046 | Cloud Myths Debunked

I said, hey, you, get off of my cloud. Hey, you, get off of my cloud.

Yeah, yeah. So it goes without saying, we're gonna be talking a little bit about cloud today, and specifically, we're gonna debunk some cloud myths. So many people, "I came in, we've got clouds we're onto it. Yeah, pretty sweet man, got cloud, got cloud." Just this thing people have, they don't know ... it's like catching a cold. "I think I'm sick, maybe I'm sick. I'm not sure, maybe I've got over it, I don't even know."

People get this thing in their head, "I've got cloud, yep, sweet." But no one knows what it is, or if they actually have cloud or not. Let's compare it to the sickness that then. So, if you're sick you're like, "Oh, I think I'm getting sick. Oh yeah, I'm sick. Oh, now I think I'm getting over it. Now I think I'm over it." When you go and you think you're gonna die, and you don't even know, maybe you do, maybe you will, you don't know how sick you're gonna get. But cloud is the same, people go, "I've got cloud," they don't know what it is.

So we're gonna talk about these different cloud myths. When people say they've got cloud, all it means ... What cloud is, cloud is just your applications in a location that isn't within the physical location that you're at right now, in it's most simplistic terms. In a more complicated way, it can mean having your files in multiple other locations, that are not at the location that you're at now, and that can also be cloud.

If you have a website, and you're operating a mobile business, or you have a website, and you don't have an office, or you have a website, and you have an office, and you don't have all of your machines on all the time and your website stays live, and you're paying a hosting provider, they're hosting the website, your website's not hosted with you, therefore, it is in the cloud. So, you've had things in the cloud for years, it's just a buzz term, cloud hadn't come about to tell you that you had them in there for years.

Then people wanted to sell all this stuff, also the same stuff repackaged for a higher price, and so they started calling it cloud, and that's the short of it. Cloud can offer several advantages, when it comes to other things besides your website, though. You can host files through Box, OneDrive, Dropbox, and many others, that'll give you the ability to access your files remotely. Access your files when you're at home and away from the office, access your files on your computer, as well as on your phone. All these different file-based services store the files in a hosted solution called the cloud. That's all it is, it's a hosted solution called the cloud.

So, now that we know what the cloud is, and now that we know what a hosted solution is, let's look at the differences. You know that you've now got your files in the cloud, and your website in the cloud, but you still don't have everything in the cloud. If you've got collaboration tools, such as the ones that come with Google Suites, that let you use Sheets and Docs, and everything else, in and online environment, then that is also your documents in the cloud. So we're a couple of steps closer to getting everything in the cloud.

But that still doesn't mean your business is in the cloud. If you still have to sit in front of the same computer, with the desktop icons in the same locations, that does not mean that you are in the cloud. You still are reliant upon that computer with different things that are on that computer to work. If you're lucky enough to have set up your business, so that you can jump on at any internet café, and access absolutely everything to do with your business, it probably means that you have VDI, or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

If you've got Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, you may then have your desktop system in the cloud, which is awesome. So that means that from your mobile phone, and from any other computer around the world with the right authentication, you then have your desktop in the cloud. Your desktop in the cloud can then potentially communicate with Dropbox in the cloud, and communicate with your website in the cloud. Then you've got your desktop, your website and files in the cloud, but that doesn't mean everything's in the cloud.

Yet still, it'd be fair to say that most of your infrastructure is, but if you still have a fax machine for whatever reason, and a VCR, for exactly the same reason you have a fax machine. But honestly, if you still have a fax machine that's not in the cloud, then you're not completely in the cloud. You need to use services that'll allow for you to have a fax machine in the cloud, and there's many out there, they only cost $5-$10 a month, and that'll then mean that your fax machine's in the cloud. So now your business has your fax machine, your desktop, your files, and your website, all in the cloud.

How do you answer the phone at the moment? Yep, that's right, it might be through a corded phone, that's going through the wall, through a traditional PBX system, and if that is the case, then you're not in the cloud still. You need to get all of that stuff changed away and removed, and make sure that you're going with VoIP setups, or using IP PBX system, where everything to do with that is also in the cloud. If you've got all your phones in the cloud, and everything else to do with your desktop in the cloud, or you have everything coming through to your mobile phone, if you didn't wanna have it coming through to the desktop phone in the cloud, then you've got yet another thing, another element that's gone to the cloud.

I haven't covered off on one of the most important ones, that everyone talks about, and you might have picked up on it, that's right, your emails. Your emails. Emails through Office 365, if you're on the business Office 365 plan, not the box you bought from JB Hi-Fi or Officeworks, the business Office 365 ... I don't know why Microsoft decided to make more than 20 products with very, very, similar names, just to confuse people. If you have Office 365 Business Premium, or Business Essentials, and you're in the cloud or hosted exchange, then you're in the cloud, as I just said then. That means your emails are then also in the cloud.

You don't have to just settle with that, you can go with Google Suites and things like that for your emails as well. I personally have a preference towards Office 365, just from our clientele, but you do you. For the Office 365 stuff, that means your emails are also in the cloud. So, you've got everything in the cloud, what happens when someone posts something to you? Yeah, that's not in the cloud, that has not been resolved. If someone needs to post something to you, you have a physical address that people need to post it to. If you're trying to run a business that's in the cloud, the only reasons you'd really do that is to lower your capitol expenditure, to have a flexible office workspace, and to be able to go travelling, or be able to do things like that, where you're about to have a collaborative environment where everyone else can talk and work together, but not necessarily be working in the same physical location together.

There is virtual office spaces. For this example, it would count as having something in the cloud, 'cause it's not stored with you on premise, and you're able to change the delivery of where it goes at will. You can get these fantastic office places in Brisbane, and they're not that expensive, and think of it like a PO Box, that when it gets delivered to that location, they then forward it on to wherever the most updated address is that you've got there.

So now you've got all the infrastructure elements of your business in the cloud. Once you've got everything like that in the cloud, you wanna make sure that you're using tools that allow you to collaborate with your whole team, while in the cloud, while in a remote workspace, or maybe you still all come to the same physical workspace. For some reason you love greenhouse gas emissions and overheads with leases and bits and pieces. So, if that's your case, and that's you, that's cool.

If that is everything that you're doing there, and you're still coming together, there's still a whiteboard there that you can work on, otherwise there's tools for that as well. There's project management solutions and everything else. But don't for one moment think, because you've got your files in the cloud, or your emails in the cloud, that you are not running a business that still relies heavily on the hardware that you've got on premise. If you're running a business that still has physical hardware, that if I came in with a hammer, or a big water gun and sprayed it, and it meant downtime for you, more than a couple of minutes, more than running down to the shops and buying another computer and having access to everything, then your business isn't in the cloud. Stop fooling yourself, you've got bits and pieces just stored everywhere.

If anything, you've probably just created holes, and vulnerabilities, for people to be able to break into, and if you don't have two-factor authentication, and hardened security for any of these cloud applications. Any of the integrations that you have goes the same way. If you don't have solid API, that's application programming interface, integrations between these applications ... sounds like I'm a rapper, 'cause I'm just using IT stuffs. If you don't have this, then you're probably just creating problems for your business.

The reason you won't have everything going to the cloud, is to remove capitol costs, and to create flexibility. Ongoing, the cloud is more expensive, don't fool yourself. A cloud desktop, and the exact scenario that I just described, which is your whole business in the cloud, for a one computer business would be costing you hundreds of dollars a month. That's right, a month. That's without support, that's without anything else, that's just the costs of what it is.

If you are trying to run more than one computer, it's gonna be costing you exponentially more than hundreds of dollars every month, of course. If you have lots of computers, you're probably gonna need a server, and that means that needs to be in the cloud as well. That means any of your security policies need to be in the cloud, and you have to have tunnels coming through, so you can actually print from the cloud securely. It becomes quite an expensive activity, especially on the internet connections we have in Australia.

When it comes down to it, you still need to have infrastructure that's going to allow for you to connect into everything in the cloud. If everything is in the cloud, you're going to need to have fantastic infrastructure, and that's gonna cost an arm and a leg. $800-$2000 a month would not be unreasonable for internet connection for a business with 10-15 people. So, think about that when you're looking to move everything to the cloud, next time you're at a you're like, "Yep, everything's in the cloud," have a think about what is actually in the cloud, and what isn't in the cloud, and what the cloud means.

You might not need the full setup I just said then, but just make sure to use the terms correctly and appropriately for what it is that you have in the cloud. The cloud brings about more security problems than having it all on premise. If something goes wrong on premise, you can unplug your internet connection, and no one is getting in or out. In the cloud, you don't have that privilege. Hardware prices stay the same, roughly speaking. They increase, as per Moore's law, in the size and speed specifications, but if you go and buy hardware, and your cloud provider goes and buys hardware, it's gonna be about the same price. The only way they're making money is by overselling and under-delivering with what they're offering you, or they're charging you more than what it would have been to have it on premise.

A great example would be Office 365, only last month, went down for six hours for everyone in Australia, possibly elsewhere, but we know all of our clients said, "Our phones are ringing off the hook." So, we know that it was definitely Australia, and we couldn't do anything about it, except tell them, "Hold tight, they're onto it. We can see that it's down when we go to AussieOutages, we can't do anything about it just at the moment."

The cloud brings about removed responsibilities and less control. If your cloud provider's overselling, you're going to have slow performance, and this goes for websites as well. If your website's running slowly, it could be your host, or your cloud hosting provider, or whatever they're calling themselves nowadays. Which brings this back to the start of the conversation.

I said, hey, you, get off of my cloud. You, get off of my cloud. Hey, you, get off of my cloud. Don't hang around, 'cause you're making it slow. Oh ho ho.

That's it, get off my cloud. Think about it, yep. It's expensive to be in the cloud, a lot of security needs to be put in place, and I've hope you've enjoyed this episode, and you're laughing along with me. Even if it's at me, and it's kept you entertained.

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