Guidelines for Secure Cloud Computing

On December 17th, the Cloud Security Alliance issued new guidelines for secure cloud computing.

"The CSA's report tackles cloud security on 13 different fronts, from governance issues like e-discovery, compliance and audits to operational concerns such as disaster recovery, application security and identity management. It updates an original edition released in April."

Read more about these new security guidelines in PCWorld.

Upcoming Webinar

Executive's Guide to IT Outsourcing

Diego is hosting a complimentary webinar on January 27th that will discuss the economics of IT outsourcing, what to look for in an IT outsourcing provider, key metrics and service level agreements, and trends in managed services.

Register now!

Google Wave

Check out Jack Notarangelo's Application Engineering Blog and his latest post about Google Wave.

Dreamforce Global Gathering 2009

The Dreamforce Global Gathering 2009 was the largest salesforce.com conference ever.

Caturano and Company's Vice President of IT Outsourcing, Diego Rosenfeld, was one of 16,000 people in attendance. The conference, held in San Francisco, featured a daily keynote speech by Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com, and three full days of hands-on training sessions, networking receptions, and live demos. View some media from the event here.

Interested in cloud computing but missed the conference? Email Diego to discuss some of the latest trends and topics.

Top 10 Cloud Computing Flashpoints of 2009

Jeffrey M. Kaplan's opinion article in E-Commerce Times ranks the top 10 most notable cloud computing developments of 2009.

"A brief history of SaaS and cloud computing in 2009 suggests that it has arrived as a viable mainstream business model; that the market is volatile, and missteps won't be overlooked; that there's still plenty of room for innovation; and that it will be a growing force to be reckoned with in 2010." Read the entire article here.

Caturano and Company will be hosting a Focus On: Cloud Computing event in February - details to follow!

Click here for a full listing of our webinars.

Attending Dreamforce? Connect with Caturano

The Cloud Computing Event of the Year

Connect with Diego at the Dreamforce Global Gathering on Nov 17-20 in San Francisco to discuss the latest trends in technology. Find out how these technologies are being used today and what you need to know for tomorrow.

Learn more about Dreamforce.

Interested in connecting with Caturano and Company? Register now.

Upcoming Event: BI and your Bottom Line

On Monday, November 16, 2009, join Caturano's consulting team as they address critical operational reporting issues facing organizations today. Listen to real-life experiences on the do's and don'ts of corporate reporting from Caturano and Company's Chief Operating Officer, Chris MacKenzie. Discover a better approach to accessing and analyzing your data.

This is a complimentary event. Register now!

Features of the event include:

• Understand how to drive efficiency and reduce cost by implementing an effective corporate reporting solution
• Learn about effective methods being used by industry leading organizations to identify trends and affect their bottom lines through their corporate reporting strategies
• Explore new features of ad hoc BI for the end user, as well as Microsoft's new product line release

Cloud Computing and Salesforce.com

I recently attended Salesforce's Cloudforce event in Boston. I walked away very impressed with both the Service Cloud and Custom Cloud applications. The Twitter integration and crowdsourcing features were slick. With over 63,000 customers, I believe Salesforce is poised to take the lead position in the cloud computing space -- over Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. I see Salesforce's Force Platform as the future hub for business and custom applications on the web. It shares a lot in common with the iPhone with its intuitive interfaces and large developer community.

I recently read that Japan Post purchased 85,000 seats of the Force platform for the purposes of application development and delivery. Japan Post is likely to benefit from tremendous cost reduction as the typical capital investment in hardware and on-premise software is avoided.

I am currently advising my clients to analyze if existing or planned applications can be moved to the "cloud". The cloud is now here and progressive companies are reaping the benefits.

CFO's Guide to IT Outsourcing Webinar

Event Date: October 21, 2009

Managing your IT environment is becoming increasingly complex, and budget pressure is forcing companies to do more with less. Learn how you can utilize IT to maintain your competitive advantage without distracting you from the responsibilities of managing your organization's finances.

Whether you currently outsource or are considering it in the future, this webinar is for you. We will discuss the economics of IT outsourcing, what to look for in an IT outsourcing provider, key metrics and service level agreements, and trends in managed services.

Register Now

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am

Hosted by: Diego Rosenfeld and Casey Bolger

Do You Know Where Your RISK is Brewing?

Event Date: October 1, 2009

Join Caturano and Caturano for an interactive discussion on how your company can prepare for unprecedented increased regulation.

Massachusetts privacy has caused quite a stir. Learn how leading New England companies and security experts have been proactive in addressing compliance, governance, and risk.

Our panel of clients and experts include:
Nancy Metivier from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
Greg Parson from SecureWorks
Stuart Werman from Symantec
David Dyson from iRobot
Tracy Watts from Cumberland Farms / Gulf Group of Companies

Register Now

Features:
Overview of MA privacy and how the various regulations inter-relate (HIPAA, SB1386, PCI, etc.)
Tools to help with compliance and data loss prevention
Sample WISP written information security system
Sample project plan for MA privacy

Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009
3:30 pm - Registration
4:00 pm - Presentation / Panel Discussion
5:30 pm - Cocktails / Hors d'oeuvres

Caturano and Company IT Trends - Thoughts?

We had a good turnout last week at the Caturano IT Trends Event: "Deliver Premium Returns on Your IT Investments". Bill Kracunas, VP of Caturano's Consulting Practice, talked at length about the role and value of IT in an organization. I thought his analysis about moving the ratio of new projects/maintenance spending from 80/20 to 60/40 particularly interesting. This would certainly allow for more spending in strategic areas of the business rather than just "keeping the lights on".

Also, Bill's analysis of the typical IT investment portfolio mix is a helpful guide for CFO/CEO/CIOs trying to balance their own portfolios. According to Bill, about 50% of projects are infrastructure focused, 25% transactional, 20% information, and the remaining strategic. He also points out that infrastructure projects are among the easiest to develop an ROI for.

Jean Bua, CFO of American Tower and another event speaker, added her experience to the discussion of capital IT expenditures. She noted that at American Tower 10% of the capital budget is already preallocated to infrastructure projects. Without this, it would be difficult to internally sell these projects against strategic projects that may be revenue generating.

The common them across all the speakers was that sound IT begins with business strategy articulation and understanding of business process. Only then can IT be used as an enabling tool to support growth, create efficiencies, and generate revenue for your business.

If you would like a copy of the presentations please email me at diego.rosenfeld@caturanoandcompany.com.

Dell Launches ProManage Services

Dell recently launched its first foray into the managed services space for small business. They are calling it ProManage Services. On the surface, the program looks pretty compelling for a small business; however, after looking under the hood it may only make sense for the smallest of organizations.

The base service plan is only $9 per month per user. This comes with basic remote monitoring and alerting. Sounds reasonable enough. The next level up is $39 per month per user and includes helpdesk services and onsite support. Still sounds compelling, but when you read the fine print the onsite support is only up to 2 hours per month. I don't know about you, but 2 hours is not going to be enough time to do much of anything onsite. The next plan is even more comprehensive and adds 24/7 support, patch management, vulnerability scanning, and support for exchange and SQL all for $59 per month per user.

This sounds to me that Dell is offering a lot of systems, but offering little in the way of IT strategy and "true" consulting. I think if you are a company that is looking to "keep the lights on" this service could be something to look at. On the other hand, if you see IT as a strategic asset and have application development, business reporting, project implementation, accounting system support requirements Dell is going to fall far short.

I would recommend a provider that can cover the "commodity" services that Dell is offering with its ProManage services while offering you the higher value services that are more strategically aligned with your business.

Why IT Matters in Midsized Companies

A recent study of companies in the US, Brazil, and Germany with 100-500 employees shows a high correlation between IT capability and profitable business growth. Firms that build high capability IT systems grow faster than firms that do not, and do so while increasing both revenue and profits.



In particular US service firms benefit more than their product counterparts.
The delta in sales growth between high performers (top quartile) and low performers (bottom quartile) in the services group is nearly three times that of the product firms. It is likely that the impact of IT on services firms is greater than product firms because service firms are less dependent on fixed production processes and preferred sourcing relationships for growth.

Technicans vs. IT Professionals

A recently read Charles Weaver's blog on MSP Alliance about how clients view your managed services practice. He makes an interesting point in distinguishing between technicians and IT professionals.

We see a lot of MSP's (managed service providers) who are focused on support your PCs and servers, but not skilled at providing business advisory services around IT. Check it out.

http://www.mspalliance.com/blogs/how-do-your-clients-view-your-managed-services-practice-0

Top 9 Reasons for IT Outsourcing

I'm always asked by clients and prospects to explain the value proposition for IT outsourcing. I've decided to put my thoughts on paper and have posted an article on the website.

http://www.vitale.com/Top-9-Reasons-Companies-Outsource

Upcoming IT Trends Event: April 2nd @ Vitale

Event Date: April 2, 2009

Who should attend: IT and Finance decision makers – CEO, CFO, Controller, CIO

All registrants will receive a complimentary copy of McKinsey’s whitepaper, Managing IT in a Downturn

Join Vitale Caturano for our quarterly event on transformational technology trends. This complimentary event will focus on the most effective ways to control operating expenses and evaluate capital purchasing decisions without increasing risk or sacrificing performance.

Sharepoint Focus Series - Feb 24th.

This is going to be a great event. Non technical people such as CEO, CFO, COO will also get a lot out of the topic.

Join Vitale Caturano for our premiere Focus Series event on how to maximize your SharePoint investment in today's marketplace with keynote delivered by Mauro Cardarelli, author of Essential SharePoint 2007 and Director of Portals & Collaboration at Vitale Caturano. Take advantage of this complimentary event to rev up your SharePoint usage in 2009.

http://www.vitale.com/sharepoint

New Blog Authors

Bill Kracunas and Nelson Lins will now be regular contributors to the blog. Bill leads Vitale's consulting practice and Nelson is our Service Delivery Manager.

Struggling Economy and Outsourcing

Recently read this article on Webcpa.com about other firms providing IT outsourcing (managed) services. The consensus is that all the downsizing in the economy has been good for managed service providers as companies are looking for ways to reduce IT costs through staff reduction -- but still need IT support.

Being part of a CPA firm, I found the section on supporting CPA firms very interesting. Sounds like they are good outsourcing targets because of the prolific applications and complexity. The reality is that there are only a handful of providers that can actually manage 60 client applications -- Vitale Caturano being one of them.

Also sounds like Vitale Caturano is among the few firms providing strategic advisory services in addition to the typical line up of managed service offerings.

http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=30533&pg=ros