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Tuesday Take Away: 8 Ways that Clouds Beat Blizzards

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Once again, the team and I at Cumulus Global found ourselves working from our homes, pizza shops, libraries, and coffee shops.  An unusual and record-breaking October Nor’easter dumped about a foot of very heavy and wet snow on us, snapping power poles and trees like, well, twigs.  In our area of the state, most towns reported between 60% and 100% of residences and businesses without power.  Starting on Saturday evening, many will be without power until late Thursday or Friday.

Businesses tied to their physical offices, again, are learning the hard way how Cloud Computing can help keep things running when life throws the unexpected your way.

1) Message Continuity

If you run MS Exchange, Google Message Continuity not only provides you with bullet-proof spooling if your server or Internet link are down, you get Gmail’s web interface and the ability to send and receive emails.  And while most email contingency services dump all activity in your spool to your inbox (including sent message), GMC actually syncs your sent and saved messages, preserving your folders and your sanity.

2) Cloud Storage Mirror

Different than backing up for restores or recovery, synchronizing or mirroring local and network data to a cloud service gives you the ability to access and use your documents, usually through a web interface, from anywhere at anytime.  Matching the cloud service and the sync tool to your needs ensures your critical data is available even if your office is not.

3) Google Talk

With a laptop or smartphone, the Google Talk app, and an Internet connection anywhere, you can communicate with your team and your associates securely via instant messaging, voice conferencing, or video conferencing.  Don’t worry of phone lines or in-house PBXs are down, with Google Talk you can see who is available and converse at will.

4) Google Voice

Get your laptop to an Internet connection with a headset and microphone and you can send and receive calls without a fuss.

5) Hosted VoIP Phone Services

It may seem like the throw-back to the days of Centrex, but hosted VoIP (aka Hosted iPBX) services keep your phone lines working regardless of what is happening with your building.  And, you can access and use your lines, extensions, and voice mail from pretty much anyplace with either a VoIP phone, softphone software on your laptop, or your smartphone.

6) Cloud-Based Email

If you are thinking of using the cloud as a contingency service because cloud-based email is going to be available when your in-house system goes off-line, why not make the more reliable service the one you use every day?  Do you need or want to keep your in-house server when a cloud-based service will be more reliable and more available?  Ok, it’s a loaded question … but still worth some thought.

7) Cloud File Services

Just as with cloud-based email, Cloud File Services will prove more reliable and available over time, and especially during emergencies.  Granted, you may have applications, and work flow issues that make using cloud file services as your primary file service impractical.  But, you will never know if you don’t take a look. And, many of these requirements work with the right local sync technology in place.

8) Google Apps for Business / Government / Education

There, I finally said it.  Google Apps gives you the reliability and availability of the cloud-based Gmail, cloud storage you can mirror or sync, Google Talk, Google Voice integration, and a cloud file service.  Better yet, Google Apps rolls these services into an integrated, affordable package with access from most any computer and smartphone.  Some of the solutions may require third party components.  But, when disaster strikes (and disasters will strike), why not have an IT Ecosystem that is resilient to available rather than you you need to recover.

Tuesday Take Away: DLP in Google Apps

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In at least one prior post, we have written about the nature of data protection and the reasons for backing up information in the cloud.  Backupify, one of the vendors we work with often, recently conducted  a study of known data loss incidents in Google Apps with known resolutions.   Here is what they learned:

  • 0.00% = Due to Google systems or software
  • 4.05% = Due to an integrated, third party application
  • 10.81% = Due to unauthorized use of a users’ credentials
  • 85.14% = Due to user action

What does this mean?

For most Google Apps users, the best mechanism for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is to protect your data from user error and malicious acts.  In other words, back up your data!  Assess your needs with respect to retention period and retention points, and pick the backup solution that best meets your business needs.  And remember, backups solutions for Google Docs should do more than export with conversion.

In addition, users should understand the importance and risks involved in sharing account information or using weak passwords.  If you want to enforce best practices, consider Google Apps Directory Sync or an affordable Single Sign-On (SSO) solution.

Drop us a note if you want to know more.

Friday Thought: Comfort with the Cloud Grows Rapidly Among Business Execs

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As reported by Dow Jones via Fox Business News back in May, IBM published results of a bi-annual survey of more than 3000 CIOs.  The results indicate that adoption of  cloud computing will continue to grow rapidly.  Over the past two years:

  • The number of CIOs planning to use c loud computing has jumped from 33% to 60%
  • The number of CIOs stating that cloud computing is a top priority has jumped from about 33% to about 70%

What does this mean for you beyond “cloud computing is not going away”?

  • Mid-market and large enterprises will continue to demand enterprise-class features and capabilities from cloud computing solutions
  • PAR (performance/availability/reliability) concerns will continue to be addressed by vendors
  • Security architectures will continue to evolve to meet market demands.

Small and Mid-Size Businesses (SMBs) will benefit from the continuing, rapid evolution of cloud solutions.  As demonstrated by Google’s increasing rate of feature releases in Google Apps, evolution will rapidly close the gap between new, cloud solutions and traditional in-house systems.

SMBs should expect to re-evaluate current vendors and IT partners against new players in the market.  Avoid letting inertia keep your business on a path without fully exploring options.  Change may mean moving away from vendors uncomfortable with the growing role of cloud solutions.

At the same time, avoid moving to cloud solutions for the sake of being in the cloud.  Businesses should always map business objectives into IT initiatives and priorities, and then select the best solution.

Tuesday Take-Away: New Security Standards for Cloud Computing

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It is common for cloud computing vendors often promote their security credentials, and doing so gives prospective customers valuable information about the vendors’ security operations and capabilities.

If your vendor is still promoting their SAS 70 Type II certifications, however, they are a little bit out of date.

As of June 15, 2011, the American Institute of CPAs replaced SAS 70 with SSAE 16, a much more rigorous standard for service provider security audits and attestations.  SSAE 16 is also in line with a separate, international security audit and attestation standard, ISAE 3402.

If you use Google Apps, Google Postini Services, Google App Engine, and/or Google Apps Script, you are in good shape.  Google is one of the first cloud computing vendors to move to the new, more rigorous, standards.

Google has attained SSAE 16 Type II and ISAE 3402 Type II certifications for these services.  SAS 70 Type II certifications are still valid for audits conducted before June 15, 2011.

While third party audits are part of the security and compliance benefits of Google Apps and Google App Engine products.  Google’s security efforts go well beyond audit requirements.  You can learn more about Google’s security by reviewing the current security white paper and watching this data center video tour.

Want to know more?  Contact us.  We would be happy to discuss your needs.

Friday Thought: Is BYOD Right for Your Business?

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A new trend is emerging in corporate IT that may make sense for small and mid-size businesses:  BYOD, or Bring-Your-Own-Device.  Companies with BYOD policies allow workers to pick their own smartphones, tablets, and, in some cases, laptop computers.  Most BYOD policies provide a fixed stipend for each type of device with employees free to spend more personally for a better device.

Recent articles in the New York Times and on SmarterTechnology.com have focused on this trend.   For large companies, BYOD policies …

  • Save money on purchases as employees often pick up part of the cost for better devices
  • Reduce demand on IT staff as BYOD employees often turn to other sources for help
  • Overcome the “my technology at home is better than at the office” syndrome

The challenge, of course, is security.  Not just access control, but virus and malware protection require standards and verification.

As more small and mid-size businesses move into the cloud, BYOD will make sense for smaller businesses as well.  Cloud computing solutions are more likely to be device independent, enabling users to pick their preferred smartphone, tablet, or laptop.  Google Apps, for example, provides native support for Android, iPhone, and Blackberry devices.

With BYOD, users pick the device or platform that works best for them, helping them be more productive.  As the recent articles note, colleges and universities have supported BYOD programs for some time with good results.  Users pick devices that best serve their needs, IT facilitates connectivity and support.

BYOD shifts some of the responsibility for support to the end user, so IT departments would be wise to ensure that end user support is available from key software and cloud solution vendors or resellers.   End users may turn to Apple for help with their iPad 2, but will need guidance from IT for issues of connectivity to applications and services.  Tier 2 support from the vendors or resellers should be a cost effective means to reduce demand for IT support.

The IT team needs to be prepared to help users navigate vendor support and, more importantly, configure devices to keep business and personal accounts separate.   And, if necessary, new SSO and identity management tools are available for smartphones and tablets.  While these tools add cost and a management layer, they can provide provide a level of security that may be appropriate whether the device is owned by the company or the employee.

Finally, a solid “usage” policy should be in place governing the use of company computing resources and how personal equipment and software may and may not be used for company business.  Having a policy in place sets guidelines and boundaries that will keep a BYOD program from getting out of hand.

With a sound set of usage policies and a reasonable stipend, BYOD can help small and mid-size businesses increase productivity.

Tuesday Take-Away: Tools to Ease Scheduling Woes

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Have you ever notices that the number of emails it takes to schedule a meeting seems to increase exponentially with the number of people you invite?  With our electronically organized days, it seems to get harder and harder to find a common time to meet, particularly when setting up meeting with people outside your company or organization.

While most calendar services give you the ability to see individuals’ free/busy times within your organization, scheduling meetings with others gets more tricky.   Fortunately, you have some tools.

With a new feature, appointment slots, in Google Calendar, you can block off and share blocks of time, enabling others to schedule appointments with you at your convenience. The user interface is simple and lets you create a single large block of time or multiple appointment windows.

By sharing a link with others, they can select a block of time and schedule a meeting with you for a mutually convenient time.

If you want to give it a try, click here for a full set of instructions.

Appointment slots in Calendar work well for arranging meetings with individuals, but what if you are trying to schedule a group?

We have found that Tungle to be an effective, free service.   Tungle lets you invite one person or many to a meeting by providing them multiple times when you are available.  Each person responds with their availability, then you pick the meeting time when all, or most, (or the most important) attendees are available.  At that point, everybody receives a confirmation of the booking and a formal meeting invite.  Tungle syncs with your Google Calendar and, if you want, your contacts.

Using either or both of these tools, you can reduce the time and stress involved in scheduling group meetings.

 


 

Friday Thought: Is Microsoft Afraid of a Fair Fight?

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I do not condemn Microsoft for promoting its cloud services.  Nor do I think they are wrong to compare their services to others, including those from Google.  Watching their marketing efforts, I do wonder if Microsoft is afraid of a fair fight.  Here is why …

In an effort to create viral support for Office365, Microsoft has produced several videos on YouTube.  These videos, attempt a humorous comparison of Office365 to other services.  This video, as an example, is making the rounds on IT discussion forums as it claims to compare Office365 and Google Apps.

Using Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (or “FUD”) is a time honored sales technique, which can be quite effective.  This video, however, is intentionally deceptive, comparing Office365 as a paid service against free versions of Gmail and Google Apps.  Microsoft’s claims about ads are false when looking at Google Apps for Business, for Education, and for Government, and Microsoft knows this.

Why would Microsoft blur a comparison between Office365 and Google Apps?

Why would Microsoft shy away from a fair comparison?

Google Apps for Business costs less than comparable Office365 capabilities

Google Apps integrates with Office 2003/2007/2010 for added features

  • Office365 requires Office 2010 licenses for full feature access

Google Apps has 1 pricing plan for each type of customer (business, government, education, non-profit)

  • Office365 has 11 pricing plans spread over 2 types of licenses; you cannot switch license types once you start using the service

Google Apps customers always receive the latest updates and versions, with incremental, scheduled releases every few weeks

  • Companies using Microsoft BPOS (based on Exchange & Sharepoint 2007) have no upgrade path to Office365 (based on Exchange & Sharepoint 2010), without starting over and a full data migration project

Google Apps is designed for 100% availability – 24 x 7 x 365 – and Achieved 99.984% Availability in 2010 (see here for more)

  • Office365 still requires scheduled and emergency maintenance windows that interrupt service to users
  • Less than 6 weeks after launch, Office365 had an Exchange outage effecting most users in North America for between 3 and 5 hours
  • In August 2010, Microsoft’s BPOS service in North America had more than 40 hours of scheduled and unscheduled down time

Google Apps was designed from the ground up to be a secure, reliable, multi-tenant, service in which all users have access to the latest features.

  • Office365 is a modified version of Microsoft’s “2010” generation of Exchange, Sharepoint, and other services
  • The technology dates back more than 3 years in development and was originally designed for use as in-house, single-tenant, servers
  • New features arrive months apart and only with service packs and upgrades

Looking at the current differences between Google Apps and Office365, I understand Microsoft’s marketing strategy.  Do you?

Tuesday Take-Away: The True Role of the SLA

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As you look towards cloud solutions for more cost effective applications, infrastructure, or services, you are going to hear (and learn) a lot about Service Level Agreements, or SLAs.  Much of what you will hear is a big debate about the value of SLAs and what SLAs offer you, the customer.

Unfortunately, the some vendors are framing the value of their SLAs based on the compensation customers receive when the vendor fails to meet their service level commitments.  The best example of this attitude is Microsoft’s comparison of its cash payouts to Google’s SLA that provides free days of service.  Microsoft touts its cash refunds as a better response to failure.  Why any company would send out a marketing message that begins with “When we fail …” is beyond me.  But, that is a subject for another post someday.

That said, Microsoft and its customers that are comforted by the compensation, are totally missing the point of the SLA in the first place.  Any compensation for excessive downtime is irrelevant with respect to the actual cost and impact on your business.  And unless a vendor is failing miserably and often, the compensation itself is not going to change the vendor’s track record.

The true rule of the SLA is to communicate the vendor’s commitment to providing you with service that meets defined expectations for Performance, Availability, and Reliability (PAR).  The SLA should also communicate how the vendor defines and sets priorities for problems and how they will respond based on those priorities.  A good SLA will set expectations and define the method of measuring if those expectations are met.

Continuing with the Microsoft and Google example.  Microsoft sets an expectation that you will have downtime.  While the downtime is normally scheduled in advance, it may not be.  Google, in contrast, sets an expectation that you should have no downtime, ever.   The details follow.

Microsoft’s SLA is typical in that it excludes maintenance windows, periods of time the system will be unavailable for scheduled or emergency maintenance.  While Microsoft does not schedule these windows at a regular weekly or monthly time frame, they do promise to give you reasonable notice for maintenance windows.  The SLA, however, allows Microsoft to declare emergency maintenance windows with little or no maintenance.

In August 2010, Microsoft’s BPOS service had 6 emergency maintenance windows, totaling more than 10 hours, in response to customers losing connectivity to the service, along with 30 hours of scheduled maintenance windows.  In line with Microsoft’s SLA, customers experienced more than 40 hours of downtime that month, which is within the boundaries of the SLA and its expectations.  On August 17, 2011, Microsoft experienced a data center failure that resulted in loss of Exchange access for its Office365 customers in North America for as long a five hours.  The system was down for 90 minutes before Microsoft acknowledged this as an outage.

Google’s SLA sets and expectation for system availability 24x7x365, with no scheduled downtime for maintenance and no emergency maintenance windows.

The difference in SLAs sets a very different expectation and makes a statement about how each vendor builds, manages, and provides the services you pay for.

When comparing SLAs, understand the role of maintenance windows and other “exceptions” that give the vendor an out.  Also, look at the following.

  • Definitions for critical, important, normal, and low priority issues
  • Initial response times for issues based on priority level
  • Target time to repair for issues based on priority level
  • Methods of communicating system status and health
  • Methods of informing customers of issues and actions/results

Remember, if you need to use the compensation clause, your vendor has already failed.

 

 

 

A New Look is Coming to Google Apps

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Over the next months, Google is rolling out a new look and feel across its products, including Google Apps services such as Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Sites.

The new look is available in the following apps:

  • Gmail: Consumer, Rapid Release, and Scheduled Release users can preview through a special theme
  • Calendar: Consumer, Rapid Release, and Scheduled Release users can try out the new look
  • Documents List: Consumer and Rapid Release users can try out the new look

 

Cumulus Global Launches Google Apps for Franchises

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Delivers Integrated Email and Collaboration Services to
Franchisers and Their Franchisees

WESTBOROUGH, MA – August 08, 2011 – Cumulus Global is pleased to announce the launch of Google Apps for Franchises, an integrated product and service packages designed to improve communication and collaboration between franchisers and their franchisees.  With Google Apps for Business at its core, Google Apps for Franchises gives franchisers control over their domain and their brand while providing Franchisees with best-in-class email, communication, and collaboration tools.

“Google Apps for Franchises goes beyond providing domain-branded email service to Franchisees,” stated Allen Falcon, CEO of Cumulus Global.  “The package gives franchisers the ability to move documents and training materials out of the 3-ring binder and into secure portals, without having to buy and build an expensive infrastructure.”

Google Apps for Franchises includes creation of a secure franchisee portal that may be used to share documents, create on-online policy and procedure models, deliver training videos, and post announcements.  Using Google Docs and Google Sites, franchisers can setup systems for improved reporting and rolling up numbers.  The package also includes Cumulus Global’s Premium Support offering, including tier 2 end user support.

“We understand that franchisers have unique business issues when providing services to franchisees,” notes Falcon.  “Franchisers, for example, can direct us to invoice them centrally or invoice each franchisee.”

Franchisers interested in Google Apps for Franchises can get more information at Cumulus Global’s website directly or through the Google Apps Marketplace.

About Cumulus Global
Cumulus Global, formerly Horizon Info Services, helps small and mid-size businesses, non-profits, governments, and educational institutions thrive by delivering cloud computing solutions.  Serving clients from 1 to more than 1000 employees across numerous industries, we align technology with our clients’ goals, objectives, and bottom lines. We leverage our expertise, vendor relationships, and a diversified range of best-of-breed cloud services to create custom solutions with tangible value.

Google Apps for Franchises is the first in a series of industry specific cloud computing solutions from Cumulus Global.