According to the November 2012 Forrester Research, Inc. Report by Bill Martorelli: “Managed Hosting: Still Relevant Despite Cloud’s Rise”, it’s not.  While many business and IT leaders are excited about the promise of the cloud, they should also be thinking about whether or not it offers the right features and benefits for what they’re trying to accomplish.

As the report points out, customers still need hosting if and when:

• Workloads require control and security
• There are concerns about shared networking
• Workloads are diverse
• IT involvement is required vs. self-provisioning

You can read the full report or listen to a webinar replay, which addresses the different models and sourcing considerations.

The bottom line is that cloud isn’t all or nothing.  That’s why many enterprises are using hybrid delivery scenarios to meet the needs of diverse workloads.

Has your business identified which service is best suited for your specific needs?  When do you use hosting vs. hosted private cloud or more public as-a-service options? How is your business getting the most out of cloud?

I’m fairly new to the world of cloud, but it seems more and more businesses are using cloud to achieve greater efficiencies, process innovations, or competitive differentiation.  But I wonder if (or when) the expected efficiencies will become table stakes?  For companies that have already realized the benefits of cloud, will their competitors be able to catch up by also adopting cloud solutions?  How can a company take it to the next level to gain or retain their edge?

In a new IDC Analyst Connection sponsored by AT&T, Melanie Posey explores The Network Enabled Cloud: The Next Phase of Cloud Evolution.  This type of solution offers a pre-integrated cloud and network architecture that provides end to end security with the cloud resources as additional nodes on the client’s corporate network.  A network-enabled cloud also allows an enterprise to leverage the other features of their MPLS VPN, such as quality-of-service routing and traffic management and prioritization.  There is less implementation effort and expense and bandwidth is used more efficiently.  According to Posey, network enabled cloud can also help enterprises think more broadly about their cloud strategies.

Network enabled cloud computing is well suited for:

• Mission critical apps that require a highly secure environment
• Collaborative and follow-the-sun type applications that require portability
• ERP applications that require lower latency and greater throughput

Posey also explores what to look for in a network enabled cloud provider such as SLAs, the service provider’s network and data center footprints, and the ability to connect to other clouds.

With network-enabled cloud computing from AT&T, the network resources are able to flex together with the compute resources provisioned as depicted in this new infographic on Why the Network Matters in Cloud Computing.  This allows the user to engineer optimal performance and avoid over provisioning.  In fact, enterprises can save as much as 60% on networking.

It seems to me that cloud network enablement combines the scalability of public cloud with the enterprise-grade security, performance, data availability and control of private cloud.  This may alleviate the security concerns enterprises have about adopting cloud for mission-critical workloads and allow them to take their IT transformation to the next level.

While I won’t be tackling an Ironman triathlon anytime soon, I am excited at the challenge to learn more about cloud and raise the bar.

What is your business doing to “go beyond” the usual with cloud in 2013?

The move toward tablets marks a significant acceleration point for the adoption of softclient solutions, and we would expect that video softclients will be pervasively deployed on all multifunction tablet devices used in the enterprise – whether enterprise supplied or employee-owned.[1]

So, why aren’t we all using video clients installed on our corporate desktops and mobile devices?

Clearing the Hurdles

While professionals may feel comfortable with video chatting on their personal smartphones, delivering that same experience to the business world presents several challenges.

Employees generally can’t bring their tablets to work and connect to colleagues through an unsecured application. Technology adoption in a corporate environment requires strategic planning. In order to implement video conferencing, companies need to develop a compelling business case and find an executive advocate to move the project forward.

IT departments also face a number of questions related to video: What software will the company use? Which devices will support video? Will video conferencing be restricted to communications between employees?

Nemertes Research found that nearly 74 percent of businesses expressed interest in video conferencing systems that work outside of the corporate firewall – a key consideration when collaborating with customers, vendors or partners. And yet only 47 percent have already deployed these systems. [2]

Businesses cite different reasons for proceeding slowly with the launch of video collaboration tools: concerns about bandwidth, complexity associated with developing interoperable solutions, and lack of understanding of the technology.

But if a company has to tighten its travel policy to reduce expenditures or if a disaster prevents employees from coming to work, the benefits of video conferencing will likely become quite evident. With the widespread adoption of the smartphone and tablet enabling video capabilities, the idea of the mobile worker has become more of a reality given the leaps technology has taken over the last five years.

There are three key customer needs service providers must take into account for business video conferencing to reach its full potential: security, simplicity and flexibility. The usefulness of video grows as the number of endpoints or channels users can connect to increases. There is a growing need for users to connect to suppliers, partners, and customers outside their company to improve collaboration while decreasing travel costs.

For example, an electronics manufacturer may want to have regular meetings with a supplier who is working on a key component for a piece of equipment being developed. Or a financial firm may have outsourced programming of an important business application and wants to project manage the effort remotely. These business-to-business and business-to-customer applications won’t happen unless the users are confident they can connect to each other in a secure way.

Along with security, businesses want simplicity. Service providers and equipment manufacturers working together and making the technology easy-to-use is one key reason behind the success of immersive video capabilities like telepresence. With cloud-based applications, users can arrange meetings using their familiar calendar applications and start a meeting just pushing a single button. And they don’t have to worry about adjusting cameras and microphones. Customers want this kind of simplicity with all types of video calling.

Finally, conferencing tools for businesses must be flexible.  Customers should be able to connect from their preferred device fluidly across different networks, whenever they need to. Service providers need to support a broad continuum of endpoints including smartphones, tablets, traditional PCs, desktop video units as well as multi-purpose and immersive room-based systems. Industry cooperation is needed to build “borderless networks” enabling video connections without users worrying about who provides the endpoint connectivity. Equipment manufacturers play a significant role in ensuring the end devices will work together. Service providers, equipment providers and other players are working together in a number of industry forums to bring about this flexibility.

What factors are holding your company back from using video conferencing? Is it time to take another look at the possibilities and its potential to boost productivity?

Whether meeting with employees, customers, or suppliers, everyone in your organization can use telepresence.

Of course, not all business meetings can or should be done via telepresence, but best practice companies are shifting a portion of their in-person meetings to telepresence as a way to save travel costs, enhance productivity and speed decision making.

In addition, meetings traditionally conducted via phone and web conference can be conducted via telepresence in order to enhance the communication with facial expressions and body language. This non-verbal behavior can provide a more complete context alongside the words and tone of voice.

Check out our latest infographic that highlights some of the economic and environmental benefits companies can receive using telepresence:

To find out how telepresence can benefit your organization, contact your AT&T representative for a complimentary Value Case Analysis. This step-by-step method and business transformation process can help you measure the potential business impact.

Are you using Telepresence for communication now?  If so, how is it working?  If not, what do you need to move into that space?  We look forward to hearing your comments.

Companies that have interactive and entertaining demonstrations will be more successful in drawing attendees into their booth. The demonstration will also be more memorable after the event.

AT&T created two new interactive demos this year using telepresence. At the National Association of Broadcasters show in April, attendees in the AT&T booth were treated to an intimate concert with Jewel. Jewel performed via telepresence from a studio in California and interacted with the NAB audience in Las Vegas as well as a dozen other telepresence locations in North America.  In addition to enjoying the performance, attendees were able to experience what can be done with telepresence technology.

At the Oracle OpenWorld show more recently, attendees participated in a virtual wine tasting. No, the wine was not virtual! The Moscone Center catering staff helped open and pour the wine at the AT&T booth in San Francisco. The sommelier provided instructions and commentary from a telepresence location in New York. Attendees crowded the booth to hear the content being delivered. And while having dinner, an AT&T employee overheard patrons at the next table discussing the wine tasting they had attended via telepresence!

The ability to bring in an expert via telepresence not only enhanced the conversation, but delivered  an outstanding experience that may not have been achieved otherwise due to budgetary, time constraints or other factors.

In addition to driving traffic to the booth during the tradeshows, these demos also serve to highlight what can be done with telepresence using today’s technology. As video conferencing technology becomes more pervasive, other companies will likely invest in the technology at/for tradeshows as well to…

• Create a more interactive, memorable experience for attendees
• Deliver key speakers or other entertainment
• Offer content to participants that couldn’t attend in person

In addition, there are many other benefits for a business using telepresence technology. The cost savings are obvious (travel savings) yet an even greater advantage can be the ability to tap into a variety of people in diverse locations during a business meeting. This way you get input from key thought leaders regardless of geography. Other benefits include reduced carbon emissions.

As you develop your 2012 marketing plans for trade shows and other events, consider the use of telepresence technology to achieve not only cost savings (where needed) but also the added benefits of bringing in experts to “be there” as part of the event. And don’t limit it to just one expert. With today’s technology you can tap into two, three or more experts either simultaneously or in succession to add a powerful educational component to your event. In a tight economy, this added value at very low cost can be appealing to many businesses.

What types of demonstrations have grabbed your attention at tradeshows? Have you experienced or utilized telepresence in a tradeshow environment? Let us know what has worked for you. Also, let us know what you’re thinking about. We look forward to your comments.

Similarly, many customers ask me during telepresence demonstrations “Can I see myself?”  I explain that telepresence is replicating a face to face meeting.  You can’t see yourself when you sit down across a physical conference table from someone, and sitting across a virtual table is no different.

But I understand where they are coming from.  Telepresence is different.  I am a frequent telepresence user, and I still have the urge to fix my hair, check my teeth and apply lipstick before entering the meeting.  I don’t have this compulsion before walking into a conference room for an in-person meeting.  Why is video so different from face to face?  And why do people want to see themselves?

For starters, there is a camera pointed at you.  And aside from most children I know, people become self-conscious when there is a camera pointed at them.  My advice is to confront that fear head on!  One best practice of using telepresence, video or a webcam is to look at the camera when you are talking to provide eye contact to the remote participants.

Jenn Flaa explains how this is also valuable in establishing a connection with your audience.  In a telepresence meeting, you can vary your gaze to see the reaction the other participants have to what you are saying, but try to center yourself back on the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsA8kz6tdhg&feature=related

It may take a little practice, but I can attest it can become second nature.  You may even find you enjoy talking to the camera.  Get in touch with your unguarded inner child and pretend you are fulfilling your childhood dream of being a news anchor.  (Or was that just me?)

Does anyone have any other best practices to share on using telepresence?  Do you act differently in a telepresence meeting than an in-person one?  Why? We look forward to your comments.

Unfortunately, the goal my son scored was offset by the one he missed when he took a turn as goalie. His team lost the game, and I did my best to explain that the loss wasn’t his fault. I told him to shake it off and to count the numerous shots he’d saved. The offense could have scored more and the defense could have stopped the ball before it got to him in goal. It’s the team’s collective effort, I told him, that determines the outcome of the game.

Learning to work together toward a common goal is one of the reasons I signed my kids up for sports. Sports teach children a number of valuable life lessons that will be useful throughout their education, their future employment, and as members of society.  But there’s more to it than that.

On a macro level, these life lessons also apply to our efforts to help save our planet:

1. We have to work as a team. You may think that small acts like turning off your PC at night, unplugging appliances when not in use, or using a ZERO charger may not make much of a difference.  If everyone decided, “I’m not going to bother,” we wouldn’t get anywhere.  But as more and more people do energy-saving things like these, collectively we can cause a positive impact. By acting in these small ways, consumers and businesses help increase their energy efficiency.
2. Perseverance. If you turn off the tap water when you brush your teeth a single time, it won’t make an impact, but if you make it a habit, it will. And we need to continually innovate and look for alternative energy sources:  Install solar panels. Use alternative fuel vehicles.
3. Practice. You may not be in the habit of taking reusable bags to the grocery store [or you may remember to put them in the car, but then forget to carry them into the store…], but it will become second nature after a while.  Now when I leave for the store, I grab by wallet, my keys, my shopping list and my reusable bags!
4. Count what we save. Look for strategies to “reduce, reuse, recycle,” and to help offset your carbon emissions.  Use refillable containers for coffee and water. Use information communication technology like telepresence and web conferencing and subsequently avoid travel. You’ll increase productivity and avoid carbon emissions.
5. Aim for the goal. Have something to work toward: Create a personal goal and/or one for your company. If my son hadn’t been aiming for the goal, his shot wouldn’t have trickled in.  As hockey great Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”

Even if you’re of the mindset that carbon emissions and global warming aren’t viable issues, the over-arching issue remains: our planet doesn’t have unlimited natural resources. Numerous countries have problems supplying their citizens with clean drinking water. Unlike my son’s soccer game, saving our planet is not a game we can afford to lose.

I realize this may not be shocking to some of you. It’s a fairly simple application, but it made me start thinking about all the mobility applications that have come about in such a short period of time. The first smartphone didn’t appear until 2008 and in just a few years there seem to be countless “apps,” a word now embedded in our language.

As a result of mobile phones, people have changed how they live and work. It’s amazing that one device allows you to call, text and email, keep your address book and calendars, buy and listen to music, take and share photos, play video games, check your stocks, track how far you just ran, order food for pick-up, and so on.

According to panelists who participated in a recent discussion, “Digital Megatrends” in the ‘new normal’ economy,” hosted by Oxford Economics, mobile devices and applications have become so popular they are helping to close the digital divide. Cell numbers are the most stable address that some people have. One panelist cited the example of a classroom of high school students. All the students had smartphones even though a large percentage of them were from families that could barely afford food and clothing. I’m sure most of us would allocate a place for our mobile phones in Maslow’s hierarchy, but putting it equal to or above basic necessities? To me that speaks volumes about the future of mobile broadband.

And now we have tablet PCs and the promise of mobile video calling. With these new devices, users can leapfrog older technologies altogether. It makes me wonder what new products and applications will be available in another five years. If only they could come up with an application to make skiing cheaper…

Have you seen or experienced something that illustrates how mobile devices are closing the digital divide?

Guess what?  The ability to be connected virtually anytime, anywhere doesn’t mean that you have to be! One of my resolutions is better time management.  I’m going to be on time for meetings.  I’m going to log off email during the day to avoid distractions and allow for project work.  And I’m going to log off in the evening to spend time with my family and be refreshed for another productive day.  (Sounds great, doesn’t it?  We’ll see how long I last!)

Time to Work Smarter

Another way to work smarter is to collaborate virtually via telepresence rather than traveling to meet face-to-face. When you include packing, traveling to the airport, getting through security, waiting for the plane, flight time, delays, getting a rental car, checking into your hotel, etc., even a short haul flight can take 4 to 5 hours out of your day. This time can be better invested elsewhere and make you much more productive.

Even for those of you who don’t travel, telepresence can increase your productivity.  Through telepresence, you’re able to see the facial expressions and body language of people in remote locations so you know if they understand and agree with what you’re saying . This enables faster decision-making and stronger relationships with colleagues, customers, partners and suppliers.

Telepresence won’t replace all face-to-face meetings.  But what if your company conducted one out of every five business trips via telepresence? Is that a resolution you could make?  Think of the positive impact you could have on business velocity. Now that’s what I call working smarter.

A mother of two young boys, O’Brien works from her home in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. Working out of a home office can make it difficult for O’Brien to “turn off,” she says, adding, “I have this freakish need to be productive.” When she’s not working, she enjoys running, taekwondo and yoga, volunteering for the PTA and creating “works of heart” in scrapbooking and quilting. She’s also found her way into the social media arena—not only by participating in AT&T’s Networking Exchange Blog, but also by connecting on B2B business forums “as a way to talk among each other,” she says, “and share best practices.”