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Rightsizing IT: Managed Cloud Services for Smaller SMBs – Part 2

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Rightsizing IT for Smaller SMBs with Managed Cloud Services

Smaller businesses, like yours, use technology differently than larger organizations. You rely more on commercially available solutions than custom-built or highly-customized solutions. You are held to the same security standards as larger companies, but you lack the expertise and budget of bigger businesses. Rightsizing your IT means carefully matching your IT services to your needs, priorities, and budget. This is key to keeping your services productive, secure, and affordable.

In Part 1, we discussed the unique IT challenges you face as sole practitioners, solopreneurs, or very small business (VSB) owners and leaders. In Part 2, we dive into the process of rightsizing your IT.

1
Pick the Right Productivity Suite

Think beyond just email and calendars; focus on how you communicate and share information with your clients, customers, contractors, and vendors. Do you send and share documents? What CRM and financial apps do you use? Do you rely on and use any industry-specific software locally or in the cloud?

While other platforms exist, some at lower costs, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer the most comprehensive platforms for small business productivity, communications, and collaboration.  Microsoft and Google promote different philosophies:

  • Microsoft 365 works best as a hybrid solution, with full-featured software running locally, slim web versions, and a range of integrated apps, such as planning, bookings, and PowerBI. 
  • Google promotes a cloud-first approach. Focused on core communication and collaboration, Google expects you will select and integrate cloud-based (Software as a Solution / SaaS) business apps to meet your specific needs. Google is designed to serve as your identity manager, providing integrated access to your cloud apps and services.

Consider the business apps and systems you use and how you want them to work with your productivity suite. Your line of business and back-office apps can guide whether Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace is the best fit for your IT ecosystem and your business.

2
Avoid Duplicate Services

Both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are robust productivity suites. And yet, we often opt to purchase additional solutions out of convenience even though we already have similar features at our fingertips. The most commonly duplicate services across our smaller business clients are:

  • Meeting services
  • External file sharing
  • Generative AI
  • AI assistant tools (transcription, note taking, etc.)

Learning to use your existing features and capabilities negates the need to spend money on – and manage – additional solutions. You can easily overcome concerns by ensuring you and your team know how to use the features you need. For example, when scheduling a meeting with a client, you might say, “I will send you a Google Meet invite, or if you prefer Zoom, you can send the invite.”

Note that features may vary based on your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace subscription. You may need to upgrade in order to access certain features you require. This upgrade is likely less expensive than licensing another third-party app.

3
Be Cloud Forward

For smaller businesses, the cloud offers significant advantages over on-premise solutions.

  • Mobility: Securely access your systems, apps, and data, whether you are in the office, a coworking site, at home, or on the road.
  • Security: Leveraging the cloud simplifies your security exposure, lowering your costs while maintaining or increasing your protections.
  • Business Continuity: Cloud-based services protect you from local outages and service disruptions, reduce the number of ‘things’ that can break, and make it easier to recover when things do go wrong.
  • Ease of Access: Get to work without having to jump through VPN hoops. Your access is the same, regardless of where you are working.
  • Affordability: With a simpler, more secure, and integrated IT ecosystem, you pay less for the support and services you need and want.

4
Pick the Right Partner

If you are a sole practitioner, solopreneur, or VSB, most IT service providers do NOT want you as a client. Our research indicates that fewer than 10% of traditional IT and managed service providers want clients with 10 or fewer employees. Their business models require an economy-of-scale that is not viable with very small clients.

Pick an IT partner that wants your business and does not see you as an exception to their normal or preferred type of client. Look for an IT service provider that has:

  • A successful history working with smaller businesses.
  • Services and solutions tailored to your needs and priorities as a smaller business.
  • Gives you options that let you make value-based business decisions about your IT services.
  • Focuses on affordability as much as features, capabilities, and security.

How Will Cumulus Global Help?

At Cumulus Global, we truly value sole practitioners, solopreneurs, and very small businesses. We specialize in tailored solutions designed just for businesses like yours, backed by a proven track record of success.

Our top priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable Managed Cloud Services, Cloud Forward IT Service and Support, and Security CPR™ Managed Security services. 

We focus on how your IT services can best help your business thrive and grow without overspending.

Schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor and take your first step towards better IT for you and your business. 

About the Author

Bill Seybolt bio pictureBill is a Senior Cloud Advisor responsible for helping small and midsize organizations with cloud forward solutions that meet their business needs, priorities, and budgets. Bill works with executives, leaders, and team members to understand workflows, identify strategic goals and tactical requirements, and design solutions and implementation phases. Having helped over 200 organizations successfully adopt cloud solutions, his expertise and working style ensure a comfortable experience effective change management.

Rightsizing IT: Managed Cloud Services for Smaller SMBs – Part 1

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Rightsizing IT for Smaller SMBs with Managed Cloud ServicesSmaller businesses, like yours, use technology differently than larger organizations. You rely more on commercially available solutions than custom-built or highly-customized solutions. You are held the same security standards as larger companies, but lack the expertise and budget of bigger businesses. Rightsizing your IT – carefully matching your IT services to your needs, priorities, and budgets – key to ensuring your services are productive, secure, and affordable.

As a sole practitioner, solopreneur, or very small business (VSB) with fewer than 20 employees, you face an additional challenge. Most IT firms prefer clients with over 20, or even over 30, employees. The business model for most IT service firms, including Managed Service Providers (MSPs), requires clients that can provide an economy of scale. In short, most MSPs see you as an unprofitable client.

By rightsizing your IT with managed cloud services, you can find and benefit from affordable, secure, and productive IT solutions and the services your business needs and deserves.

How You Are Unique

Smaller businesses rely heavily on commercial software and public IT services. Given the investment required, you are less likely to use customer-built and highly-customized solutions. Software packages, software-as-a-service, and public cloud services (Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace) best meet your needs.

Sole Practitioner

As a Sole Practitioner, you are the business. When it comes to IT, you likely …

  • Run your business on a laptop, smartphone and maybe a second computer.
  • Work from a home office, coworking space, or wherever you can when you are on-the-go. You are mobile.
  • Rely ubiquitously on your technology. Your IT focuses on your productivity in all your day-to-day activities.
  • Worry that security and other IT costs are, or will grow, beyond your budget.
  • Fear IT problems as disruptions, or downtime, immediately impact your business.
  • Rely on others, formally or informally, for IT advice and assistance.
Solopreneur

As a Solopreneur, you are the business, for now, as you plan for growth. When it comes to IT, you are similar in need to sole practitioners with some added concerns. You likely …

  • Expect to grow your business adding staff, freelancers, or contractors over time.
  • Want your IT solutions and services to scale with your business, without overtaking your budgets. You must manage fixed costs.

In addition, you may have investors and other stakeholders with opinions, or requirements, for how you should manage your business and which technologies to use.

VSB Owner or Leader

As an VSB owner or leader, you have a team that relies on you to provide a productive and effective working environment. You likely …

  • Understand how critical effective collaboration is to your success.
  • Have team members with varied levels of tech skills; your staff needs help and support at times.
  • Work with customers that share expectations or requirements about information security.
  • Have access to IT resources. These may be informal or professional, internal or contracted.
  • Face budget constraints on your IT spending.

Given your IT needs, business priorities, security requirements, budgetary constraints, and the challenge of engaging qualified IT professionals, you and your business face significant challenges.

Rightsizing IT is the Solution

Rightsizing IT, matching your IT solutions and services to your prioritized needs and budget, with managed cloud services ensures your business can operate productively and securely without destroying your budget.

In our next blog post, we share how to assess and right-size your IT, and how to find and leverage the right IT resources.

How Does Cumulus Global Help?

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable Managed Cloud Mervices, Cloud Forward IT Service and Support, and Security CPR™ Managed Security services.  We focus on how your IT services can best help your business thrive and grow without overspending.

Schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor to discuss your challenges, needs, and priorities.  We will help you assess, plan, and execute the right IT services for your business and your budget.

About the Author

Bill Seybolt bio pictureBill is a Senior Cloud Advisor responsible for helping small and midsize organizations with cloud forward solutions that meet their business needs, priorities, and budgets. Bill works with executives, leaders, and team members to understand workflows, identify strategic goals and tactical requirements, and design solutions and implementation phases. Having helped over 200 organizations successfully adopt cloud solutions, his expertise and working style ensure a comfortable experience effective change management.

Why Not Prevent AI Data Breaches?

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Data Loss PreventionTo state the obvious, AI data breaches and leaks will damage your business. Even sharing sensitive or protected information internally will cause problems.

Less obvious is the fact that you have already shared information that should not be shared. You should expect that private, sensitive, and protected information in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 has been shared inappropriately to people within your company, outside your company, and/or publicly.

Not obvious to most is the fact that integrated AI tools, like Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot, will find, use, and share any information the tool can access.

Just because an employee or a customer has never reported seeing something they shouldn’t have does not mean they have not done so. Nor does it mean they will not see something that should be secure in the future.

The Problem

The problem we face: the myths we believe when it comes to our own information security and the risk of AI data breaches.

Myth 1 – Oversharing Does Not Happen

What do we mean by oversharing?  Oversharing is when somebody gives access to information (files or folders) that unintentionally gives others access to the information, directly or indirectly.  

Most often, this happens when sharing a file or folder by link in an email or chat. You are prompted by the system to grant access. Typically the prompt is to give view access to “Anyone with the link” or “Anyone within your company.” This one-click option is easier than finding the file and editing the permissions.

The risk of course is that “anyone with the link” can be anybody — inside or outside – to whom the message is forwarded or added to a reply.

And “anyone within your company” means just that. They may not see it if they never search for it or for something similar.

Myth 2 – Security Breaches Require a Deliberate Act

We want to believe that our employees would never intentionally breach security or leak sensitive information. When we equate intentional acts with deliberate acts, we forget that many user actions can, and will, intentionally share information beyond what is appropriate.

With email, we diligently warn people that clicking the wrong link is damaging and to remain vigilant. We are not nearly as diligent when it comes to files and folders. Most of us assume that the permissions set on files and folders will keep us safe.

Myth 3 – Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are Secure

Like most myths, this myth is partially true. Both Google and Microsoft aggressively secure their cloud services and have a “shared responsibility” security architecture.

Microsoft and Google secure the services they provide to ensure only authorized users can access the services. They also provide the infrastructure for you to manage user accounts, access, and permissions. You are responsible for the security of your data within Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

As an example, both services allow you to block external file sharing. If you choose to allow external file sharing and a file is mistakenly shared externally, this is your issue to resolve.

The Reality

When you use Microsoft Copilot and Gemini AI, the tools have access to data according to the access available to each user. If a user has inappropriate access to confidential information, Copilot or Gemini have access as well. 

Since the AI tools will collect, analyze, and integrate multiple relevant sources, the AI tools are more likely to find and use the information.

The Solution

Ensuring that your information is properly protected as you begin using AI tools is not easy. The solution for preventing AI data breaches, however, does not need to be difficult or expensive. 

Data Loss Prevention

Modern Data Loss Prevention (DLP) services give you the ability to 

  • Set policies and rules for handling sensitive and protected information
  • Analyze the content of files and folders against the policies and rules
  • Notify, report, and automatically mitigate any violations

Mitigation can include redacting sensitive information and/or modifying permissions to bring them into compliance.

More robust DLP solutions offer advanced tools to manage access and permissions, such as conditional access, time-limited access, and managed permission overrides.

DLP Options

Both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer DLP features and capabilities. Most of these features are within the Enterprise tier (more expensive) subscriptions.

For small and midsize businesses using Business tier subscriptions, adding an integrated, third-party DLP service will be less expensive than upgrading. 

Third-party services offer robust management portals that are generally easier to learn and use than the built-in features.

Getting Started

First things first, do not panic. Begin by reviewing your current security and permissions policies, procedures, and top-level settings. Also, consider how you and your team are currently using Copilot, Gemini, and other AI tools, and how you expect or plan to use them in the future.

With a high level assessment, you can explore how you want to use DLP and which services will provide the most effective and affordable solutions for your needs.

Cumulus Global can assist with real-time assessments of your file and folder security to provide a benchmark and a baseline for planning and decisions. From there, we can help implement, configure, and manage your DLP services

Why Cumulus Global?

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordable managed cloud services. We work to ensure that you do not overspend on services and to focus your IT dollars on the capabilities and services you need.

Let us know how we can help, or schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor.

We will help you adapt while keeping your IT services secure and cost-effective.

About the Author

Bill Seybolt bio pictureBill is a Senior Cloud Advisor responsible for helping small and midsize organizations with cloud forward solutions that meet their business needs, priorities, and budgets. Bill works with executives, leaders, and team members to understand workflows, identify strategic goals and tactical requirements, and design solutions and implementation phases. Having helped over 200 organizations successfully adopt cloud solutions, his expertise and working style ensure a comfortable experience effective change management.

Microsoft or Google Calling? Call Your Trusted Advisors

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Ringing PhoneYou work with an IT service provider that learns your business, priorities, and IT needs. They work to address your needs and priorities within your budget and in alignment with your business goals and objectives. When economic conditions shift, the vendors with whom your IT service provider partners – Google, Microsoft, and others – get nervous and begin calling you directly, bypassing your trusted advisors.

Since February, we have seen and received reports that our customers, and those of other Microsoft partners, are receiving unsolicited calls, emails, and calendar invites from “Microsoft” about their accounts, licensing, and renewals. These unsolicited contacts are NOT Microsoft “solutions consultants” or “international suppliers” as they might claim. They are Microsoft telemarketing contractors tasked with convincing you to upgrade and expand your Microsoft licensing.

Why is This a Problem?

The contractors doing the outreach do not know your business, nor do they know the extent of your relationship with us, or your Microsoft partner.

  • Their suggestions are often incorrect.
    • They are not aware of how you are using your Microsoft 365 services and the needs of your business.
    • They are not aware of other services you are using, such as backup/recovery and third party security services.
    • Many of their recommendations will duplicate services and costs.
  • The communications and tactics are often aggressive.
    • They may state that they have reviewed or audited your account and you need to upgrade. They may also claim that you need to do an audit, giving you the impression that you are out of compliance.
    • They may attempt to refer you to specific vendors for assessments and services. These often duplicate services you already have or that can be provided more cost-effectively by us or your current Microsoft partner.
  • Customers and Microsoft partners report that the calls and meetings are often just high-pressure sales pitches to buy more seats – a waste of time.

What To Do

If you receive a call or email that you suspect is from a Microsoft “Solutions Consultant” or “International Suppliers”, verify that this is the case. Ask if they are a Microsoft employee or contractor and where they are based. Note that their email address will start with a “v-”, indicating they are a vendor – even though the domain remains “microsoft.com”.

If you do not want to engage, let them know as much and instruct them to contact Cumulus Global, or your partner. We, or your partner, will be happy to screen the call and advise you if the offer is worth considering.

Do you want to engage? Insist that Cumulus Global, or your Microsoft partner, is invited and participates in the meeting. We can provide context to the “consultant” and guidance to you.

Microsoft is not the only vendor that may bypass your IT service provider and contact you directly. It is always best to loop-in your IT service provider.

Your Next Step

At Cumulus Global, our priority is ensuring that you have productive, secure, and affordably managed cloud services. We work to ensure that you do not overspend on services and to focus your IT dollars on the capabilities and services you need.

If your needs or priorities change, let us know or schedule a meeting with a Cloud Advisor. We will help you adapt while keeping your IT services secure and cost-effective.

About the Author

Bill Seybolt bio pictureBill is a Senior Cloud Advisor responsible for helping small and midsize organizations with cloud forward solutions that meet their business needs, priorities, and budgets. Bill works with executives, leaders, and team members to understand workflows, identify strategic goals and tactical requirements, and design solutions and implementation phases. Having helped over 200 organizations successfully adopt cloud solutions, his expertise and working style ensure a comfortable experience effective change management.