Cloud Secrets Used By Thriving CPAs

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I.T. InsightsExecutive Briefing brought to you by:

What’s “Cloud” to a CPA?

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Presenter

Alberto MolinaFounder, SureTech, Incalberto@SureTech.com 212-481-1681

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The Cloud in Three Parts

• Vocabulary

• Global Trends

• Thriving CPAs

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CLOUD VOCABULARY

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Internet was made for War, with no single line from one point to another

The Internet is drawn as a cloud

The Cloud is many lines with no lines

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The Cloud is buildings

The Cloud is walls without windows

The Internet is Data Centers - designed securely for servers and data, not people

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“Cloudness”

• Self Provisioned (Click and Use)

• Standardized• Locked Down (less

customizeable)• Modular

–Scalable (marginal cheapness)–Elastic (bi-directional

cheapness)

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Public Clouds

Just click and sign up• Publishers

– NYTimes, Blogs, YouTube

• Portals (collections of features)– From Google to Yahoo

• GroupWare (Collaborate)– Google Apps, Zoho, Flickr

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Private Clouds – Large Companies

Click and Use• MS Exchange, SharePoint• CRM, ERP

Expandable to all IT Infrastructure• Applications• VOIP• Desktops and Servers

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The Cloud is Many Parts and Much Labor

“CloudStack” courtesy of Ksankar

Virtual Private Cloud

Unify ALL IT Management and Support for a Flat Fee

Deliver Data and Apps seamlessly, synchronized across ALL DEVICES from Everywhere

With State of The Art Cloud Stack with Citrix and emerging Private Cloud Best Practices

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Joe Don’t Care About the Parts

Parts and Labor Don’t Matter- Joe just wants to talk with Mary

Joe Mary

Cloud is what Cloud does

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GLOBAL TRENDSThe World Is Upside Down

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The Upside Down Triangle

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The Upside Down Triangle

Executive

Management

Operations

Operations

Management

Executive

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Workflow and The Edge

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Data Presentation

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Holistic Integration

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The Upside Down Triangle

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Leading From The Wide Edge

Executive

Management

Operations

Operations / Tech Enabled / Cyborg

Management

Executive

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The Cloud is About Your Flow

• Peldi Guillizzoni says it best:

“The goal of zenware is to disappear … you should forget the software is there at all ... [because] you are totally immersed in your task”

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Value Drives To Innovation Not Tasks

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THRIVING CPA SECRETSCloud enabled Zen

EQUIPMENT/SOFTWARE

#1 –TCO - Sitting Ducks & Black Swans

PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE

OUTAGES/PROBLEMS

• workstations• servers• circuits / switches• software

• Installation• On-going maintenance• Monitoring• Updates / Upgrades / Patches• Migrations• Backups / redundancy• Troubleshooting

• Last minute / Emergency Response• Equipment Repair / Replacement• Alternative Resolution• Downtime• Workflow disruption / confusion• Lost opportunity / productivit• Data and Relationship Repair y• Data Loss (50% franchise risk)

Typical CapEx Budget Line

Added true Total Cost of Ownership “TCO”

3-6 times cost of hardware

Repair & Productivity Loss are usually many times more expensive than planned costs

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#2 – Traditional I.T. is Value Drag

Complexity

Maintenance

Confusion

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Looking Forward

• Flee Friction– Complexity– Consulting– Break / Fix

• Embrace Flow– The Edge– People– Outcomes

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#3 – Mobility

• Business Continuity

• Devices

• Remote Locations

• Customer Visits

*source: CSC Cloud Index

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#4 – Security & Reputation

• Preparedness– Network attacks every 2 minutes

• Policies / Audits / Enforcement• Marketing – Reputation Market

Places– Yelp, Google+, Email, NPS

*source: Symantec ISTR 20

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#5 – New Expectations

• Millenial Staff• Gen X / Y Customers• Ubiquitous Collaboration with:

– Each Other– Data

–From Everywhere

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#6 – Cloud Needs a Steward

• Not a system administrator; a business analyst – Data jockey – Naming Conventions– Retention and Security Policies– Legal Compliance Audits– Disaster Recovery Testing

• Needs political and technical savvy– Inside job, not outsourced, part time

roledata stewardship is only half the battle....

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#7 – I.T. Still Takes A Team

• Cloud is not a one and done "solution."

• users want to Connect and Communicate– New tools, customizations, integrations– Executives want reports and dashboards

• Flow / Zen requires Engineering, Systems and Analysis working together

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Key Questions for CPAs

• Bandwidth needed?• Data Migration Plan• SLA’s

– uptime?– Support Response time?

• DR Specifics– Recovery Points (Full vs Incremental)– Retention– Time to Recovery Objective 

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Key Questions• Who’s Responsible for any Onsite

Network?• Do you have a Team vested in your

success?

• But Verify Your Exit Plan / control of your data

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A PLATFORM APPROACH

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SureOffice™ - Only The Parts You Need

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Solutions for your WorkFlow

• Data is Precious

• Hardware is disposable

• Tools and Data should be securely available from everywhere

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Resources

• Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends 2015 here

• Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report volume 20 here

• SureTech’s new website here

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Thank You

Alberto MolinaFounderSureTech, Inc1375 BroadwayNew York, NY 10017212-481-1681alberto@suretech.com