Cloud Secrets Used By Thriving CPAs and Other SMBs

1. I.T. Insights
Executive Briefing brought to you by:
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What’s “Cloud” to a CPA?

2. Presenter
Alberto Molina
Founder, SureTech, Inc
alberto@SureTech.com
212-481-1681
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3. The Cloud in Three Parts
• Vocabulary
• Global Trends
• Thriving CPAs
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4. CLOUD VOCABULARY
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5. 8
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

6. 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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7. “Cloudness”
• Self Provisioned (Click and Use)
• Standardized
• Locked Down (less customizeable)
• Modular
–Scalable (marginal cheapness)
–Elastic (bi-directional cheapness)
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8. 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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9. 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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10. The Cloud is Many Parts and Much Labor
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“CloudStack” courtesy of Ksankar

11. 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

12. Joe Don’t Care About the Parts
Parts and Labor Don’t Matter
- Joe just wants to talk with Mary
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Joe Mary
Cloud is what
Cloud does

13. GLOBAL TRENDS
The World Is Upside Down
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14. The Upside Down Triangle
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15. The Upside Down Triangle
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Executive
Management
Operations
Operations
Management
Executive

16. Workflow and The Edge
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17. Data Presentation
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18. Holistic Integration
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19. The Upside Down Triangle
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20. Leading From The Wide Edge
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Executive
Management
Operations
Operations / Tech Enabled /
Cyborg
Management
Executive

21. 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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22. Value Drives To Innovation Not
Tasks
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23. THRIVING CPA SECRETS
Cloud enabled Zen
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24. 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

25. #2 – Traditional I.T. is Value Drag
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Complexity
Maintenance
Confusion

26. Looking Forward
• Flee Friction
– Complexity
– Consulting
– Break / Fix
• Embrace Flow
– The Edge
– People
– Outcomes
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27. #3 – Mobility
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• Business Continuity
• Devices
• Remote Locations
• Customer Visits
*source: CSC Cloud Index

28. #4 – Security & Reputation
• Preparedness
– Network attacks every 2 minutes
• Policies / Audits / Enforcement
• Marketing – Reputation Market Places
– Yelp, Google+, Email, NPS
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*source: Symantec ISTR 20

29. #5 – New Expectations
• Millenial Staff
• Gen X / Y Customers
• Ubiquitous Collaboration with:
– Each Other
– Data
–From Everywhere
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30. #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 role
data stewardship is only half the battle....
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31. #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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32. 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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33. 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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34. A PLATFORM APPROACH
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35. SureOffice™ - Only The Parts You Need
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36. Solutions for your WorkFlow
• Data is Precious
• Hardware is disposable
• Tools and Data should be
securely available from
everywhere
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37. 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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38. Thank You
Alberto Molina
Founder
SureTech, Inc
1375 Broadway
New York, NY 10017
212-481-1681
alberto@suretech.com
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