Take the guesswork out of cloud deployment with a third-party provider

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While the government has made great strides in adopting modern technology platforms, it was recently revealed that the Department of Defense has fallen into a common technology mistake while implementing its new cloud environment.

According to a recent audit by the inspector general, a plan was created in July 2012 to transition to the cloud in an effort to experience the benefits and cost savings associated with the technology, but the entirety of the plan has yet to be implemented. The report found that elements of the cloud environment and guidance on specific roles of the platform have not been fully deployed two years after the program was introduced. By stalling on the implementation, the department is facing potential losses in cost savings, decreased effectiveness and lowered security.

The initial intent of the DoD's cloud program was to cut down on redundant efforts. Part of the issue currently causing delays is that the agency has yet to create an implementation plan to assign roles, responsibilities and goals for the transition, preventing a successful adoption.

"By failing to execute all elements identified in the cloud computing strategy, DoD may not realize the full benefits of cloud computing, which include cost savings, increased mission effectiveness, and increased cybersecurity," the report stated.

Be prepared for the cloud transition
While government agencies have more stringent requirements than most civilian organizations, a similar scenario could easily happen to an enterprise attempting to deploy a cloud platform without a clear strategy. Before migrating to a cloud environment, businesses must take stock of the systems and applications that will be moving to the cloud. Migration planning allows redundant programs to be detected and eliminated before they are transitioned, which increases cost savings in the long run. Assigning benchmarks and goals for implementation can be helpful to ensure expectations are met and the cloud platform is set up in a way that is most beneficial to a company. 

Utilizing the services of a third-party cloud provider can help make the transition to cloud computing simple and painless. Once an inventory has been taken of the necessary systems, a provider like ISG Technology can handle the transition as well as the maintenance of the environment. Working with a trusted, reliable third-party provider takes the hassle out of cloud deployment, allowing enterprises to experience only the benefits that come with use of the cloud. 

Top 4 benefits of the cloud for SMBs

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While cloud computing has been lauded as one of the biggest innovations in technology in recent years and as a growing number of companies have adopted the cloud, there are still some holdouts. Despite its popularity, some small businesses in particular still don't think the cloud is within their reach. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The benefits of cloud computing are especially advantageous for smaller organizations. In fact, businesses with less than 20 employees have a 68 percent adoption rate of cloud services compared with 53 percent of companies with between 500 and 1,000 workers according to information cited by Venture Beat. The cloud provides small companies with a variety of benefits, below are the top four:

1) Collaboration
With a small company, the employees are typically more involved with one another than in a major corporation. The cloud enables collaboration to take place more effectively and efficiently, as everyone can work on the same projects and documents in one central location. Having a streamlined center for edits and changes to be made dramatically reduces the back-and-forth emails and the amount of time spent searching for the necessary materials common with traditional collaboration methods.

According to a recent survey of global workplaces by Frost & Sullivan, organizations that deploy more advanced tools achieve a 400 percent return on their collaboration investments as compared with companies that stick to traditional techniques.

2) Security
The cloud provides invaluable data security and backup. Physical document storage solutions – laptops, external hard drives, USBs, etc. – are easily lost or stolen and devices can crash without notice, leaving documents unsaved and gone forever. Cloud storage services offer a secure option available online so files will never be lost or destroyed because of human error or network issues.

Using the cloud for data storage also helps to protect against attacks by cybercriminals. Security firm Alert Logic found in its 2014 Cloud Security Report that cloud environments are actually safer than on-premises solutions. According to the study, brute force attacks occurred 30 percent more frequently in on-premises data centers.

3) Flexibility
Use of the cloud enables companies to experience greater flexibility and mobility, allowing employees to work from anywhere with a connected device. This is especially advantageous for smaller companies as it allows workers to travel and move around as necessary to grow the business while still being able to connect with the home office and be productive.

4) Low cost
Perhaps the greatest benefit the cloud offers to small businesses is the ability to pay as you go. Cloud services are incredibly scalable and easy to expand or contract as necessary. Such a model is ideal for growing companies with uncertain capacity needs. The cloud also offers inexpensive start-up costs and regular software and security updates that reduce maintenance and licensing fees.

According to information cited by Venture Beat, 70 percent of companies using the cloud were able to invest the money they saved with the technology back into the enterprise, increasing growth and revenue.

Mobile cloud services market growing fast, new study finds

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A recently released study by Markets and Markets on the mobile cloud market found the sector is poised to make rapid gains in the next five years.

According to the “Mobile Cloud Market by Application & by User: Worldwide Market Forecast and Analysis” report, the market is projected to increase an a compound annual growth rate of 37.8 percent between 2014 and 2019, jumping from $9.43 billion to $46.9 billion.

One of the reasons the mobile cloud market has picked up momentum as quickly as it has is because of the increased convenience realized through the use of the cloud. Information is available in a single, streamlined interface and can be accessed from anywhere with often just an Internet connection. This plays into the major factor driving the rise of the mobile cloud market, according to the report. An increased demand from consumers for connectivity has been met by cloud computing, as the technology provides interoperability and connections previously unavailable.

The study noted that the transition of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets away from being used solely as forms of communication or entertainment toward enterprise means has also helped to push the adoption of mobile cloud services, as users are interested in applications that allow them to access all of their data with a single click.

Businesses especially benefit from mobile cloud access
Since the creation of the Internet, nothing has quite shaken up the technology industry quite like cloud computing. As an increasing number of organizations are realizing the business benefits of the cloud, the services and applications that complement the technology have also grown more popular. Enterprises especially are able to experience advantages from the connectivity offered from the cloud, as enhancing the connection to clients and vendors enables improved responsiveness and agility.

As cloud-enabled mobile applications and services earn a larger foothold in the business world, protecting enterprise information is becoming a growing concern. Data security and privacy were both cited as key challenges in the report, and many organizations are held back from experiencing all of the benefits of the cloud because of security concerns. Deploying a cloud platform with the help of an experienced third-party service provider is a simple and reliable way to ensure sensitive data remains private and secure. Cloud service providers utilize tools and techniques like encryption when hosting client files, increasing the security of information and the benefits an organization can realize with the cloud.

Using the cloud to track the flu

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Last year, in the midst of the government shutdown, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was left unable to monitor the movement of flu outbreaks in the country. While tracking the flu may not seem like such a major task, healthcare providers across the country rely on information from the CDC to know what to expect from the patient population in order to appropriately stock necessary supplies. To make matters worse, the shutdown occurred at the beginning of October, just about the time flu season was kicking into high gear.

To fill the void left by the CDC, athenahealth stepped in and used its resources to get the job done with the help of cloud computing. athenahealth, an electronic health record and billing management company, used its expansive online database to look at flu-related claims in real time in order to identify patterns regarding where outbreaks of the virus were occurring.

While there are other cloud-based services that perform a similar task, they often provide less precise information. Google Flu Trends, for instance, measures outbreaks based on flu-related searches in a certain area which can cause overestimates about the number of doctor's visits actually taking place. The results gathered by athenahealth's cloud database, on the other hand, were in line with previous CDC statistics, suggesting a high level of accuracy.

Cloud-based health initiatives gaining traction
Now that the shutdown is over, cloud-based tracking systems are still being utilized. This year, data gathered from electronic health records from across the country and stored in the cloud have made it possible for health professionals to see that early cases of the flu are beginning to occur more frequently. Because cloud-based data from EHRs tracks information collected during visits to the doctor, trends can be tracked on a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis, allowing for a more accurate view of the trajectory of the virus. For instance, information gathered by athenahealth showed that patients visiting pediatricians that have been diagnosed with influenza-like illnesses increased almost 1 percent between Nov.9 and Nov.22.

A similar program by athenahealth subsidiary Epocrates was launched last year to provide doctors with important information about other kinds of health issues.  Called "bug+drugs," the program offers healthcare professionals a mobile app that uses de-identified patient data from the more than 43,000 providers using athenahealth's cloud-based software to help doctors identify antibiotic-resistant bacteria, like staph infections and E. coli, prevalent in their communities. The campaign is part of a larger effort to use the cloud to geo-locate specific health issues based on patients' ZIP codes.

While private, cloud-based healthcare companies aren't going to start taking over the job of the CDC, they are beginning to provide a larger number of services that benefit public health initiatives. Realizing the advantages of the help athenahealth provided while the CDC was unable to operate, the Ohio Department of Health now receives flu data from the company on a weekly basis. Other public health departments are utilizing the cloud to track the movements of diseases, and a variety of aid organizations in Africa are using the cloud to monitor the spread of the Ebola epidemic.

Fears about cloud security can be calmed with improved enterprise awareness

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As the use of cloud computing becomes more prevalent, a major topic of discussion within enterprises has been the safety of the technology. While many organizations have implemented the cloud, some are still skeptical of its ability to sufficiently protect sensitive information and reduce the chance of a data breach. In fact, a survey of CIOs earlier this year revealed that 70 percent consider security concerns to be the biggest barrier to cloud deployment, NetworkComputing reported.

Another survey recently released by InformationWeek Reports found that IT decision-makers are most worried about security and data resiliency when considering the cloud. Four of the top 10 concerns about cloud computing were related to those two topics. However, there seemed to be a discrepancy in the level of concern about security and the level of trust in the cloud's ability to protect an enterprise network. While 17 percent of those surveyed said the cloud significantly increases the chances of a data breach, 14 percent said the technology decreases the likelihood and 35 percent reported that the cloud has no impact on the occurrence of a security intrusion at all.

According to a separate study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, the cloud is safer depending on what segment of the enterprise you ask. Almost two-thirds of business leaders surveyed said that IT security is not compromised by use of cloud computing, and 35 percent reported an increase in security due to the cloud.

Increased enterprise oversight greatly improves cloud security
One reason there is a perceived lack of security in the cloud is due to an overall insufficient use of encryption. According to information from SafeNet, only 38 percent of U.S. companies encrypt important data. Such statistics reveal that cloud computing isn't unsafe so much as enterprises don't take the steps to secure their information residing in the cloud. Another easily avoidable security issue is the lack of involvement of IT security staff in cloud decision-making. In a study conducted by the Ponemon Institute, nearly 40 percent of IT security professionals reported that they were rarely involved in decisions related to procuring cloud services, and 9 percent reported never being included at all.

Many of the security risks enterprise decision-makers believe are caused by the cloud are actually the result of insufficient data security policies and a lack of involvement from in-house IT staff. While it is nearly impossible to completely prevent a data breach from ever occurring on an accessible network, there are ways to greatly reduce the likelihood of a breach and dramatically improve the security of enterprise information storage.

Organizations commonly have concerns about the privacy of information stored with a third-party provider in a multi-tenant environment. These fears can easily be quelled through the use of a private cloud platform or a hybrid solution. Only one company's information is stored within a private environment, which eliminates the chance of outside eyes prying on sensitive data. With a hybrid option, the most privileged information is stored in a private environment and less critical data and applications are kept in a more accessible public area.

Top 4 reasons more companies than ever are deploying cloud platforms

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A recent study conducted by Dimensional Research found that the majority of enterprise IT decision-makers plan to deploy multi-cloud architectures within the next 12 months.

The report, which surveyed over 650 IT leaders in eight countries, discovered that 77 percent of respondents were planning on implementing multi-cloud architectures and are interested in utilizing interconnected colocation data center environments because of their increased reliability, security and performance. Researchers also found that 74 percent of participants expect to have larger budgets for cloud services in the coming year.

The study revealed the importance of interconnection to enterprises considering the cloud. Almost 90 percent of respondents indicated a need for interconnection to sufficiently meet their cloud performance objectives, either through direct connection to cloud services or high bandwidth interconnection to other clients. This strong desire for interconnection may be driven by the popularity of multi-cloud storage. According to the report, 74 percent of participants are preparing to implement a multi-cloud migration strategy, moving critical applications to a cloud platform maintained by a third-party service provider.

Enterprise cloud adoption is becoming increasingly popular for a number of reasons. Below are some of the biggest advantages to using cloud-computing in business:

1) Cost Efficiency: Installing and eventually upgrading software for all of the computers and mobile devices in an enterprise can be extremely expensive; it can also leave organizations vulnerable to security breaches and loss of competitive advantage. With the cloud, upgrades and security patches are included in the subscription price, so the newest and most secure version is always available without additional cost. Service is also extremely scalable, allowing businesses to pay only for the amount of computing power necessary and add extra capacity for a reasonable price later on. This enables a company and its cloud service to grow in tandem and always be in lock step.

2) Improve Accessibility/Mobility: With the cloud, documents and files are available to employees from any cloud-enabled device, improving remote working opportunities and staff collaboration. That accessibility enhances organizations to enter new markets and increase global presence, as the same platform used in the office is available to staff anywhere in the world and foreign communication can be done for a low cost over the Internet.

3) Ease-of-Use: Cloud infrastructures, especially those maintained by third-party providers, are dramatically simpler to create and manage than traditional IT environments. Any necessary configuration changes are taken care of by the service provider, and hardware and software installations are practically eliminated. Additional services or features can also be quickly and easily made available, reducing time to market and improving ROI.

4) Security: With the ability to access documents from any Internet-connected device, the likelihood of employees using external hard drives or USB devices that can be lost or stolen is greatly reduced. Data security is also improved in the cloud, as third-party providers are almost certainly more comfortable with cybersecurity than an individual enterprise would be, as keeping files safe is one of the provider’s main areas of focus.

New study finds Internet of Things continuing to expand

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A new study recently released by Gartner has found that use of the Internet of Things is growing, and an increasing number of devices now have IoT capabilities.

According to the report, 4.9 billion connected things are expected to be in use next year, an increase of 30 percent from 2014. The number of IoT devices is believed to be on track to reach 25 billion by 2020. Gartner researchers estimated that total spending on services supported by the IoT will reach $70 billion in 2015 before rising dramatically to $263 billion in 2020.

Part of the reason connected devices have seen such a dramatic growth recently is due to the powerful force the IoT has shown itself to be in terms of business transformation. The report discovered that while the increased number of connected things is being driven by consumer applications, enterprises will account for most of the revenue in the market.

"The number of connected intelligent devices will continue to grow exponentially, giving 'smart things' the ability to sense, interpret, communicate and negotiate, and effectively have a digital 'voice,'" said Steve Prentice, Gartner fellow and vice president. "CIOs must look for opportunities to create new services, usage scenarios and business models based on this growth."

Researchers also noted that traditional, mainstream products will start to be reinvented to include computing capabilities and provide them with a digital voice. The enhancement of objects once viewed as passive products will completely change their value propositions and create new services and business models. The study found that by 2020, the three industries with the highest level of IoT use will be utilities, manufacturing and government.

Security a major part of IoT expansion 
​A major point touched on by the report is the security repercussions of the IoT, as dozens of new platform options are brought into enterprise digital security architecture. Increased use of the IoT will also bring new security standards to each industry individually and provide a new view of applications. These changes will cause IT leaders to create a more comprehensive technological approach to IoT risk and security going forward. According to the study, 20 percent of companies will have digital security services devoted to protecting business initiatives using IoT devices and services in the next two years.

"The IoT highlights the tight linkages between information security, information technology security, operational technology security and physical security like never before," a statement from Gartner noted. "Executives now face a decision regarding the future of security in their enterprise and who governs, manages and operates it."

Data center downtime can cost companies millions

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As computing power and information storage grow increasingly necessary for businesses, data centers will become even more important in the coming years. The use of cloud computing and virtualization has caused a rise in data center use, but has also created new challenges that can cause downtime to occur, which can be disastrous for enterprises.

According to a data center industry study, each month, one-third of websites experience downtime and 90 percent of organizations have experienced an unexpected loss of access to their critical systems, CloudTweaks reported. Modern businesses are highly reliant on connectivity, making outages a costly occurrence for organizations that are unprepared to mitigate the effects. The report found that the average North American website outage lasts nearly eight hours, while European outages last an average of 10.3 hours, meaning an entire day’s business can be lost simply due to downtime.

Security, revenue lost due to downtime
Productivity also decreases when downtime effects enterprise systems, dropping between 33 and 43 percent depending on the size of the company. According to the report, employees often resort to the use of USB drives and other commercial storage devices, putting organizations at risk for malware and infection and the possibility of lost files. Almost two-thirds of employees surveyed in the study reported utilized such storage solutions, greatly increasing the threat environment for their firms.

Perhaps the most costly part of experiencing downtime is loss of revenue. According to the report, one in six enterprises lose $1 million for each hour of downtime that takes place. In order to offset the effects of downtime and system outages, organizations must implement data center  monitoring and visibility in order to determine threat vulnerabilities, understand the user experience and maximize data center performance. Implementing these systems also serve to lower the total cost of managing a data center, as processes can be automated and the disruptions associated with downtime are eliminated.

Organizations looking to implement more reliable and consistent data center services, ISG offers a network of Midwest regional data centers with the ability to support the business and performance objectives of each client. ISG is a single-source supplier of essential enterprise cloud-computing equipment, putting them in a better position than any other provider to offer organizations continuous, harmonious operations while also enabling firms to experience the most possible benefits from their data center infrastructure.

Schools increase student engagement, understanding with video conferencing

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With the increasing abundance of technology available to schools, classrooms are beginning to implement video conferencing to improve student engagement and enhance curriculum. Schools take advantage of video conferencing to expose students to people and places they may never have been able to see otherwise. Graphics and videos can be easily integrated into lectures to allow for a more comprehensive lesson that helps kids absorb material better. Related technology, like desktop virtualization, allows guest lecturers to share information on students’ computers or tablets to enhance the lesson.

“Children need to have an emotional connection with what they’re learning in order to commit that to long term memory and when you’re learning out of a textbook, that emotional connection isn’t there,” explained teacher Michael Soskil in an interview with New York News 1. “Using technology in this transformative way allows kids to be inspired and it allows that deep learning to take place.”

Improving the classroom experience
A common use of educational video conferencing is to connect students with experts who can give better context to the material being covered in class. Allowing students to directly communicate with someone with special knowledge of a subject can help to create a connection between what’s being taught and how it’s relevant in the real world. This connection helps material to be better absorbed by students and increases the overall value of the lesson.

“Studies show that when students see the connection between what they are learning and its real-world use case, their motivation soars, and so does their learning,” explained a spokesperson for Blue Jean Networks, an educational video conferencing service. “One of the best, and most popular, ways to make that connection is by introducing subject matter experts into education.”

One of the most beneficial uses of video conferencing in classrooms is the ability to offer rural schools access to courses and teachers they may not have otherwise been able to have. Schools with limited resources or in rural locations may not be able to hire teachers knowledgeable in all of the subjects they want to teach, but by implementing video conferencing, students can have access to almost any course they are interested in.

Video conferencing also allows students in classrooms from around the world to connect with one another. This global connection offers students the chance to exchange educational and cultural views, which gives them the chance to see things from a different perspective and create new ideas. Virtual field trips are also made possible by utilizing video conferencing. Just as students can connect with other classrooms overseas, foreign locations can also be visited. Teachers can show their classes historic landmarks and important cultural locations, all by a video conference connection.

IT pros encourage desktop virtualization for improved mobility

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A recently released Forrester report has found that 63 percent of IT professionals believe competitive advantage can be improved by companies increasing focus on employee mobility. Those surveyed suggested it could help employees respond quicker to client needs and provide more effective service. When asked how to improve employee mobility, more than half of the respondents said organizations should implement desktop virtualization within the organization.

As the consumerization of IT gains strength, employees have more opportunities than ever to choose their own applications, devices and even operating systems.

“The consumerization of IT has enabled workers the freedom to choose their own devices,” says Paul Parke, vice president of product and corporate marketing at 1E, a specialist in IT operations management tools and solutions. “IT needs to become more user-centric in order to embrace users that really have gotten rather indifferent to the services and technology provided by IT.”

Because of this, a rising number of organizations are enabling their workers to participate in bring your own device, or even bring your own PC, programs. As this trend grows, desktop virtualization is gaining new adherents.

Improve BYOD, remote workers with virtualization‘s mobility
Virtualization provides employees with mobility as well as seamless access to their office desktop, which allows businesses to adopt BYOD programs while still ensuring data security. Through the use of virtualization, a desktop can be manifested on any endpoint while reducing operational costs and the complexity of managing traditional desktop hardware.

Among the respondents of the Forrester survey, local desktop virtualization, or client-hosted virtualization, seemed to be the most popular option. When using local desktop virtualization, an entire desktop environment is hosted within a protected system on an employee’s device, allowing programs to operate without relying on a high-performance network. Utilizing this type of virtualization enables workers to run business applications from an existing operating system, providing them with the flexibility to work anywhere while still offering a secure way to access sensitive data and personal files.

“IT can fully manage and secure the data and applications using the same policies that govern physical devices, making it easier to manage and support frequently traveling employees or those who work offline,” explained CIO contributor Thor Olavsrud.

Businesses are also able to be more agile when hiring new employees by utilizing virtual desktops, as new hires can be added to networks with just the click of a button, reducing the hassle of creating a new environment. New applications can also be provided to all employees with the same ease as they are part of a centralized management interface.

As well as offering greater mobility and agility, virtual desktops also provide cost-effective disaster recovery solutions that can be employed quickly and easily. Implementing this type of technology gives companies built-in resiliency at every level of the enterprise and ensures that business-critical systems and data are protected and will keep working if a data center is compromised.