving employee productivity and flexibility.

The era of cloud computing raises some new responsibilities for a company’s IT department. In many cases, employees are using consumer-grade Web applications and services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, and SkyDrive in ways that put them outside the full control of centralized corporate IT administrators and policies.

For this reason critical data is being jeopardized because it is stored on public servers and often not being backed up on endpoint devices such as laptops and smartphones. An effective IT department must use new ways to manage and secure this enterprise level data and simultaneously provide centralized policies for sharing permissions and access control.

AE Technology has developed a unified approach to accessing and maintaining employee data. A single client or application allows each user to link all of their cloud storage accounts both public and private to one portal that is managed by the IT department. This file sharing system can be accessed from any PC or Mac and all smart devices.

This approach of connecting all of an individual user’s cloud drives allows the user or IT to quickly move and store more sensitive data to a private encrypted cloud both with ease and little to no learning curve. User’s can continue to store less sensitive data in the locations they are familiar with and access them through this main portal. These capabilities when applied can translate into hard cost savings in the following areas:

  • End-user productivity benefits
  • IT productivity benefits
  • Prevention of data loss events
  • Savings in storage and bandwidth
  • Increased IT control and visibility

Research indicates that the BYOD trend driven by the consumerization IT will continue. IT departments need to accommodate this reality by finding ways to provide optimized and secured data management. AE Technology aims to create an environment where endpoint data is fully managed yet freely accessible.

Unified endpoint data management can prevent data loss with respect to remote BYOD devices by providing both backup capabilities and remote file management for security purposes while simultaneously making it even easier for employees to access and locate their data in one centralized location whether they are in the office or on the go.

IT Consulting A Service Needed Now More Than Ever

Information Technology consulting for businesses is more important these days than it has ever been before due to the current proliferation of new technologies that are allowing businesses of all sizes to maximize efficiency and cut costs. In fact we are almost blurring the line between traditional business and “tech” business as IT resources become more and more necessary for the operations of almost every company small or large.

Today’s modern business employee is offered an array of options that – almost coincidentally – reduce overhead, better manage personnel and minimize the effort needed to maintain your business mission itself. Let us examine the most popular and effective new technologies a business has at its disposal:

Managed IT Services

Rather than hiring on-site personnel allow AE Technology Group, an MSP (Managed Service Provider) that is always on the bleeding edge of technology to take over and streamline all of your IT needs so that you may focus all your time on your business and your customers. We provide, support, implement, and educate all our clients on the newest technologies they need to be industry leaders.

Cloud Computing

Uses web-based software and safeguards your data storage through a public or private cloud in order to avoid heavy startup costs, licensing fees, upgrades, and all the hassles of software/data maintenance. Your business is available from any device in any location.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Uses effective software systems to hold on to leads, close sales, manage feedback within your sales pipeline, and much more.

E-Mail

Almost everyone these days uses email on some level but an organization can get so much more if it uses email and its collaboration tools properly. Hosted email solutions manage email economically and avoid the costs of downtime and server maintenance.

Data Protection

Given the resources that potential malicious attackers have to your important data it is more crucial than ever to find the solution to keeping your information secure.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

Traditional phone line systems such as key systems and PBX can be relatively inflexible and costly. Managing phone lines over Internet Protocol as you do your other Internet resources reduces costs, improves quality, and opens you up to a new array of applications such as video conferencing.

All of these solutions can increase productivity, reduce costs, and effectively make your business more profitable if implemented and managed properly. Expert IT consulting can make these technologies work for you. Contact us to learn more.