Setting I.T. Captives Free
Last time I wrote about freeing up the flow of information within a business through technologies like Qwikir and Olympic GP Extensions. What happens if I want not only freedom from the way my data is displayed, but my IT Infrastructure as well? What’s the best way for me to plug-in to the latest technology without having to spend thousands of dollars on IT resourcing? What allows my business to move premises (or simply, with the times) with minimal effort? I have talked about freeing data - but this is only one part of the solution. What additional solutions help your business break the IT Infrastructure boundaries of cost/time/constant change and enable you to focus on the work you enjoy?
The last few days I have been trying to get my head in the clouds! Well “the Cloud” to be precise... I’ve been reading and visiting BPOS & Microsoft Business Online FAQ Pages (Please keep in mind I am looking at this technology from a non-technical point of view!), here’s a summary of what I think you ought to know!
First of all what is BPOS? BPOS stands for Business Productivity Online Suite. It’s basically a set of enterprise products businesses would traditionally host onsite, but offered as a subscription service and hosted by our mates at Microsoft. The suite of products offered includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Office Communications Online, amongst others.
The idea being, as I understand, that if I want to reduce my infrastructure/hardware overhead, I can take full advantage of the latest server technology offered in “the cloud”. Okay so now you’re asking, “Well what’s the cloud then?” I like this description best from Prasanna Krishnan. “Cloud computing is all about making it easier for people who create applications, to provide them without the headaches of hardware”.
Okay – so far so good? You with me? (Hey you must be - I am not a techno geek and I get this so far!). What I can see straight away is that there would be significant cost savings to my business (if I owned one!) if I subscribed to this type of service. I would not have to be heavily reliant on my own in-house technology but instead be able to gain access to the latest and greatest software and hardware offered at Microsoft's data centres. Think of this all as “on demand” IT.
Okay so your next few questions may be “How secure is the service?”, “How easy is it to migrate too” and “What costs are involved?” At this stage you’ll want to access resources like:
http://www.microsoft.com/online/faq.aspx#about
From talking with Mal, Olympic’s Technical Services Manager, it’s all very safe and secure. And the cost is less than $20 per user, per month. From what I understand BPOS is easy to migrate existing systems to, and also has reasonable notification periods for any upgrades to the services offered. You are more than welcome to pick Mal’s brain on all of the above at our up-coming SIG (Save, Innovate and Grow) national road-show. BPOS is only one solution that we will introduce at these breakfast/lunchtime events. We’ll also show some of the futuristic capability on offer in Office 2010 & Dynamics GP 2010.
When all is said and done, Olympic’s role as I see it, is to point you guys and gals to the technology that will free you up to help you concentrate on getting innovate rather than being bogged down in costly infrastructure and administration. From reading what the industry experts are saying, on-demand cloud services like BPOS are inevitable, because of the amount of global competition in the market place.
It makes sense to me to have our consultants/engineers focus on streamlining business process while services like these look after your IT requirements. As I see it, these technologies simply better allow our clients to focus on their “point-of-difference”. So it’s all about technology serving your requirements rather than pigeon holing process - we are given the opportunity to focus on fine-tuning the unique innovative services our businesses have to offer.
You are always welcome to talk to our consultants about how Microsoft technology can help you. I know our Software Engineers are now increasingly developing customised solutions that help business focus on what makes them successful. We aim to help business streamline their unique point-of-difference.
So I guess I have to ask you guys and gals the questions. Are you letting infrastructure bog you down or pigeon-hole the way your business operates? Is hardware and technology robbing you out of house and home? Or are you spending time focusing on the areas that make your business successful?
As I once again slowed down at Auckland’s Spaghetti Junction this morning (sigh), I saw a billboard which said “Are you leading or following?” If you are following, you could be suffering from some of the business woes I have described. If you are a follower you may need to follow those who are grasping this technology. At the end of the day, it’s the businesses that take advantage of solutions like BPOS that will emerge as leaders.
Want to escape the IT prison and be allowed the freedom to enjoy the work you do? Get off your seats and get to one of our Save, Innovate & Grow Road-shows to understand better how all this stuff will work for your business. Click here for more information, or here to register.
Or there’s the written word – download Microsoft’s White Paper “Microsoft Online Services – What’s the Business Value?”
This Microsoft Online Services Demo (which just focuses on products within BPOS) is also very useful.