What’s difference between Cloud Services and Managed Services?

Cloud computing is still a very buzzy notion and still very nebulous in it’s meaning.   As more  outsourced IT firms add cloud computing to their menu of offerings  I’ve noticed that a new term has emerged, “Cloud Services.”  I think this  will only further complicate an already confusing  buzz word bonanza that includes Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, Hardware as a Service, Virtualization, Cloud Computing & Managed Services. 

I think that part of the confusion lies in the notion that each buzz word represents an all-inclusive technology solution for a small business.  Unfortunately, its not that easy.  Each term represents an approach to delivering technology and / or  technology support.  Since Cloud Services seems to be the new buzzword lets examine it  relative to  Managed Services.

What are Cloud Services?

To understand Cloud Services, first it’s important to have a rough definition of Cloud Computing.  Most simply, Cloud Computing is a computing architecture that allows a user to access a computer application (email for example) using the internet.  Google Apps and Microsoft 365 are examples of Cloud Computing for business productivity applications such as email, word processing, spread sheets and presentation.  For a more detailed definition of cloud computing click here.

The technology required to deliver Cloud Computing  is expensive.  Profitably operating a cloud requires lots  of customers.  Many local outsourced IT firms lack the scale to build and operate a cloud and so many of them do what they’ve always done,  resell some else’s product.   Most outsourced IT firms make the bulk for their money from professional services  and so they tack the word “ services” on to the word “cloud” and voilà, now  you have “cloud services.”

Cloud Services allow an outsourced IT provider to aggregate computing resources and allow a client to access those computing resources with out the hassle and expense of building, maintaining and upgrading servers.    But there’s a real risk the needs to be understood before choosing to leverage a resold cloud.  What happens if there is an outage?  How much control does the local firm have over the cloud resources it is re-selling?  I wrote a whole blog about Cloud Computing Risks.  You can click here to read it.  I also wrote one about leveraging resold services.  You can click here to read it.

Finally, while  cloud services allow a business to shift the hassle of buying, building, supporting and upgrading servers to someone else.  It neglects other parts of the computer network.   PC’s, laptops, handhelds, tablets, routers, switches, printers, internet connections and firewalls all remain and all need to be supported.

What are Managed Services?

Managed Services  by comparison are about the people needed to run a computing environment.  Leveraging remote monitoring and remote support technology, an outsourced IT provider can aggregate  talent and intellectual property (think IT professionals, process, tools, analysis and strategy) and provide it as an always available service.  Clients can access the expertise with out the hassle and expense of hiring, training and managing a team / person of their own.

Managed Services are most commonly  characterized by phone based & remote control computer support,  but reactive support should only be one part of a more comprehensive suite of managed services that includes IT strategy and network operations.   For a detailed description of Endsight’s  managed services, click here.

How do Cloud Services and Managed Services relate to one another?

Cloud Services and Managed Services should be employed together to allow a firm to outsource All of the resources (people & computing) required to deliver information technology to its employees.   Regardless of the servers location (on-premise or cloud) the entire computing network must be supported and strategically managed. 

At Endsight, we merge what is being referred to as cloud services into a functional managed services container that we call "plumbing.”   We started calling the server and infrastructure portion of a computer network “plumbing” some time ago because it really helped to simplify the client/server concept.  I think now more than ever the thinking of the server and network infrastructure as plumbing is really a great way to make sense of all the  the options.

For some firms, cloud computing  is an excellent fit because of required features that are only available in the data center. Other firms aren’t as reliant on their computing infrastructure and don’t necessarily require all the redundancy and scalability that the cloud provides. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom, cloud computing or cloud services are not always the low cost approach to providing server infrastructure. But as I mentioned, at Endsight it doesn’t really matter where the servers reside. To us it’s all just plumbing.  Taking an agnostic approach to plumbing allows Endsight to source the best possible solution for each of its clients based on their specific needs.

If you’d like to talk more about the comparison between cloud services and managed services click here and let schedule some time to talk in person.

When Disaster Strikes

Calamity is supposed to happen to the other guys.   That’s what we tell ourselves anyway.  If we didn’t, it would be difficult to get out of bed in the morning.  But optimistically “hoping” for the best isn’t really a business continuity strategy either.

Though we put a lot of “language” around it, this is Endsight’s basic pitch to our clients when we advise them to invest in disaster recovery and business continuity countermeasures.  Last year I blogged about business continuity planning in “The Value of Data: What is your data worth to your Organization?”   

On December 19^th, a fire broke out in our Berkeley office.  The heating coil on the conference room’s water cooler over heated.  This melted the cooler’s plastic base and ignited the conference room’s drywall.  No one was hurt and the fire was contained in the conference room, but the collateral damage caused by the sprinkler system and smoke was significant.  

Just like that, Endsight became the other guys.

“As an outsourced IT provider, part of our role is to assist our clients in disaster and business continuity planning,” said Mike Chaput, our CEO “A high percentages of businesses that close their doors because of a fire, flood or quake never recover.  The computing infrastructure needs to be built and maintained in a way that will allow the enterprise to continue operating in spite of the disruption.”

That’s good advice.  Oscar Wilde once said, “I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.”  Fortunately, for Endsight our CTO, Josh Carroll and his team aren’t big fans of Mr. Wilde.

Just like we advise our clients, Endsight’s servers and business data are located off-site and were not impacted by the fire.  Additionally, we had documented business continuity procedures to follow in the event something such as a fire occurred. 

“It was huge effort for our team, we were fully operational by Monday morning.” said Chaput.

We let all of our clients know about the fire in an email, but otherwise it was Monday morning as usual.  In fact, Donna Riser of All Performance, LLC sent us this response:

“So sorry to hear of this challenge right at the holidays.  As a daily Endsight client, however, I can attest that you successfully pulled off uninterrupted service through it all.  Congratulations on the success of your continuity plan and great team.”

We’re grateful to have such great clients, to Berkeley Fire Department and very proud of the way our team responded to the fire.   I doubt anyone will say that they’re glad the fire happened, but we did get to conduct a real world test of our business continuity counter measures.  Our process requires a review and analysis of the event and our response.  The lessons we learn will be incorporated into future client recommendations.  I don’t think the ops team will ask me my opinion, but if they did I think my recommendation would be, “BUY BOTTLED WATER!”

Business continuity planning is just one part of Endsight’s broader Outsourced IT service. If you’d like to compare your current approach, please don’t hesitate to reach out by clicking here.

What to do when Yelp bites back

I wrote a while back about how unpredictable social media can be in a blog entitled “A Tale of Social Media”. I thinks it is really important to consider this when developing your social media strategy. Recently, I came across a great example of a Yelp strategy that I thought was worth sharing.

Yelp is what would have happened if the Yellow Pages and MySpace got married and had kids. On Yelp, businesses and individual users can create profiles that allow them to share their experiences with different businesses, search for services or products and create or read the reviews. It’s great for finding a good restaurant, barber or dentists. If the business is rated 5 stars it’s highly recommended. If on the other hand it’s only rated 1 star it should be avoided. You can check out Yelp by clicking here: www.yelp.com

While I was checking in for my dental appointment last month I read a table tent advertisement on the check in counter that read, “Rated 5 Stars on Yelp.” I’m an infrequent Yelp user and so I didn’t think much of it. That is until the receptionist started giving me a hard time because I was late for my appointment. In fact, her behavior made me so angry that I walked out. After that, I was keenly aware of how very proud my dentist was of her rating on Yelp and, in my opinion, she didn’t deserve it.

Years ago, I attended a City Council Meeting in Kent, Ohio. I don’t remember what the attendees were angry about but I’ve never forgotten what one of the local bankers told the council during his prepared comments, “People rarely sue because they want justice. They sue because they’re angry.”

I wasn’t angry enough at my dentist to make a federal case of my displeasure, but it’s nearly effortless to fire off a poor review on Yelp. So, I decided to harness the power of the internet to make sure everyone knew I didn’t like the way I was treated.

And that’s all it takes to destroy a 5 star rating on Yelp. A rating, by the way, that took her nearly two years to create. But that’s not the end of the story. …..

Shortly after I posted my negative rating I received and email from my dentist. In it, she apologized for what happened and offered to make accommodations for me. Finally, she told me that if I still chose to find another dentist that she’d be happy to forward my records.

I didn’t respond to her note, and I will not be going back. But, I did take down my post on Yelp. The fact that she went out of her way to try to address my issue was enough to make me re-think my negative posting. And that’s why I thought I should share the story. I think it’s impossible to keep everyone happy all the time. You never know who will be upset enough to squawk about it.

My dentist never even saw me the day of my appointment. It was her receptionist’s behavior that upset me. But the speed and tone of her response ultimately salvaged her rating as it made me feel like I should remove it.

I’m interested in hearing other’s opinions of Yelp. So we have created a quick survey below. I hope you’l take it if you have the time.

About Jason Clause

Endsight’s Entrepeneurial CEO

Mike Chaput - IT Management Entrepreneur

Being a newly acquired business development associate for Endsight can seem like a daunting task, especially as my first “real person” job since graduating from Chico State in May. Luckily I have the entrepreneurial spirit of my CEO, Mike Chaput, rallying behind me. Mike is always open to new and creative ways to expand business, which makes this “real person” job of mine much more fun and interesting since each day is different.

Morgan Allen, 23, of Endsight raves “OMG, Mike’s ambition makes me feel special and proud to work under him.” His innate charismatic nature and voracious consumption of business books makes him an excellent candidate for attention. Although he is not quite at the Steve Jobs, screaming on a megaphone in front of thousands of Apple employees, enthusiasm level, Mike’s casual demeanor facilitates an open dialogue.

Last week he was included in East Bay Business Times, Entrepreneur section-

Mike Chaput often finds prospective clients wary when he calls. Burned by lousy tech-support experiences past, the CEO of Berkeley’s Endsight Inc. finds selling them a contract for remote computer help takes work.

But about 80 clients, including local attorneys, researchers and even a few billionaires among others have come to rely on Endsight’s blend of remote maintenance calls and on-site visits to keep their IT systems humming. “The field of IT is littered with people who don’t know what they’re doing,” said Chaput. “That creates a rich environment for us.”

Endsight’s 33 employees use advanced networking to tap into 3,000 client computers, servers and gadgets from Berkeley, performing both routine maintenance and troubleshooting, frequently heading off potential problems or fixing small mishaps without an in-person visit. That efficiency conserves employee time while allowing for easy consultation with peers, said Chaput. The avid business book listener has also infused the company with “huddles,” daily 15-minute gatherings, to keep everyone on the same page.

Endsight also consults with each client to help the client get its IT infrastructures into peak shape, advising clients on IT purchases and buying equipment for them as needed.

East Bay Business Times - by Michael Fitzhugh Staff reporter mfitzhugh@bizjournals.com | 925-598-1425

The world has not seen the last of Michael Chaput. From his humble beginnings in rural Michigan, it was apparent that success was in the cards for this young maverick.