IT Cloud Provider

bmwguy

Without having a massive amount of IT knowledge (But I am learning) I find myself as the IT manager of my family business (manufacturing company, approx 60 employees, 5 offices in ROI and UK). We have a central server in head office, Dublin and all other computers log in remotely via RDP. I manage any problems that occur and I have an outise IT consultant to lean on when I am stuck. However, I am not happy with the reliability of the system and want to dispense with the server in head office and use a data centre to host us, we will all then be remote users.

My requirements are quite simple:

Host all our shared drives (documents) and make them accessible to staff members as they need them

Host our accounting and CRM programs (from one of the big providers in the market)

Provide IT support if and when I need it

Host our emails

Basically provide a solution for a network of approx 15 computers across 5 locations

What are our options here? We currently spend approx €4,000 annually between everything like chargeable callouts from the IT consultant, email hosting etc...But under this new system we will not have to purchase server equipment again

What are we liable to get on this budget? I want to improve our systems but not increase the budget

Has anyone got any recommendations for companies to use for this or ways to proceed?

Thanks in advance

prospect

Hi there,

I am in a similar situation, inherited the IT role in a family business many moons ago.

I'd be happy to bounce my experiences around with you if you want to contact by PM.

Brian.

Peterdalkey

Pertinent topic for me too , your post made me smile as I was recently informed that our server needs replacing/upgrading. I was wondering about going cloud for everything, we already use hosted/cloud CMS for our eCommerce sites.

My main concern is that if our broadband (copper only in our Ind Est) went down, we would be in serious doo doo. That said if it goes down now, we would be in bother with no email etc. I think if we had come paralell connection like WiMax that might negate most of the risk.

I suspect it might be worth posing this in one of the sub-forums on bpoards.ie http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=851

I am going to stick a post up there and see what I get.

JDxtra

The biggest hurdle will be with your CRM software. Does the vendor offer a hosted solution maybe? That would take a lot of the pain away.

With regard to sharing documents and hosting email - that's much simpler to resolve. Have a look into the offerings from Microsoft and Google.

Ctrl Alt Del

A quick joke to the guys that thinks to move from internal hosted server based data to an external shared cloud based:
Been to a technical training with Microsoft recently, in City West...they mentioned that most of their data is moved or to be moved soon on Office 365 under SharePoint and only confidential data is to be stored internally,on SharePoint servers in Microsoft local network due to security and confidentiality.
Tried to ask the chap why the setup has been designed like that...i was afraid that at the end of the presentation,he may not have a job in there !

My friendly professional advice to some of you:unless is a strict forcible reason(s) to move to cloud...keep all your business internal,private and under your control !

Have fun...

JMR

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

A quick joke to the guys that thinks to move from internal hosted server based data to an external shared cloud based:
Been to a technical training with Microsoft recently, in City West...they mentioned that most of their data is moved or to be moved soon on Office 365 under SharePoint and only confidential data is to be stored internally,on SharePoint servers in Microsoft local network due to security and confidentiality.
Tried to ask the chap why the setup has been designed like that...i was afraid that at the end of the presentation,he may not have a job in there !

My friendly professional advice to some of you:unless is a strict forcible reason(s) to move to cloud...keep all your business internal,private and under your control !

Have fun...

Are you saying that data stored in the cloud (Google Drive and Microsoft SharePoint are the 2 I have experience of using) is not secure?
Do you have information to suggest data is open to being accidentally corrupted / lost or maliciously hacked and stolen?

qwertz

JMR wrote: »

Are you saying that data stored in the cloud (Google Drive and Microsoft SharePoint are the 2 I have experience of using) is not secure?

It's hard to answer this question without defining "secure". What do you consider secure? Some people only consider paper in a safe secure, others are perfectly happy to entrust the likes of dropbox with their most valued possessions.

For me the cloud means giving up control. I can walk into any of my data centers and comms rooms at any time, little is going to stop me from that. In the cloud it could be gone in a second due to legal or illegal activities.

For the record: I am a happy cloud customer and supplier but it's not for everyone.

Nuttzz

bmwguy wrote: »

My requirements are quite simple:

Host all our shared drives (documents) and make them accessible to staff members as they need them

Google Docs or office365

Host our accounting and CRM programs (from one of the big providers in the market)

Assuming its sage who have a cloud offering

Provide IT support if and when I need it

you wont really need it, broadband covered by vendor, machines can be covered by break and fix agreement with an IT hardware company

Host our emails

As above use google apps or office365

Basically provide a solution for a network of approx 15 computers across 5 locations

You wont need a dedicated network anymore if you do the above

What are our options here? We currently spend approx €4,000 annually between everything like chargeable callouts from the IT consultant, email hosting etc...But under this new system we will not have to purchase server equipment again

does that 4k include licence & support costs for accounts & CRM package?

Google apps is 600 a year for 15 users, takes a bit of getting used to if you are used to MS products

Office365 is about 750 a year for 15 users but you have the familiarly of using the MS products

BailMeOut

I am a self employed IT contractor and have converted a few locations recently to Office 365 and Google Apps. If you are already using Microsoft Office and Exchange/Outlook then from my experience Office 365 is a really good move. For shared files you use online Sharepoint with Skydrive Pro to sycn locally and you also get Lync 2013. The only down side to Office 365 is that they do not offer telephony support with Lync so you need to keep your PBX. At one client we have Lync disabled in Office 365 and host Lync at another provider who can take care of all the VOIP traffic too. As other posted has noted you do not need to worry about licensing once you subscribe and users can install the latest version of Office 365 locally on up to five systems they use.

It was a slow process being won over with Office 365 but in last 12 months is has come leaps and bounds and a no brainier to me for smaller companies. I have had very good success with it anyway.

Nate--IRL--

bmwguy wrote: »

Without having a massive amount of IT knowledge (But I am learning) I find myself as the IT manager of my family business (manufacturing company, approx 60 employees, 5 offices in ROI and UK). We have a central server in head office, Dublin and all other computers log in remotely via RDP. I manage any problems that occur and I have an outise IT consultant to lean on when I am stuck. However, I am not happy with the reliability of the system and want to dispense with the server in head office and use a data centre to host us, we will all then be remote users.

My requirements are quite simple:

Host all our shared drives (documents) and make them accessible to staff members as they need them

Host our accounting and CRM programs (from one of the big providers in the market)

Provide IT support if and when I need it

Host our emails

Basically provide a solution for a network of approx 15 computers across 5 locations

What are our options here? We currently spend approx €4,000 annually between everything like chargeable callouts from the IT consultant, email hosting etc...But under this new system we will not have to purchase server equipment again

What are we liable to get on this budget? I want to improve our systems but not increase the budget

Has anyone got any recommendations for companies to use for this or ways to proceed?

Thanks in advance

The company I work for provides almost exactly what you are looking for,. A lot of our customers match your size of business too, with multi locations.

We do Hosted Exchange (although that is being superseded by Exchange with Office 365), Hosted desktops and Storage on our own cloud infrastructure. The Beauty of this means that the Location you access the system from doesn't matter. For example, I can even access my work Desktop on our cloud on my Phone, anywhere. It works just as a normal windows desktop would.

Nearly all of our customers require the use of Accounting and CRM Databases (usually SQL based) which we support for their Cloud Solution.

We can also provide Break Fix for your hardware, and if necessary implement VPNs back to the head office (although this may be redundant)

Not sure what the rules are on the forum about promoting where I work so PM me if you want more info.

Nate

micosoft

Hi OP,

At this point Office365 is a no brainer for companies like yours - it eliminates where the bulk of IT issues arise - mail. You also get a huge amount of functionality thrown in and upgrades are done frequently and seamlessly every quarter so you do not have that maintenance cost to address. It also handles disaster recovery - if your internet goes down in your business you are dead in the water at the moment (as you have your own mail server). With the cloud you can login at home or any other location or even use a 3G card on your laptop.

Don't pay attention to the nudge nudge secret security issues innuendo comments from some dinosaurs. It works, and many many major corporations use it.

The key for your business however is your ERP/CRM package. As a manufacturing company this is your most important application and you will still need a server for this unless you are willing to go cloud. There are some great systems out there like financialforce, workday, Sap ByDesign (though it's future looks murky at the moment). You should focus your investment in technology here. I am nearly assuming you are on Sage at the moment for both ERP and CRM? Sage have a very poor cloud story so I suspect you will need a server on an ongoing basis unless you are willing to go cloud.

beauf

What happens when you have no net access, either due to outages or out of range etc.

Do you have all the functionality (like VBA and such) for high end users of Excel and Access in Office 365 or the Google equivalent?

micosoft

beauf wrote: »

What happens when you have no net access, either due to outages or out of range etc.

Do you have all the functionality (like VBA and such) for high end users of Excel and Access in Office 365 or the Google equivalent?

Rarely happens these days and most businesses are dead in the water if their fixed internet link goes down (no email or internet) so it's a moot point. Plus with cloud unlike on-premises you can always just use your mobile or get a 3G card or if the office burns down work from home or anywhere else for that matter.

You can use full Office suite with Office365 so if (an it's a narrow use case these days) you need VBA you can use it.

Graham

Your current solution at €4,000pa for 15 users and 5 sites sounds like pretty good value to be honest.

Is a cloud based solution going to save you any money?

If you opt for a cloud based solution you'll still have on-site PC's, will they still run Windows, still need a network(probably), network accounts etc etc? Will you still need backups, servers, the ongoing IT assistance your consultant currently provides.

You will get LOTS of offers to help you move to Office 365 or Google Apps because there's LOTS of resellers, the same applies to Cloud backup solutions. You will get less advice regarding your accounts/HR/CRM because they're a tougher sell and require a greater depth of knowledge.

Once you've done the sums (taking into account all of your costs) I'd then recommend reviewing what SLA's you have in place with your connectivity/broadband provider/ISP.

pyroger101

hey I have actually worked on a good few of these projects for smb clients.

There is no one size fits all and lots to consider! Happy to discus with you if this thread is still open!

Ger