Public, Hosted, and Internal Clouds Defined

Like any new business technology, the early development of cloud services can be a little confusing -- as some descriptions are still open to interpretation. However, the dialog is helpful, because it enables us to focus on the true business value of data center resources.

According to Forrester Research, cloud computing platforms are more than shared multi-tenant infrastructures on the public Internet. There are three infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud deployment options available; each has unique characteristics and economics.

Forrester’s three cloud service scenarios follow:

Which cloud service scenario is a best-fit for your business needs? Well, that depends upon a number of related factors -- such as your organizational bias for direct control, sensitivity to risk, and overall usage requirements for a cloud computing platform.

Public Cloud Scenario
Public clouds are easily accessible, multi-tenant virtualized infrastructures that are managed via a self-service portal. They deliver superior economies of scale to customers, as the infrastructure costs are spread among all users, giving each individual client an attractive low-cost, pay-per-use model.

They are managed and supported by the cloud provider and are typically homogeneous, meaning all customers share the same pool of infrastructure with limited configuration, security protections, and availability variances.

Internal Cloud Scenario
Internal clouds have similar characteristics of a public cloud, but hosted within your own data center. They leverage more of your standard processes and protections, but tend to be limited in size and scale. Your IT organization must incur the full capital and operational costs for the physical resources.

They are best for applications where you want complete control and configurability of the infrastructure and security. This most often applies to applications that manage sensitive information that is subject to strict compliance standards.

Hosted Cloud Scenario
Hosted clouds are hybrids -- a multi-tenant cloud atop rented resources, but dedicated to a single client. They help you avoid the capital and operational expense of an internal cloud, growing and shrinking the size of the cloud as needed by simply renting more resources (often added via a pay-per-use model) but providing more custom SLAs.

They give you more flexibility, where you can adjust the security as needed, specify the infrastructure elements to be used, the SLA to be applied, and set other constraints not available on a shared public cloud.

Plus, the cloud is managed by a Service Provider -- rather than your IT team. However, the economics of hosted clouds are more like managed hosting than public clouds -- since the servers that make up the cloud are typically fully dedicated to you.

Evolutionary Pathway to Cloud Services
Forrester concludes that cloud services are infrastructure deployment options that help businesses better match the needs of the application with computing resources. It’s the integration between these infrastructures that delivers the greatest value.

The goal is to speed IT service delivery, while reducing costs. Therefore, consider all options. Ask your service provider to explain their offerings, and if they can provide a pathway to virtual private cloud services -- between your data center and their cloud infrastructure.

Discover the Pathway to Cloud Services

Do you have your head in the clouds? Well, if so, then you're surely not alone. In breaking news, eWeek reports that Cisco Systems is pulling together key pieces of its data center and networking portfolios to create a blueprint for building a cloud computing infrastructure for service providers.

Is this yet another business technology hype-cycle, or is there something truly remarkable occurring that builds upon the escalating widespread adoption of IT managed service and hosting service offerings?

Cisco's Simon Aspinall provides the context for the launch of the Unified Service Delivery solution, as he shares an analogy that explains why innovation sometimes requires starting the design process from a totally different point of view.

The cloud computing phenomenon is generating a lot of interest worldwide because of its potential to offer services on-demand -- at lower cost than current options, and with significantly less complexity, greater scalability, and wider reach.

Motivation for Cloud Services Adoption
A study by the University of California, Berkeley entitled "Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing" looked at cloud computing from the end-user perspective. It focused on three features that are major advancements for you, the business and IT decision maker:

• The illusion of infinite computer resources available on demand that eliminate the need for you to plan far ahead for provisioning.
• No need for an up-front commitment by your business, allowing you to start small and increase your use of cloud services as needed.
• The pay-as-you-go model that allows you to buy just what they need, and what you can budget, either on a short-term or ongoing basis.
  

The study also emphasized that companies with large batch-oriented computing tasks can get results more quickly and cost-effectively than ever before when using the broad resources of a managed cloud services provider for a short period of time.

Cloud Service Call to Action
The on-demand nature of cloud computing is also a productivity boon to both the enterprise CEO and the CIO, allowing them to quickly react to changing market conditions and opportunities. Are you ready to out-task your next IT or enterprise networking related project?

If you need to gain a deeper understanding of how this emerging space of new business technology is developing, then consider the "Working in the Cloud" Industry Round-Up Report series from THINKstrategies.

Collaboration as a Service Gains Momentum

Human talent fuels the business model creativity and process execution that drives today's leading enterprise innovations -- the ones that every executive truly wants to emulate. That's why savvy managers will always choose to hire the best talent -- regardless of where those key people may reside.

The common obstacle, of course, is finding both productive and cost effective ways to regularly bring together a geographically distributed talent pool. Online collaboration is one approach many business leaders will consider.

The growth of globally disbursed teams demands that online collaboration tools are flexible, scalable and easy to deploy. Moreover, project-centric teams often can't predict the "when and where" they’ll need to reunite their subject matter experts for an impromptu task.

IT managers are increasingly being told to move from a rigid just-in-case technology investment model to a much more agile just-in-time methodology. So, what's fueling that new momentum?

More Haste, Less Waste
The current economic realities require business leaders to be able to move to action quickly -- it's all about increased haste, but absolutely no waste. It's a challenging environment, for sure.

Managed or hosted collaboration solutions are proven to be a perfect fit for these types of scenarios. How do you plan to incorporate these new services? Consider adding Collaboration as a Service (CaaS) to your company's internal IT service portfolio.

CaaS is a subscription based service that can provide your organization with reliable and secure on-demand collaboration solutions -- all at a predictable and affordable price.

According to a recent Nemertes Research market study, more enterprises are turning to Managed Services Providers (MSPs) to reduce implementation and operational costs of their collaboration applications.

Demand for Rich-Media Collaboration
Adoption has grown from 27% to 63% of study participants from 2006 to 2008, with management of collaboration applications -- especially rich-media services -- as a key driver for growth. For example, 33% initially utilize VoIP solutions, as demand for real-time, rich-media collaboration applications continues to grow.

New platforms have emerged for managed service providers. Cisco unveiled a new software-as-a-service (SaaS) architecture and enhancements to its SaaS-based collaborative applications.

"Adoption of SaaS and cloud services represent a growing share of finite and expensive WAN bandwidth," said Abner Germanow, director at IDC. "Until recently, SaaS and cloud services were delivered on a best effort basis that will not be good enough to meet the business criticality, performance, and video service demands facing future waves of SaaS and cloud service maturity."

Managed Service in Search of a Market

There's a new term in the managed services space -- Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS), and it's an obvious extension of the SaaS model. Desktone is a company that provides DaaS capabilities to service providers. Its customers, according to CEO Harry Ruda, currently include Verizon and Softbank Telecom.

Ruda characterizes DaaS as a service whereby users obtain their computing services through a remote connection over a network. The physical compute power, if you will, is delivered through a service provider and paid for on some usage basis.

In other words, users can access operating system and applications through a completely hosted system, and the service provider would be responsible at the back-end for storing data, upgrading applications, updating virus protection, among other activities.

Computing Power of a Utility
It relies on the whole concept of utility computing, in which compute power is delivered the same way electricity is -- when you want it in a metered fashion. DaaS proponents even promise that their service, like electricity, is instant-on, because there's no booting of an operating system.

I'm skeptical about a technology that even its proponents admit doesn't work well over wireless connections, when you consider that laptops now outsell desktops because of their ability to work even when users are disconnected.

However, proponents insist that by handing management of PC resources over to a service provider, companies of almost any size can cut maintenance and technical support costs, as well as increase security because the service provider can focus more on patches and virus protection.

Another pioneer in this new category, MokaFive offers a DaaS subscription service for $100 per user per year that uses a virtual machine, which they describe as "centrally managed but locally executed."

That means end-users can choose from among any number of devices -- laptops, Macintoshes, smartphones, tablets -- and have corporate data protected, but can still use their chosen device for other applications or personal information.

Evolution is Easier than a Revolution
The arguments and variations of DaaS go on and on. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to the DaaS model may be the fact that it requires extensive re-thinking of one's infrastructure -- either by replacing desktop computers with disk-less computers or significantly upgrading the network bandwidth, or both.

In contrast to DaaS, most of the current "fill-in-the-blank" as a Service models have been tried and proven, because they're a logical evolution from existing operational models. My skepticism remains intact.

Sizing Up the IT Management SaaS Market

Our prior commentary on SaaS and Managed Services: Big Service Providers Plug In does a good job pointing out how various service providers are attempting to deliver a widening array of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions and managed services.

This trend is being driven by two major forces. First, the commodization of traditional transport services. Second, the shift in customer attitudes regarding IT management.

Service providers can no longer differentiate themselves based on the quality of their transport services. As a consequence, service pricing, customer loyalty and profitability of this mainstay business continue to decline.

To compensate for this erosion of their traditional transport business, service providers are seeking to deliver a new generation of value-added services which can give them greater 'stickiness' with their customers.

It's a Win-Win Scenario
At the same time, customers are seeking to offload, or out-task, a broader assortment of IT management responsibilities so they can improve the reliability of their systems and software, reduce their operating costs, and focus their limited resources on more strategic and/or innovative corporate initiatives.

THINKstrategies uncovered the growing level of interest and adoption of IT management SaaS solutions among IT professionals in 2007 as a key finding of annual survey with Cutter Consortium (download a complimentary copy of "SaaS Penetrates the IT Department").

Forrester recently published a report entitled -- "How Big is SaaS in IT Management Software?" -- which suggests that SaaS solutions only represent 1 percent of total IT management software sales today, but will grow to 10 percent by 2013.

Given that 25 percent of IT professionals who responded to THINKstrategies and Cutter Consortium's survey a year ago said they were already using SaaS solutions to address their IT management requirements, Forrester's forecast is probably low.

Multitude of SaaS Solutions
Smart vendors, service providers and VARs are recognizing this trend and seeking to win a share of this rapidly growing market. The good news for IT professionals is that they will have plenty of SaaS solutions and suppliers to chose from.

As always, the best choice will be selecting the supplier that you trust the most to meet your particular business needs and requirements.

Redefining Vendor/Customer Relationships

My colleague, Joe Panettieri, reports that Dell has won its largest managed services agreement ever with the state of Georgia.

This contract illustrates how Dell, and other technology vendors, are shifting their go-to-market strategies to respond to customers' changing IT management needs.

Anyone who follows the technology industry knows that Dell has been struggling to keep pace with HP when it comes to computer sales. What few casual observers have recognized is how Dell has amassed a new set of remote management capabilities via a series of acquistions over the past year and a half.

Why Managed Services Matter
During that time, Dell has acquired SilverBack Technologies, Everdream, EqualLogic and MessageOne to serve as the foundation for a new portfolio of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and managed service capabilities.

Dell understands that it will have a difficult time outpacing HP and other technology vendors on the strength of its products alone as laptops, desktops and servers become more commoditized.

Instead, Dell and other vendors must differentiate themselves on their ability to help customers generate the greatest value from their systems. This means redefining their services to help customers, and their channel partners, better manage these assets to optimize their performance.

Redefining the Meaning of Support
The most cost-effective way for vendors to monitor these devices and proactively administer them is via managed services. The best way for them to offer these capabilities to their channel partners or customers is via SaaS solutions.

These 'on-demand' services redefine the nature of vendor/customer relationships. Customers no longer have to assume the responsibility for managing their systems and software, and wait for their vendors to respond to their problems when something goes wrong.

Now, they can shift the burden on their vendor to ensure the uptime and performance of their systems and software. By the same token, vendors can no longer boast about their customer support response times. Instead, they must demonstrate their willingness to take on this greater responsibility.

The IT Management Implications of SaaS Growth

THINKstrategies recently unveiled the initial findings of its fourth annual Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) customer survey, in conjunction with Cutter Consortium, which revealed that 63% of the responding organizations are using a SaaS solution -- almost double the 32% who were using SaaS solutions in 2007.

Over the past four years, we have seen tremendous growth of the SaaS market spurred along by rising frustration with the challenges of deploying traditional software products and the hassles of keeping enterprise applications up and running.

Our surveys were the first to find widespread interest and substantial adoption of SaaS in 2005.

Changing workplace requirements have led to more workers needing to access applications and corporate data remotely, which has also led many organizations to adopt web-based SaaS solutions.

The Shift Away from CAPEX
But, the most important consideration has been the financial savings generated by shifting from upfront capital investments in perpetual licenses and systems to a more flexible, 'pay-as-you-go', subscription model. This approach has become particularly attractive in today's tough economic climate.

Despite these advantages, many IT organizations were reluctant to accept SaaS, and even resisted its adoption in many cases because of concerns about the reliability, security and performance of these web-based applications.

However in 2007, THINKstrategies survey found growing acceptance of SaaS solutions by IT professionals who were not only learning that SaaS solutions could be trusted to successfully support their business units and end-users, but also discovered that a new generation of SaaS solutions were available to help them better manage their IT operations.

Business Case for Out-Tasking IT
Leveraging SaaS and a broader array of 'cloud' computing services is an extension of the same mindset which is driving many IT departments to recognize the benefits of contracting for managed services.

This 'out-tasking' strategy allows IT professionals to offload many of the day-to-day technology deployment and management responsibilities which can be performed in a routine fashion more economically by a specialized third-party, so the IT staff can finally focus their limited time and resources on more strategic initiatives or even innovative projects.

Click here to obtain the first of a series of three Executive Update reports based on the THINKstrategies/Cutter Consortium SaaS survey results.

Overcoming the Psychological Barriers to On-Demand Services

It is time for IT and business decision-makers to get over their fears of 'out-tasking' various aspects of their daily operations to specialized service providers.

Today's turbulent economic climate, intensifying competitive landscape and changing workplace requirements demand that organizations of all sizes re-think their business technology sourcing strategies.

What I believe is still inhibiting many IT or business decision-makers from adopting Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and managed services are a few common misconceptions and interrelated fears.

Gain New Perspective, with Sharp Focus
For instance, too many IT and business decision-makers continue to resist a growing assortment of SaaS and managed services which can address their business application and IT management needs because they are concerned about losing control, sacrificing performance and/or dealing with additional security risks.

While all of these are legitimate concerns, THINKstrategies has found that they are not real issues when it comes to today's SaaS and managed service offerings.

Instead, most of these services have achieved better performance and higher security levels than many in-house application and IT operations. They also have achieved these service levels with lower upfront costs, quicker deployment cycles and less ongoing management requirements.

As a result, most SaaS and managed service users gain greater ROI on their IT/applications at a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), by focusing their efforts on overall business impact.

An Adaptable Coexistence Strategy
Many IT/business decision-makers also believe that SaaS and managed services are only appropriate for small organizations with limited financial resources or internal skills, and relatively simple functional requirements. Said another way, they think SaaS and managed services aren't sophisticated enough to address the complex needs of mid- to large-scale enterprises.

The reality is that there are a wide array of SaaS and managed service offerings which can address organizations of various sizes. Small businesses can fill voids which they couldn't afford to address with traditional applications or management products with many SaaS and managed service offerings. Mid-size and large-scale enterprises are also finding plenty of SaaS and managed services to fill unmet needs, or augment and extend the value of their existing software and systems.

The Fearless Agents of Change
Too many IT managers view SaaS and managed services as outsourcing solutions that could ultimately make them replaceable.

While this is possible, it is more likely that SaaS and managed services can help IT managers overcome the day-to-day challenges of deploying and administering software and systems, so they can refocus their time and energy on better supporting the more strategic needs of their business units and end-users.

The bottom-line is that IT managers can no longer justify doing business as usual. The sooner they put their fears of SaaS and managed services aside, the sooner they will be able to leverage these services to better serve their organizations and safeguard their positions in an uncertain world.

Getting Down to Basics About SaaS

I was interviewed today by a journalist from one of the CIO-oriented pubs who surprised me by asking a series of questions which came back to many of the same fundamental misconceptions about Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) which I thought I had dispelled in a BusinessWeek commentary I published in 2006.

The first misconception the journalist had was that SaaS solutions are not robust enough to satisfy large-scale enterprises, as well as small- and mid-size businesses (SMBs). I pointed out to him that large-scale enterprises have been leveraging SaaS solutions for a long time, but have only recently begun to talk about their successful experiences.

One of the most recent announcements of a major deployment of SaaS by a large-scale enterprises was by Flextronics who is adopting Workday's on-demand human resource management (HRM) solution to support its 200,000 employees.

Real Total Cost of Ownership
The second misconception the journalist revealed was the old "buy vs. lease" argument against subscribing to a SaaS solution. This argument suggests that after 2-3 years it doesn't pay to subscribe to a SaaS solution because it costs more than it would to simply purchase a perpetual software license.

This argument doesn't hold because the cost comparisons are flawed. In order to do a more accurate side-by-side comparison, IT and business decision-makers must calculate the full cost of deploying and maintaining a software application, and also calculate the risks associated with these processes.

Some research firms have suggested that it can cost as much as ten times the original software license fee to install and maintain the application. They have also found that over a third of enterprise software deployment projects fail to be completed and of those which are fully deployed many are under-utilized.

Avoiding the Old Software Trap
In addition, many organizations do not implement software updates and upgrades because they are afraid they will disrupt their operations. As a result, they are not taking advantage of the vendor's latest software enhancements.

SaaS eliminates the upfront software costs, and additional deployment and maintenance costs. It also eliminates the implementation and utilization risks. SaaS also ensures that every customer benefits from the vendors' latest updates and upgrades.

Finally, this journalist asked why a organization of any size should subscribe to a SaaS solution if they have an inhouse IT team that is talented enough to deploy and maintain software applications themselves.

My response was to ask why should today's overworked IT people waste their time simply deploying and maintaining software applications when they can be performing more valuable tasks supporting their organizations' strategic initiatives or enabling new business innovations?

If you are an IT or business decision-maker, you should be asking yourself the same question in these increasingly challenging economic times.

Can You Rely On Your Current Resellers For Today's Services?

Managed services, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and 'cloud computing' are gaining increasing attention in the press and among IT and business decision-makers because they promise to alleviate many of the day-to-day hassles of deploying and administering technology and applications.

While these new forms of remote and web-based services have demonstrated many tangible business benefits, they have also disrupted the traditional value-chain of the technology industry.

Traditionally, technology vendors relied on channel partners to extend their reach into market segments they couldn't address either by offering lower costs of sales or by delivering more customized solutions. Often the channel partner also took on the role of pre-sales consultant and on-site support provider.

This model worked well when customers needed help with the initial planning and design, as well as the installation, integration and ongoing maintenance of the hardware and software. And, customers needed plenty of help in all these areas because of the complexities and costs of traditional hardware and software.

A Different Set of Challenges
Today's SaaS solutions and cloud computing services were designed to eliminate, or at least substantially reduce, these challenges. They have been architected so that the vendor now operates the hardware and assumes responsibility for the deployment and ongoing availability of the software functionality. This approach fundamentally changes the relationship between the customer and vendor, and raises questions about the role of the channel partner.

However, while the burden for the success of the 'solution' has shifted from the customer to the vendor, THINKstrategies believes that there is still plenty of room for channel partners to play a role in this relationship. Once again the SaaS and cloud computing vendors cannot afford to help individual customers with adopting their solutions to meet their unique requirements. They also cannot afford to customize their solutions to address these requirements. Channel partners can help with these tasks, as well as helping their customers with change management and training.

However, those channel partners who are wedded to the past formula of hands-on software deployment and maintenance will be adversely affected by todays' SaaS and cloud computing movements because these new services substantially reduce these opportunities.

Adapting to the Change
Even the many channel companies who have tried to transition their businesses from traditional on-site support to remote managed services have found the shift difficult.

Rather than sell the value of their rapid response to system failures or software problems, channel partners must demonstrate their ability to keep customers' systems and software up and running with limited on-site presence via managed services. This requires a different set of service systems, skills and operating policies.

The Right Skills for the Task
For IT and business decision-makers within customer organizations, today's new service alternatives represent an important time to reevaluate their supplier relationships to ensure that your traditional service providers are adjusting to the new market opportunities and challenges.

Survival Strategies in Tough Times

Growing concerns about the business implications of the turbulent economic climate and intensifying credit crunch are driving companies and non-profit institutions of all sizes to thoroughly reevaluate their corporate priorities, capital expenditures, operating budgets and sourcing strategies.

In addition to the "Four High-Tech Steps SMBs Should Consider Now," here are two more technology trends companies and non-profit institutions of all sizes should seriously consider and capitalize on:

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Web-based, subscription-priced, 'on-demand' services are experiencing significant growth because they can be deployed easily and quickly without the risks and added costs associated with traditional, on-premise, 'legacy' software products. End-users and business executives alike are recognizing the business benefits of SaaS solutions which range from Google Apps and WebEx for collaboration to Salesforce.com customer relationship management (CRM) solutions.

While these solutions are still far from perfect, they have proven to be a viable alternative to the headaches of dealing with legacy applications. IT/network professionals are also discovering a growing array of SaaS applications which can help them with their day-to-day management needs.

Cloud Computing: These are a wider array of web-based development tools and services that are enabling start-ups and enterprise software architects to leverage virtual data processing and development environments without the upfront capital expenditure and at a fraction of the ongoing cost of traditional data centers.

These cloud computing services are fulfilling some of the promise of the utility computing concept that was popularized at the start of this decade. While cloud computing services have experienced some outages, they are evolving quickly and will become more reliable over time.

The bottomline is that IT and business decision-makers have a growing array of technology alternatives with attractive pricing and packaging features at their disposal to help them contend with the serious challenges of today's economic environment.

Small Businesses: Good IT Investments for a Bad Economy

My brother is chief operating officer for a real estate company in Manhattan. He's running a small business facing some very familiar challenges: Rising energy prices, unpredictable operating costs, and tenants who are facing rising unemployment.

In addition to those first-hand business challenges, people like him worry about Wall Street's financial mess spilling over into Main Street USA. The flood of bad financial news from AIG, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch will force small business owners to rethink their financial bets in the months ahead.

Some entrepreneurs may wind up cutting their IT budgets in order to conserve cash. Fact is, they don't want surprise bills for emergency server repairs or break-fix services.

A Smarter Strategy
Instead of saying no to new technology investments, my brother is pursuing a far wiser IT strategy. He's reaching out to so-called managed service providers (MSPs). Generally speaking, MSPs charge a predictable monthly fee for ongoing network and system maintenance.

In many ways, my brother believes in the emerging Business Technology as a Service (BTaaS) mindset. The idea is to outsource as much of IT as possible to drive the business forward.

Start by transitioning on-site applications to the software as a service (SaaS) business model. Explore so-called Hardware as a Service (HaaS) approaches, where your physical infrastructure (servers, printers, PCs, laptops, etc.) is owned and operated by your service provider. Push your antiquated PBXes out the door and embrace hosted voice-over-IP (VoIP) services.

Simply put: Whenever an IT consultant or integrator tries to sell your small business a new IT product, ask if you can evaluate an outsourced alternative instead. Avoid big lump-sum costs, and pursue predictable monthly fees. And shop around to see how the fees and service level agreements (SLAs) vary from MSP to MSP.

Calling for Help
My brother is starting to pursue the so-called BTaaS strategy right now. When his company's IT help desk bills mounted, he reached out to me for advice. I told him it was time to treat his technology infrastructure the same way he'd treat his cable bill or cell phone service: Get a fixed-fee monthly service.

He started by investigating the MSPmentor 100, which tracks some of the world's top managed service providers. Yes, that's a shameless plug for a Web site I run as part of my day job. But my brother found the list valuable, and he's now in discussions with a few MSPs to nail down a service contract that involves predictable monthly fees.

You Can't Ignore IT
As a small business owner myself, I know now is not the time to cut my IT budget. Rather, now is the time to reallocate my IT budget. Aside from our basic network infrastructure, PCs and printers, our company doesn't purchase any IT assets.

The bulk of our business innovations -- and IT investments -- are directed toward our hosted Web sites. Our monthly IT service fees are built into our annual operating budget. With a few rare exceptions, there are no surprise IT costs.

That approach provides peace of mind -- for my small business, and soon for my brother's small business -- especially as the economic storm swirls around us.

Business Technology and the Changing Role of IT

Businesses of all sizes are facing unprecedented competitive and economic challenges as they attempt to satisfy their customers’ rapidly changing needs and support their employees’ rapidly changing work requirements.

Globalization and eCommerce have dramatically changed the competitive landscape for companies of all sizes, including small- and mid-size businesses (SMBs). Escalating fuel costs and tightening credit markets have also severely impacted the business operations of companies.

Companies must achieve greater customer intimacy in order to win and retain customer satisfaction and loyalty. Companies must also support increasingly dispersed and mobile workers in order to ensure employee productivity. These challenges demand new forms of communications and collaboration, along with greater reliability and reporting to meet rising regulatory and compliance requirements.

These trends are also forcing companies to adopt new technologies and new methods of managing these technologies in order to maximize their business value.

The good news is that there is a myriad of new networking and collaboration technologies to respond to these demands. The problem is that many companies lack the inhouse skills to capitalize on these technologies and effectively manage them to achieve their business objectives.

Fortunately, companies no longer have to do it all by themselves or hand over their entire IT/network operation to an outsourcer. There are a growing number of managed service and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ‘out-tasking’ alternatives that can help companies leverage today’s new technologies.

I am pleased to be a contributor to this blog and provide THINKstrategies' perspective regarding ways companies of all sizes, but especially SMBs, can address these challenges, capitalize on new technologies and focus their limited inhouse resources on key corporate objectives and initiatives rather than mundane or frustrating technology management issues.

Unlike other blogs that offer the vendor point-of-view about technology trends, we hope this blog will be a forum for IT and business decision-makers to provide their perspectives and best practices regarding today's business technology management challenges and opportunities. We believe this peer-to-peer dialogue will make this blog unique and valuable.

Please let us know if you’d like to contribute your views, and give us your feedback so we can be sure we are meeting your needs.

Intro to the Business Technology Roundtable

Today, the application of technology is an integral part of most businesses – in some shape or form. However, while many decision makers are now primarily concerned with using technology to pursue new business opportunities, and gaining business-related capabilities is their main objective, the vendors and suppliers that they encounter sometimes don't speak the same language.

Matching buyer's business needs with technology vendor's offerings is sometimes referred to as the business/technology alignment chasm. Filling that void with substantive information, meaningful guidance, and compelling "how-to" storylines is the charter of the Business Technology Roundtable (BTR). We seek to shed light where there has been an apparent absence of editorial illumination.

A business technologist -- perhaps a new term to some -- should be focused on driving business technology adoption, rather than purely the acquisition of new systems.

They should also value delivering business results promptly, instead of merely applying inventive product features and functions. Once informed, they'll likely crave low-cost integration into existing business processes, pay-as-you-go pricing, and efficient knowledge transfer.

Given this backdrop, new business technology adoption is often more dependent upon changing behavior than the common prior scenario -- changing underlying technology.

Within this new scenario, the insights and recommendations of trusted peers and independent subject-matter experts supersede all others in the process of choosing a justifiable approach, and supporting key business decisions.

As the co-authors of BTR, we will be on the lookout for resources -- plus proven and repeatable processes -- to speed-up the shift to subscription-based business technology offerings. We'll also highlight the competencies required to enable the facilitation of adoption education and acceleration.

A Call to Action
We invite you to join us in an exploratory dialogue about managed Business Technology services, and welcome contributions of your ideas and associated expertise, as we embark upon this journey together.