Evolve Technologies » Dave Sobel

Cloud buzz: is it cheaper or wiser?

Dave Sobel — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:26:00 +0000

I did a piece for an industry website which focused on opportunities for companies like mine. I'm reusing that content, but thinking about what it means for our customers. In that article, I discussed some content that my HTG colleague, Reed Wilson from Palmetto Technology, recently sent over. He saw a marketing pitch a cloud software provider in the healthcare space. The pitch boiled down to essentially "You were never trained to use Facebook or Gmail and you’ll never need to be trained on our software. That’s the beauty of Cloud Computing." Reed intelligently continues with some analysis. He notes that it sets a very unrealistic expectation for the buyer. Comparing practice management software to Gmail or Facebook is unrealistic. Does the cloud application handle complex workflows and work processes? It does, Reed continues, sell. And some customers are buying the pitch, even if it doesn't always result in what they think it is. The perception is that cloud computing is automatically cheaper than going with an on-premise one . When we compare the on-premise with cloud solutions, they are often very similar. The true promise of cloud computing is not “simplicity” or “cheap”, but in a wiser way to spend IT dollars, giving higher reliability and lower administration costs. That doesn’t necessarily result in “simple” or cheap”. This is critically important to examine when looking at a cloud solution. This discussion expanded when Mike Ritsema with i3 Business Solutions chimed in. He brought some facts to bear. "IBM made 84% of their profit last year from services and software. They’ve acquired over 100 companies in these areas over the last 10 years. 7% of their profit came from hardware. They love the complication of integrating disparate technology." Mike's list of ways companies integrate into the cloud was dead on: • EDI • Payroll • Web browsing • Buying • RFP / RFI • Collaboration • Blogs, Social Networking • E-mail Mike outlined a recent customer solution, showing where he brought value to a small business. "I just finished a small business a deal: QuickBooks, Fishbowl Distribution Software, EZ Connector integration software, ASP DOT NET eCommerce, Authorize .NET Credit Card Processing, Cloud email, IBM Server, Cisco Firewall, implementation services, and Redundant internet access." His company's value, and the area they see growth, opportunity, and the ability to make money in helping customers, is bolting and holding "this stuff together" for the next decade. Mike continues, however, noting "It’s as complicated or more complicated than an on premise solution." This means it's not necessarily "cheaper" but it does add significant capabilities to his customer, something they couldn't have before. We see cloud computing as incredibly powerful -- but we also see more and more confusion in the market place. Cloud computing is a new paradigm, a new way to deliver some solutions. It offers high availability where it couldn't be delivered before. It doesn't always mean "cheap", however.

Little to say, but financials on the mind

Dave Sobel — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:17:00 +0000

I've had little to say. It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, as post WPC i had work to do, and then a week in the UK for HTG11 and a few more days in Chicago for HTG5. Now that those are done, I'm in those few moments before I dig in again. I'm doing a financial analysis piece that one of my HTG5 colleagues shared with me this week. It's an interesting model -- looking at your rate of change over time to understand how the business grows and shrinks as the business ebbs and flows. I've done the first round by putting the numbers together and seeing the trends. I want to lay on our history and the information about the economy to see how much was "me" and how much was "outside me". So I'm off to do that. Financials on the mind....

Tracking Systems

Dave Sobel — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:06:00 +0000

I believe in tracking systems. Not spy movie style tracking systems, but rather the idea of having something that keeps track of everything in your business. For Evolve, this system is the heart of what we do. Everything is tracked within it, and we have signs posted around the office that say "if it's not in ConnectWise, it doesn't exist". Only things written down and documented are managed. Because if it can't be measured, it can't be managed. I recently wrote a piece about this for my industry colleagues, and I think it's very relevant for my customers. If you’re driving a car, you require a pretty steady stream of data to ensure you’re operating well. Your speedometer ensures you’re going the right speed, you keep an eye on the gas tank, your GPS for directions, your mirrors to know what is around you, and even the feel of the car to know how it’s running. But driving your car on feel alone would be impossible. The same is true of business. Without good metrics, you can’t know how well the business is running without knowing the details. How efficient is your team? How profitable? How does your sales pipe look? Is your marketing functioning? It’s important to take the time and measure all the parts, so as you adjust and make decisions, you know how well you’re doing. If you make a change to the way services are delivered, did you make it better? You only know if you know how well it worked before, and thus an improvement or slowdown in service will be shown via those metrics. Sales suffer from much the same problem. If you don’t measure, how do you know how well you’re doing? There are multiple systems to help with tracking these kind of metrics, and generally fit into the category of "Customer Relationship Management", or CRM. These tools let you track the various pieces of your business, and tie into your financial metrics systems. Ultimately, you get insight into the various parts of your business, and let your team manage the parts that are important to them. Embrace the numbers. They’ll help you drive your car better, and help you drive your business better.

Giving up my laptop for an iPad?

Dave Sobel — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:18:00 +0000

I think I'm really close to being able to give up carrying a laptop on trips. I've been sticking to my iPad for the majority of my mobile work, and so far loving it. Email, RSS, browsing, all work just as well on the iPad. I do have a short list of things i can't do well. Document editing. All my stuff now lives either in SharePoint or in DropBox, so i can get to all my data and read anything. I just can't edit it and put it back. That is something i need fixed. Instant Messaging. I am a pretty heavy IM user, and between Skype, Windows Messenger, and AOL IM, I chat a lot. Meebo covers a lot of that, but without multitasking, I'm either messaging or working, and that is kinda annoying. I'm hoping the software upgrade fixes this complaint. Blogging. To my shock, I can't find a good blogging tool. Sucks. ConnectWise. Despite making it work via Wyse PocketCloud to hosted desktop, I'm really itching to have this solved by a native app. Presenting. If I'm giving a presentation, I still feel I need a laptop. While I can connect a VGA out to the iPad, using my iPhone as a remote just doesn't work for me. I have a little presenter remote I rely on when giving a talk, and i still feel I need that setup when I'm presenting. However, I might consider my net book in those cases now.... But I'm close. I'm really close to feeling like I don't need a laptop.

USAir crew needs to learn about how to say "Yes"

Dave Sobel — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 19:34:00 +0000

I tend to fly a lot. I'm not George Clooney by any stretch, but I find myself on planes frequently. I've had some pretty boring flights, and some good ones. The memorable ones tend to be either really good, or really bad. The stewardess on a flight from Chicago to DC who was cracking jokes with such a dry wit most of us didn't even notice at first was a memorable, And then there was the miserable experience from Las Vegas home to DC. The flight itself wasn't that bad. While we pushed back from the gate on time (so the airline could get it's on time score) we sat on the ground for 30 minutes waiting on weather to clear in DC. There was a lot of turbulence, and so it wasn't a particularly comfortable ride. These little details weren't what made it painful. I almost expect that as I fly. What made it painful was how often the stewardess, the one who used the microphone the most, communicated with us. I can't remember how often I was told "No" on this flight. It started with her announcement of the delay, which went something like this. "As the captain has indicated, we'll be on the ground a bit now. We won't be serving any beverage service as we wait for clearance." Ok, sure, but probably better ways to tell us this. After the regular beverage service, which I admit I didn't pay much attention to, she announced a second service. "We'll be coming through the cabin, offering coffee and water. The water has no ice. If you want anything else, we aren't offering it. We have coffee and water with no ice." Here's where I started noticing the trend. Everything was "No." I wasn't alone. The girl next to me started snickering too, and I asked her, and she agreed -- this crew was surly, and it was about what we didn't get. The plane had some considerable turbulence on the flight. As you might expect, our negative nelly made sure to tell us. "There is no standing in the aisle when the captain has the fasten seatbelt sign on. Do not stand in the aisle." Yes, this is a safety issue. As I'm getting to... there's a better way to say this. The best part, however, was about 30 minutes from landing in Washington's Reagan National Airport. Now, DCA was the last airport to reopen after 9/11, and has notably had some different security rules. In the past. Her announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are now 40 minutes away from landing. Due to federal regulations, all passengers must be in their seats 30 minutes from landing at DCA. This means you won't be able to go to the bathroom or stand up. You cannot go to the bathroom. If you need to go, go now. You won't be able to get up again." She actually counted down. "You now have 8 minutes to go to the bathroom. You won't be able to do after this. There is NO going to the bathroom in 8 minutes." The passengers were starting to snicker, but notably, those of us who fly regularly, were getting angry -- you could tell. She then announced "It's now 30 minutes from landing. There is no getting up." The landing was relatively quiet, and no one did get up. The crew was in their seats early due to the turbulence, and we landed and disembarked. I was pretty sure the regulation she was citing was outdated, and sure enough, I was right. http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2005/press_release_0607.shtm Not only is it outdated, it's five (5!) years out of date. She's not only wrong, but she communicated everything in a negative tone. As I discussed with several passengers while standing in line at that 8 minute mark, everything was no. Let's try how she COULD have said things. When on the ground: " "As the captain has indicated, we'll be on the ground a bit now. We'll do our best if you need anything as we wait for clearance." For the second service, she could have just said they had water and coffee. Why the need to tell us what she didn't have -- the ice? For the turbulence: "Ladies and gentlemen, for your own safety, when the fasten seatbelt sign is on, please stay in your seats. We want you safe, and the unexpected cabin movement could be very painful. " Notice the trend so far? There's a huge customer service difference between being positive and being negative. On US Airways Flight 49 from LAS to DCA on June 3, the crew chose to be negative. It's a shame. It leaves a very bad impression.

Visualizing your Big Hairy Audacious Goal

Dave Sobel — Sun, 23 May 2010 21:07:17 +0000

We’ve been talking a lot about “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” – BHAGs, for short. For those not familiar, from Wikipedia: “The term Big Hairy Audacious Goal (”BHAG”) was proposed by James Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1996 article entitled Building Your Company’s Vision. A BHAG encourages companies to define visionary goals that are more [...]

Some musings on communication

Dave Sobel — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:53:36 +0000

I will admit, I wasn’t a big fan of Ernest Hemingway in school. “The Old Man and the Sea” is the book that most clearly stands out for me, and it simply was a very long story about fishing, which didn’t move me. It’s a lot of sitting, and [...]

Broadband initiative is key for small business

Dave Sobel — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:55:04 +0000

The subject line was very catchy – “Free Broadband from the Government Good/Bad”. One of the discussion groups I’m on lit up with a discussion about the government and a broadband plan. Since my office has a reasonably nice view of the US Marine Corps Memorial, and my morning commute gives me a nice view [...]

About The Habits

Dave Sobel — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:35:30 +0000

I'm sitting on a plane heading to one of the IT Mecca's, Redmond, Washington. I'm attending the Microsoft MVP Summit, and it's a six-hour flight from Newark to Seattle. Flights of significant distance like this one require a combination of survival tactics. First, a fully charged laptop to do some writing and email. Second, a fully loaded iPhone with several entertainment options to take a break with. And finally, a good book. For this trip, I took Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, by Verne Harnish. I had the pleasure of seeing Verne speak at the ConnectWise Partner Summit back in November and brought his book home, earmarked to read. This trip, I read it.

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Are certifications worth it?

Dave Sobel — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:40:28 +0000

I get often asked about my opinions on certifications. In the IT world in particular, vendors encourage solution providers to get their teams certified on their products and technologies. A number of technicians focus on collecting as many certifications as they can to show their technical knowledge. I’ll start [...]