Cloud on Sonia Cuff

#CloudAdvocateLife ? Work update (Mar 2019)

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 19:37:23 +0000

OK let’s not mention how long it has been since I’ve blogged. Just sit back and enjoy my website refresh and let’s move on ….

Amongst the craziness of my life now I’m full-time at Microsoft, I tweet the occasional #CloudAdvocateLife moment to give you some insight into the highs and lows of my day. Here I can expand a little more on the work I’ve been doing and how I maintain my work/life balance and my mental health. Today, let me catch you up on how the Cloud Advocate role has unfolded so far.

The case for Cloud Access Security Brokers in small business

Fri, 06 Apr 2018 09:26:14 +0000

For most small businesses reading this article, I�ve lost them with the headline. A Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) is likely to be something they�ve never heard of, let alone considered. Yet more small businesses are becoming Cloud-friendly, especially with their adoption of Software as a Service applications. Funny thing is, some security-focused IT professionals would never consider using Cloud services without a CASB.

I had the pleasure of spending some time with a company called Forcepoint, in Austin, Texas, as a Tech Field Day delegate. David Coffey (VP Research & Development) says �How do you secure things that you don�t own or manage?� IT Pros understand that challenge. Traditionally we�ve focused on securing the devices that you use and the networks that you access. We�ve put firewalls between your PC and the Internet and we�ve prevented you from using random USB sticks. Today�s challenge for IT is ensuring security from your iPad in an airport lounge, to corporate data in the Cloud.

Graduating from Computer Troubleshooters

Sun, 11 Sep 2016 04:48:49 +0000

The email subject read: The biggest announcement since Apple removed the headphone jack.

How do you break it to a group of friends that you�re leaving them, after 12 years?
We were just honest.

After 12 years of trading, Tony & I announced that we would be graduating from the international Computer Troubleshooters franchise, effective 1 Oct.

I use the word graduating intentionally. The Computer Troubleshooters group has been with us since we started our own business in a new country, pre-kids, without the support of our corporate technical peers and hoping that we could make this work financially to be our primary source of income. We�ve learnt so much in that time about business, about tech and about each other.

Why the I.T. guy hates the Cloud

Mon, 30 May 2016 04:51:11 +0000

For small businesses, Cloud solutions seem to deliver innovation, productivity and profitability with ease.

You don�t have to sit around and wait for the �I.T. guy� to install something on a server, then install something else on your computer. It�s all enabled by just signing up to a service in your web browser and entering your credit card number. The secure access, reliability and backups are all handled behind the scenes.

Can Kentik end the performance blame game?

Mon, 23 May 2016 05:05:25 +0000

As part of the?Tech Field Day Extra?crew at?Interop 2016, I got to sit in on a great presentation by?Avi Freedmanfrom?Kentik.

I?d?never heard of them, which is not surprising given my Australian-based SMB world, but I sat with an open mind as Avi talked about Enterprise (and larger) networking concepts. It?s always so great when a presenter makes it ?real world? enough that you can see the benefits, without necessarily understanding all the tech under the hood. Seems that the world is hearing about Kentik though as their customers already include yelp, Pandora, Box, and openDNS.

Can Kentik end the performance blame game?

Wed, 23 Mar 2016 04:55:23 +0000

As part of the?Tech Field Day Extra?crew at?Interop 2016, I got to sit in on a great presentation by?Avi Freedmanfrom?Kentik.

Calling all SMB Innovators � Where are you?

Tue, 23 Feb 2016 05:10:09 +0000

Warning: This is an opinion piece and quite honestly, a rant. You have been warned.

Our business has been supporting the technology needs of SMBs for 12 years now, after we stepped out of the corporate world. The early years were comparatively easy � a business wanted I.T. support, we�d upgrade a server or two to newer software and bigger hardware and the addition of remote monitoring and management tools consolidated our efforts across our customer base. Nothing really extraordinary there.

The world is changing and so is Spirent

Fri, 18 Dec 2015 05:16:30 +0000

Sometimes it�s great to sit down for a presentation with no preconceived ideas. It makes it interesting to listen to a guy up the front in a company t-shirt, who you�re not viewing as the �Vice President of Marketing & Product Strategy�. The title doesn�t actually do justice to Neil Holmquist from Spirent Communications.

The internet would tell me that Neil has a 15 year career with Spirent, beginning as an engineer. It would also give me a ton of information about the telecommunications testing company itself, founded in 1936 and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The problem with Partners

Mon, 26 Oct 2015 05:38:08 +0000

As a �partner� in the �channel� (just imagine the air quotes), I�m going to�stand on my soapbox and have a little chat about the role that we play in making software & hardware companies successful. Yeah, that totally sounded conceited, but follow along with me here.

There are so many facets to this chat that this post won�t be published in its original form. It�s going to take time to organise these thoughts into a logical sequence that flows, because the partner relationship is not a simple conversation.

An Office 2013 product fails to install after removal of Click to Run

Tue, 20 Jan 2015 05:57:02 +0000

The Click to Run software manages the streaming of the installation of some Office products and a virtualised environment to enable different versions to run side by side on a Windows computer. If this software gets its �knickers in a knot� (technical term), you might come across some issues with your next Office software installation. Don�t remove this component if you think you�ll only ever use msi based retail CD installations.

How SMB IT service providers view the Cloud

Mon, 20 Oct 2014 06:04:13 +0000

It�s not news that IT is an ever-changing industry. The skills that I learnt when I first started are now mostly irrelevant. I say �mostly� because some of the fundamentals of disks, files, networks etc still hold true (once we�d migrated off token ring anyway). And I still use the command prompt to search for files. But when I started, there was no Cloud, no social media, no phishing, no virtualization, no sector based backups and no ADSL. File storage was done on a Novell Netware server or three, with a bank of dial-in modems for remote access.

A looong weekend

Sun, 05 Oct 2014 06:06:50 +0000

Monday in Queensland is a public holiday to observe�labour day, which is quite apt because yes, I�m working. Now before you�pity me that I don�t�get three whole days off (in a row!), I�m not that concerned actually.

Long weekends are the perfect structure for me. I�ve had time to spend with friends and family, time to catch up on housework and time to work while clients are away and I can�control their computers whenever suits, without interrupting them. It�s also the last weekend before school recommences for the kids so add in polishing shoes & gathering all required school items prior to the first morning back.

Cloud Myth #1 � It�s bulletproof

Mon, 21 Jul 2014 06:11:33 +0000

I�ve seen a few discussions amongst the Australian IT community recently from people who are very anti-Cloud. Aside from privacy concerns (NSA access to data centres not located in Australia) and Internet infrastructure concerns (yes, many businesses still have pitiful Internet speeds), the next favourite objection involves every time a Cloud service has ever has an outage.

Microsoft�s Office 365 service didn�t help my cause today with a 3hr�degradation in service, where emails couldn�t be sent or received for a number of customers. When the service was restored though, all the emails caught up.

When business & IT collide.

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 06:32:21 +0000

I had the pleasure of showing a team the features of their new CRM software. Have I lost you yet with how boring that sentence is? Fortunately the reality was far from boring.

To me�� the CRM system is a plugin to a Joomla website. There are some bits I can configure & some bits I can�t (especially as I�m not the Joomla site admin nor do I ever ever want to be.
To the business owner�� the system means no more monthly fees to a Cloud CRM system. This one off purchase will last her for at least 3 years and will handle the growth she is expecting. It�s also one place to see how her sales pipeline is looking & to get instant access to the conversations had with & information that�s been provided to her customers & prospective customers.
To the team members�� this is a �central console�, one place to get a picture of what they have on the go and what others are working on too.

To the cloud .. or not? (A personal account)

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 07:32:26 +0000

This isn�t intended as a comprehensive argument on how to evaluate if Cloud Computing is right for you or not. �I�ve written it to show where we use Cloud Computing in our own business, and where we don�t. �As most of my readers aren�t IT Providers, you may find something relevant in this, or you may not. �But I�m a firm believer in recommending the best solution to a client for their individual needs, so our own decision on Cloud Computing has been based on our current business needs.