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Questions to Ask Before Buying that Cloud
My latest “Cloud Buying Questions for Cloud Computing Service Providers, hosted by the good folk over at CompareTheCloud.net
Cloud Service Provider: You’ve made your pitch and you’re in the door, sitting across from some subset of senior management who are waiting to hear about how you and your cloud can change their world. Well done (especially these days!)… but there just might be a few questions before the deal closes: buying cloud from you is a leap of faith – not only in your business – but in their own business and its ability to capitalise on what you are offering.
See the rest at http://www.comparethecloud.net/5296/cloud-buying-questions/
Filed under IT Service Management
My take on Cloud Expo Europe 2013
“Events of this nature, with vendors, seminars and keynotes, help you to see what ‘could be’ prior to defining or designing what you want”
“Cloud to Clarity wasn’t quite delivered… but this is not a reflection on either the event or the exhibitors, though, rather on the state of a rapidly evolving industry… but it is getting better”
Guest post at ComparetheCloud.net (click on the title above or the logo below full the complete article)
13/02/2013 · 13:54
Does the UK technology sector measure up?
An opinion piece published at BDaily.co.uk Business News
From commitments to infrastructure improvements, through to making available more visas for skilled workers, the UK Government has been backing some relatively successful efforts to attract new or added presence from some of the ‘big players’ to London but, in my opinion, a bit too focused an eastward view.
Regardless of the geography, supporting technology-focused or technology-enabled start-up businesses (a space currently supporting tens of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in revenue across the UK) is a clever approach as both a…
03/02/2013 · 19:34
A great piece by Michael Queena of Nephos Technologies
when a Cloud blog starts with “If you are looking at Cloud for just cost savings you’re going to be disappointed” I know I’ve found one of the good ones
(and thanks to @MJQueenan for the mention)
16/01/2013 · 12:10
My latest blog as posted at at ComparetheCloud.net: it is your data, not big data, that matters (but even that has limited relevance until you know what you want to do with it)
Please click on the link to read the article
14/01/2013 · 13:18
Should you be selling Managed Services and Cloud?
(subtitle: Should you be buying Managed Services or Cloud from these people?)
Clearly the playing field has and is still changing for the business technology sector from the point of view of both end user organisation and the traditional mix of vendors, integrators, resellers, outsourcers and other tech-space providers (choose your label, add freely to the list).
While this is also true for those already with a managed service model, they do at least have clarity in response to the question posed in the title above: right or wrong, profitable and growing or not, they are already in that space.
Meanwhile, the other players in the sector are being bombarded by change: what customers are asking for (expecting, demanding); the underlying technology to deliver to those requirements; the necessary commercial and service models and processes in place. Over the past year I’ve read more than a few articles along the lines of “Cloud Kills the Traditional (insert term here)” and “Change or Die,” many of which deliver coherent arguments but most of them are partly correct and incorrect.
In my business I advise ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ IT service providers business to adapt a solutions-focused, recurring revenue client model. But not all such businesses get the same advice… it is not always the case that the provider side should (or is ready, yet, to) provide such services (competently and profitably) nor that the end user is both ready and in need of the change (again, yet: we are talking industry wide disruption based on valued add, so they are likely to get there but hopefully after a little bit of planning to ensure that they have an idea of where they are actually going!)
Sticking with our “traditional” mix of vendors, integrators, resellers, outsourcers and other tech space providers, I would suggest any of the above execute a short review of the following questions to ‘test’ their readiness, willingness (and awareness) to do what it takes to do it right – not to mention to take a preliminary view of the levels of effort it might take to get there:
- What are your current: capabilities, skill sets, references and credibility?
- What are your current assets, in general and Data Centre(s) in particular
- Do you currently offer any managed services (network or device monitoring, eMail, printing, etc.)?
- What are the capabilities, assets and skill sets of your current customer base; Do they understand the value of managed services?
- Do your client-facing staff have relationships with your clients (to whom are they selling; do they have C-level relationships?)
These same questions, slightly adjusted and posed to potential service providers as well as inward-looking, also apply to pretty much all end user / customer business considering moving, changing or transitioning and, even more importantly, in my opinion, with whom they choose to make that move: managed service relationships do have a ‘tied-in’ nature, so tread and choose carefully.
These questions are the tip of the iceberg and would be covered in the first hours of one of my typical engagements… it is the questions which follow and the requisite investment in time and resources to create and implement change across sales, delivery, operations, business processes and, of course, the commercials to successfully adapt and grow as a Managed Service Provider).
“Growth” is the magic word, by the way… preparing for, selling correctly and then delivering what is essentially “more of the same” to a client base that is expanding as you do it better (faster, smarter, cheaper) will, from what I have seen across the sector these past fifteen years or so, drive growth and expansion batter than most strategies.
If you’d like to discuss further how you can assess and prepare for such a move – and to take a first run through that list of questions, contact me at steeves@beyond-solutions.co.uk for a complimentary introductory workshop (free-form but functional).
Filed under IT Service Management
