In small business we click yes to a eula. We don't get the ability to
set the requirements as the software vendors don't give us options so we
must ask the questions from the get go because we don't get the right to
change anything. We either buy or don't buy the software.
It's just a different space is all.
On 7/22/2014 8:07 PM, Ken Schaefer wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Susan Bradley
Sent: Wednesday, 23 July 2014 12:49 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [NTSysADM] I'm sure you've heard already...
I just called up my cable company to reconfigure my ever increasing cable bill
and renegotiated the costs.
So the idea that cloud services has a defined cost structure I would debate on.
I didn't say you couldn't negotiate, or that they don't have different service
offerings.
But you don't to work out what you're paying for their buildings, their
network, their labour, their taxes, their advertising, their monitoring and so
on, and so on.
You pay $x/month, and you get a set of defined services (e.g. for a telco it
might be 500 minutes,500 text messages, voicemail and 5GB of data - I don't
really know what cable providers provide)
As the vendors themselves stop developing premises based software - (and this
is the key movement I see in
the SMB space) - because it's cheaper for them (less support for us pesky
desktops with lord knows how
many versions of OS), easier for them to build the infrastructure where they
want it, and better for
them as they can plan on the revenue subscription model. As Rod said, it's the
app model taking over.
No, it's not the "app model" - it's "services". There is nothing particularly
special about most IT - it's just services. Has the whole IT Service Management bandwagon passed
this list by?
Your company buys marketing services, legal services, property management services,
utility services (gas, electricity, water), cleaning services, recruitment services and
any other number of "services" today. Most of IT, except a continually evolving
core that provides business differentiation, will also be bought as services. [1]
It could be provided internally by an internal service provider (just like some
companies have internal legal departments, and internal marketing departments),
or it could be provided by an external service provider (outsourcer or cloud)
Ask the hard questions of the vendors ... Ask who has the encryption keys, etc
etc
Who has the encryption keys is a details thing. First you need to know what
service you want and how much it's worth to you and how you want to buy it -
this is your service architecture. Implementation details are something you can
work out in your detailed requirements phase.
Working out /how/ you want to buy a service is much harder question than who
has encryption keys.
Cheers
Ken
[1] the whole network/systems/security admin jobs are disappearing theme that
crops up here every so often is related to this, IMHO. Those types of roles
aren't particularly necessary for a lot of in-house environments any more.
Instead, they'll be provided as part of a service (again, by an internal SP, or
external SP). There may be a few environments (e.g. we have some payments apps,
that $1bn+/day pass through) which need dedicated infrastructure BAU people.
