Migraine Or Migrate

80% of IT managers spend their time on break/fix activities. Not only is it time consuming. They hate it. Loading patches, installing and managing Microsoft Exchange which is becoming more and more specialized, it’s enough to make them want to stick a thumb drive in their eye. The worst part is, where is the ROI on break/fix activities?

Keep looking… Can’t find it?

That’s probably because there isn’t any.

Knowing this, it’s pretty safe to say that 20% or less of the IT manager’s time is spent on planning and strategic projects. Ah! There’s where the ROI is! Yet, little time is being spent moving forward.

What if you could flip that around somehow? You smart people already know where I’m going with this. Of course, I’m talking about migrating to the cloud.

WAIT! Don’t go! 

I realize that moving data around is NOT easy. As a matter of fact, it’s messy. You’ve got countless disabled profiles of former employees along with all their files and other data that ultimately doesn’t need to be moved to the new server. Plus, you have to find all those “hidden” applications that still may or may not be prudent. That all needs to be cleaned up prior to migrating. It’s a lot of planning and perspiration.

Now I’m going to tell you why it’s worth it.

Please review the first two paragraphs of this article about the 80/20 activities. With your data in the cloud, you can outsource some (or all) of your tactical IT activities – whatever you are comfortable with. This leaves your talented IT in-house professionals to do more to bring returns on your investments.

In addition to that big elephant in the room, let’s add the costs associated with purchasing and maintaining your own hardware. With your infrastructure in the cloud, you no longer have to use CAPex to replace expensive hardware every 3-5 years or annual hardware manufacturer maintenance. You can now use OPex to handle the lower monthly payments for IaaS and ITaaS.

PAIN: Getting things cleaned up, planned and moved.

GAIN: Makes your IT organization more strategic and budget can be allocated to more important projects! It’s a win-win!

For more information: Read "Land of No and Slow - The CIO Nightmare" on LinkedIn #cloud #cio or on Twitter @wickedmktg.



Sources: 

Intelisys Cloud University

Neely Loring, Matrix

What Are Your Intentions

Goals. We all have them (or should). But unless you fuel them with intentions, you will find yourself at the end of the week/month/year without making the changes you needed to accomplish those goals.

Here's the difference:

Goal: Become the top producer on my team by 2018

Intention: I intend to become the top producer on my team by 2018

Instead of writing down goals, make a list of things that you intend to do/be. And at the end of the list, write this:

Nothing will keep me
from my intentions

Source: The Four Kinds of Salespeople - Chuck Mache

The Land of No and Slow - A CIO's Nightmare

The tenure of a CIO is anywhere between 2 to 5 years. It's no mystery as to why it's a short period of time. It's a position where you're most likely not viewed as an executive but as a technologist. You build a budget that is continually cut and projects move at a painfully slow rate. Being a CIO and a Visionary is a wonderful, yet deadly combination in a premise-based environment. In addition, there is a long list of challenges:

* Under-resourced

* Under deadlines you can't meet

* Requirements that don't fit your budget

* Administration issues - procurement, hiring policies

* Business is changing faster

* Management is demanding more

* Lack of expertise on your staff

Cloud Computing is changing all of that for the Information/Infrastructure Officer. It's a new game and CIO's are wise to leverage Cloud for many reasons:

1) The story of a successful Cloud migration looks good on your resume

2) Makes you more competent

3) Helps you deliver on schedule

4) Allows you to have a great vision

5) Cost effectiveness and efficiency is achievable

6) Gives you the ability to outsource moves/adds/changes and other menial tasks so your staff can focus on more strategic projects

7) Affords you scalability - only pay for what you use

There is a lot of noise surrounding Cloud solutions. Many people believe that Cloud is not secure, reliable or compliant. On the contrary, Cloud connects you to more technology than you could have possibly afforded on your CAPEX budget. You can now afford a secure network, reliable service, meet your compliancy requirements and develop a disaster recovery plan - all in the Cloud! 

Plus, with the monthly installments, you are able to move away from CAPEX and enjoy the tax benefits of using OPEX for this wonderful, new technology!

One thing that IT may not have visibility on is what we call "Shadow IT" - individual departments downloading apps, purchasing storage, etc. The biggest abusers of this are marketing departments who don't want to wait for IT to solve their resource problems. With Cloud, you can lock down your network and still be able to provide the resources that departments demand.

As you can see, I'm a big proponent of Cloud technology. Hit me up for a whiteboard session! I'll bring my team of experts and we will find the best way to make you look like a hero!

Sources:
Intelisys Cloud Services University
Abhijit Phanse, United Layer