blog

Right now, the buzz around cloud computing is endless. But, it’s just the latest trend. In the past, it’s been B2B marketplaces, best-of-breed solutions for targeted business challenges and even the internet as a whole. The hidden cost of innovation is that IT solution provider’s need to explain the value and viability of these emerging technologies to skeptical decision-makers who are heavily invested in the status quo. Eventually, you know, today’s innovation will become tomorrow’s legacy platform, but that doesn’t make getting over the hump any easier.

So, how do you approach a CIO or IT director with something new, like private cloud computing solution?

Well, cautiously.

Read the rest of this entry »

IT manufacturers and resellers have been looking into social media marketing, unsure of whether there’s an ROI case in it but understanding that eventually they’ll need to make the plunge. Well, an announcement by Dell yesterday shows that you should explore social media marketing … for all the right reasons.

Dell says that it has generated more than $6.5 million in sales via Twitter alone. The company’s broader social media presence – which includes Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube – has more than 3 million members, according to Manish Mehta, vice president of social media and community for Dell.

Let’s be realistic: $6.5 million is a drop in the bucket for Dell. At the same time, social media is but one part of its overall marketing strategy. So, it looks as though the return Dell has generated is at least close to proportional.

So, we should all rush over to Twitter and get started, right?

Read the rest of this entry »

If you aren’t thinking about cloud computing yet, it’s time for you to start. Now. Seriously. Sure, there’s been a lot of buzz around this for a while, and IT buyers are starting to buy into cloud computing services (especially in the small and medium-sized business segment). Services are popping up from some of the strongest brands in the IT industry, including EMC’s cloud-optimized storage, VMWare’s vCloud and Cisco’s cloud computing overlay for unified service delivery. But, the most interesting indicator of cloud adoption is that IT departments are hiring for it.

Your clients are so committed to exploring cloud computing that they are adding to their departments – in a tough market. According to a report by InfoWorld, mentions of “cloud computing” in job posts on Indeed.com are up 350,000 percent since January 2008.

Read the rest of this entry »