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Agosto Blog

Tuesday
Feb142012

Agosto marks milestone in Google Apps partner ecosystem

Today marks a milestone in Agosto’s continued growth in the Google Apps partner ecosystem. In 2007 we became a Google Apps partner, in 2009 we became a Google Apps Authorized Reseller, and today we became a Google Apps Premier Reseller in both the Enterprise and SMB segments. Becoming a Premier Reseller is a monumental accomplishment requiring significant effort and dedication from the Agosto Cloud Services team. One of our last projects best captures our abilities: a complex migration from Exchange to Google Apps, 17,000 employees, in 41 locations, across 4 continents, and training users in 8 languages. I am very pleased with what we’ve accomplished and proud to be recognized as one of the top Google Apps partners in North America. I look forward to 2012 and continuing to help customers leverage Google Apps to further their business.

- Aric Bandy, CEO
Monday
Jan092012

Asset Recovery Conference

Tuesday
Dec132011

Careers in Information Technology

In the past few years, I've found that our youth, specifically the graduating class, doesn't always have an opportunistic outlook on future careers. Launching out in a new career isn't the easiest given the unemployment rates. That said, this is one of the best times to be in the IT sector. With this in mind, I jumped at a chance to speak at Forest Lake High School on careers in IT. Here's what I covered:

- Aric

Saturday
Nov192011

Innovation doesn’t occur in a vacuum: Atmosphere 2011 Recap

At Google’s 2011 Atmosphere conference Google attempted to answer one question; what does it really take to be innovative?

In front of 350 Fortune 500 CIO’s, speakers used example after example to drive home the point that innovation comes from collaboration not just inspired thought.  
Amit Singh, Google Vice PresidentDr. Astro Teller explained how Ben Franklin sat in coffee houses discussing the theory of electricity.  How Gutenberg created the printing press after visiting a winery and learning about wine presses.  Vince Cerf, the inventor of TCP/IP discussed how TCP/IP only came into existence though the collaborative efforts of many different teams across different companies.  The point was succinctly captured by Steven Johnson who coined his speech - chance favors the connected mind.  Innovation doesn’t simply occur.  

Businesses today must figure out how to enable an inter-disciplinary exchange of ideas.  This means real-time collaboration and socialization.  As CIO’s, the greatest struggle is to build this collaborative and socially-enabled IT infrastructure that retains a level of control especially as more and more consumer products (iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, etc.) make their way into the organization.  

This point was not lost on this audience.  CIO after CIO articulated this point in their own words; each acknowledging that Google’s collaborative products is certainly one crucial step.  

Most CIOs admitted to struggling with finding the right balance between corporate governance and collaborative flexibility.  And to make matters harder, their users are putting more and more demands on their IT department by expecting support for their consumer products.

By no means trivial, each CIO had their own plan for overcoming these challenges. The CIOs I spoke with seemed to have the same three items on their list for 2012 initiatives:

1.     Developing and executing a comprehensive cloud strategy
2.     Adapting existing IT governance and controls to better accommodate a cloud strategy
3.     Device agnostic mobile management strategies

These seemingly universal challenges are those that CIOs across all organizations will face in the months ahead. The content forced participants to think big and an atmosphere of innovation. Through Atmosphere 2011, the best and brightest forward-thinking CIOs, sought answers and shared concerns.
- Aric Bandy
Sunday
Jul312011

Agosto Recognized in Top 200 Cloud Experts

Talkin’ Cloud, the go-to guide for cloud computing in the IT channel, recognizes the industries top 200 experts on cloud computing.   Included on the list are representatives from Gartner, SugarCRM, RackSpace, Oracle, Cisco, Microsoft, and many others leading technology firms.  Agosto is honored to be included in such a distinguished list.

 

 

 

 Read More 

Monday
Mar212011

Agosto Featured In Twin Cities Business Feb 2011

Agosto, along with two of their existing customers, were featured in Twin Cities Business Magazines February 2011 edition in an article describing how Cloud Computing has help transform their organizations into more competitive, nimble and profitable organizations: Cloud Confidence. This article continues to solidify Agosto's position as a leader in consulting for cloud computing and SaaS based services.  Here is a downloadable copy of the article for your reference: 

 

 

 

 Download PDF 

Wednesday
Jan192011

Agosto Coffee Talk Series: MOVING TO THE CLOUD ~ Why should you care?

Available Dates:     Every 4th Thursday - January 27th, 2011 -  May 26th, 2011

Time:                       8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m

Location:                 AGOSTO Offices

                                Basset Creek Business Center 

                                901 N 3rd St. Suite 115, Minneapolis, MN 55401

                                For map [Click Here]

Phone:                    612.605.3520

 

Presentation Highlights

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In this fast-paced, interactive presentation, you will walk away with a good understanding of how your company can take advantage of Cloud Computing and what impact it may have on your bottom line.  Takeaways include:

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  • What is Cloud Computing?
  • Why Should I Care?
  • 2nd Wind Financial Case Study for Cloud and SaaS. 
  • What are the Best in Class Doing?
  • How Can I Determine if My Company is a Good Fit?

 

Presenter

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Aric Bandy, CEO of Agosto, has 15 years of industry experience. Since joining Agosto in 2007, Aric has become a well known and respected leader in Managed Services, Strategic Services and Cloud Computing. Through Agosto's Strategic practice, Aric provides valuable insight as CIO for several organizations, including 2nd Wind Exercise and Dunn Bros Coffee. Aric serves on the advisory board for Google, has had SaaS projects featured in Inc. Magazine, and continues to be a sought after public speaker on the topic.  

Monday
Sep272010

Managing a mobile workforce.  

Do you have a good strategy for managing mobile devices?  Do you buy devices for everyone or allow your users to use personal assets?  Each strategy has its strengths and weaknesses.  In the mid-market space I usually advocate that my clients put the responsiblity on the users and provide a reimbursement or stipend.  A decent strategy & technology plan will accomodate most major mobile devices.  When doing this its very important to establish an Acceptible Use Policy and leverage mobile controls (forced passwords, use remote wipe when phones are lost, etc.). 

This type of strategy is best for both the company and the individual.  The company doesn't have a big capital outlay and the responsibility of care & maintenance falls on the user.  The individual gets to use whatever carrier / plan / phone they want.  Additionally, this eliminates the two cell phone issues (personal & work).  It's really the best all-around strategy. 

Brien Posey recently wrote a great article on the technology side of supporting mobile devices, "10 things you should know about supporting mobile devices."  (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=1817&tag=nl.e108).  I agree with everything except having consistent devices and allowing personal devices.  I think Brien is coming from a corporate IT perspective.  Looking at things from more of a 'what's good for the business and the users' standpoint tends to support my perspective.     

- Aric Bandy

Wednesday
Sep222010

IT Budgeting Tips for the SMB Market

IT budgeting is always a key topic around this time of year.  I am always floored at how inaccurate most organization's IT budget is, worse yet that it’s considered normal. This isn't rocket science.  We're geeks; we're supposed to be good at math.  

 

In my years of managing IT budgets for client's as well as my own company, I've learned a few key things: 

 

1.     The budget should be detailed.  Too often SMBs don’t get granular in their IT budget, usually because the person tasked with creating the budget doesn't understand how (a finance person who doesn't understand IT or an IT person that doesn't understand budgeting).  

  • Capture all costs!  Maintenance agreements, Training, etc. 

2.     Budget for the unexpected. Let's face it, IT isn't perfect.  Look at historic trends to determine a reasonable amount for unplanned expenses.  

3.     Review previous year’s budgets to determine budget accuracy.  Senior management needs accurate budgets to make sound decisions.  You need to understand if you’re previous budgets were off and adjust accordingly.  You can even make this into a little game, what’s your % of error.  See if you’re more accurate than other departments.    

4.     Be realistic.  Senior management needs real numbers.  I’ve seen IT departments go to either extreme; projecting high so they have room for error or lack of proper planning and projecting low because they want to show that their department yields value.  The latter situation usually happens when a senior manager doesn’t understand IT and constantly focuses on just making it cheaper.  By simply complying, you’re not truly serving your organization. You have to advocate for an appropriate level of spending.    

5.     Understand the Strategic Vision.  The biggest mistake an IT department can make is to assume that next year will be the same as the last year.  Business changes rapidly, especially in this economy, and IT needs to change just as fast.  If you’re planning for next year’s budget you need to incorporate an appropriate amount to enable the organizations strategic goals.

6.     Get input from other departments.  IT only sees what IT sees.  There may be strategic discussions happening within other departments that have IT requirements.  You need to know what they are and plan accordingly. 

7.     Funnel Expense-reductions into an R&D account.  If you’re managing your expenses / budget well you’ll uncover savings.  Need a place to start, see Jody Gilbert’s recent post on 5 tips for controlling your budget (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/five-tips/?p=302&tag=nl.e106).  Funnel these savings into a special project or R&D fund.  Use these funds to exploring new ideas or ways to improve the business using IT, e.g. a cloud computing pilot, open source, etc. 

 

Hopefully you find these tips helpful.  If you other tips, please share! 

 

-        Aric Bandy

Tuesday
Jun292010

Living in the Clouds: SaaS 101

Last week I had the privilege of participating in a SaaS round-table for Proformative, a Silicon Valley Corporate Finance think tank.  We had a great discussion on SaaS and corporate IT governance.  I presented the following SaaS 101 presentation. 

- Aric Bandy