Buy Versus Build - Weigh In On the Debate

Transform IT From An Overhead Cost to a Value Add

I just love the stories coming out of the cloud.  From the Microsoft Online Services blog challenge: "Show us your cloud" comes this picture:

Description: We moved Exchange and SharePoint into Microsoft Online Services and look at the space in our server rack :) Name: Ravi Nar Company: www.sccope.com Location: Windsor, UK

The View From the Cloud....Sunny With No Chance of Rain

Money Doesn't Fall From the Sky

OK - the whole cloud metaphor may becoming a little tired, but if you have never taken a look at the US Debt Clock (http://www.usdebtclock.org/), do so now.  This makes the most compelling case for REDUCING COSTS that I have ever seen.

I love the way the tickers are moving up, down and sideways right before your eyes - although prime time viewing it is not - and the reality behind those numbers is mind-numbing.

Currently, the total US debt figure is sitting ever so slightly below the 54 Trillion US Dollar amount and ticking over rapidly.  Total debt per US Citizen is $173,825, total debt per family is $663,870 : all figures very helpfully coloured in RED.  With income per family a nudge over $63K. 

Of course, the US treasury has only to print some more money, and with a dwindling money supply - notice the numbers on the screen in the "Money Creation" group are counting down vigorously - this may be the logical course of action.

For the rest of us, the only way to solve the dwindling money supply even all the way over here in Australia, boil down to the following two options:

1. Spend less
2. Earn more

And now, with that segue, I am sure you are ready to hear about Microsoft Exchange Online.

Apologies for the economic beat-up, but I truly believe that the single, biggest advantage you will receive by going off premise with your email solution will be the cost savings. 

Based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, you will receive email, voice mail, calendars and contacts - the essential business toolkit, while removing the need to deploy, configure, monitor and update or upgrade your solution. 

Only a few days ago I posted on how realestate.com.au has moved to MS Exchange online, and the significant benefits realised in that transition. 

More to come...

In the meantime:

The cloud has a silver lining - and it's BPOS!

News flash: Realestate.com.au adopts Telstra T Suite solution

Hosted MS Exchange is more efficient


Proving that it is not just small to medium sized businesses that can benefit from a cloud solution, Realestate.com.au has moved their corporate email to Telstra T Suite hosted email. 

You can't help but enjoy the irony: "Real Estate" refers to something tangible, physical property that you can touch and feel.  Yet the parent company, REA Group has moved infrastructure to the cloud. 

According to the Chief Information Officer, Daniel Oertli, moving REA's real estate and property portal to Microsoft Exchange online to replace their outdated corporate email system made perfect sense, with offices in Australia, Italy, Luxembourg and Hong Kong, and over 750 staff.  He concluded that this was:

"..consistent with REA's strategy to focus capital and mindshare on competitive edge and more efficiently manage business"

In the usual CIO-speak that we have come to know and love, this simply reinforces what I have been saying here - that Microsoft Online Services can save business money and time which can then be redirected to core business activities.

Read more at:

http://bit.ly/8thSept-ZDNet

http://bit.ly/8thSept-CW

And yes, more details on MS Exchange online are coming here SOON. 

The cloud has a silver lining, and it's BPOS

NBN Divided the Nation...But We're Back

We have a vision!

The votes have all been counted and the country independents have had their say.  In the end, the federal election 2010 boiled down to the brouha over NBN.  While I don't like the look of our parliament, the political football has finally touched down on the side of the National Broadband Network, and I for one am pleased. 

NBN is a vision for a better Australia and it takes courage and determination to see this through.  It will also take about $43 billion, let's not forget that. 

At a recent Sydney business get-together, one participant was quite agressively anti-NBN, offering up arguments such as "it will be redundant in 2 years" or "it will cost too much".  Acting, in fact, as if I had just asked him to foot that bill from his own pocket.   Speaking from fear, ignorance or both, I am sure that he is not at all happy with Labour winning on the back of the NBN policy.  In the meantime, the government commitment to the NBN allows businesses like mine to get on with the job of creating amazing software and joining the global market, an opportunity that is there for all Australians. And I plan to give any assistance I can to other small to medium sized business to do the same.

BPOS - Leading the Way Into the Cloud

 I started this blog to assist others who are virtualising their business to get into the cloud and
there is much excitement coming out of the BPOS story.  I would definately recommend that you read the DeployHR case study on the Microsoft website:

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000008191

Really, there is so much content in this case study that it doesn't bear repeating here.  In effect, this is a compelling argument to drive small to medium business into the cloud, singling out the advantages of using MS Exhange online as part of the Business Productivity Online Suite.  Including:

• 60% reduction in time for managing email
• Control of costs
• 70% faster integration of new acquisitions (which must relate to the first statistic but is stated in a different way - sounds impressive but really just means that new staff can get online faster during a period of rapid growth)

Now that we have a vision for governance, it is certainly time to take a closer look at the benefits of Microsoft's Business Productivity Suite, and as promised in a previous post, my very NEXT post will look at MS Exchange Online in more detail.

Until then, the CLOUD really does have a silver lining (and it is BPOS!)