WEBVTT
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.240
Are you ready to make technology work for you?
00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:14.560
Tune in to Act on Tech, the podcast where we break down the latest tech trends and show you how to boost your productivity at home and in your business.
00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:23.199
So subscribe to Act On Tech today and visit alexcustomtech.com to see how we can take your business to the next level.
00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:27.679
That's Acton Tech, your guide to smarter tech for a smarter business.
00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:31.679
Alex Custom Tech, IT means integrity and trust.
00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:33.679
Okay, hi.
00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:40.880
I am uh Alex of Alex Custom Tech, and you listen to Acton Tech.
00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:44.320
We talk all things technology and this is part two.
00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:49.359
And so we're gonna continue with where I left off.
00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:53.840
I left off at uh at SAS, so it's S-A-A-S.
00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:12.239
Um, I don't know if I I don't know if I I don't think I ever it's it's a software as a service, that's what it that's what the acrement means, and I'm gonna I'm gonna talk about that in in part two of this topic.
00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:22.560
So this applies to software as a service applications also, so SAS doesn't eliminate your backup decisions, right?
00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:34.560
So maybe your CRM is in the cloud, or maybe your accounting system is in the cloud, or maybe your business documentations are in the cloud.
00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.359
That's convenient, right?
00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:44.400
But you should still understand how that provider handles your your data.
00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.599
We talk about that in passing before in part one.
00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:51.120
Because about where the responsibilities lie, right?
00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:57.840
So can you export the data that you have there in the cloud with that system?
00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:03.599
Can you restore the deleted information if it's if it's been deleted, right?
00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:11.280
Because again, the question is what you're responsible for and what the provider is responsible for, right?
00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:17.680
And you should still understand how the provider handles your data, right?
00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:24.159
So how long the information is retained in that in that in the cloud system, right?
00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:28.719
What happens if you accidentally remove something, right?
00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:32.719
What happens if you cancel the service, right?
00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:36.639
How do you get your data back?
00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:41.759
Does does any how I say it?
00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:48.719
Does all these questions you have to ask yourself when you're thinking about your SaaS setup, right?
00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:52.960
And does these responsibility business questions you do those?
00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:56.960
I mean these are the responsible business questions.
00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:58.319
What I'm trying to say, right?
00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:09.520
You have to ask yourself when you have the SaaS system in place, so you should understand where your important information lives and how you can recover it if you have to recover it, right?
00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:18.800
So your internet connection becomes more important in this situation because without the internet, you really can't get to the cloud.
00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:31.120
We talked about that before, and this connects directly to other episodes that we've talked about with a single point of failure and that kind of stuff.
00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:44.479
But more the more things you move to the cloud, the more important your internet becomes because now you depend on the internet to get the all your resources that are located somewhere else.
00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:55.039
So if your account system is local or your internet goes down, maybe your account your code systems keep curve keep working.
00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:03.360
If it's local, if it's not not like, for instance, like what I'm getting example, I'm talking about cloud-based system, but locally.
00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:14.719
So um if in some in some of the some of the clients that I have, they use something called UKJ, UKJ, and that's how they they keep track of uh employee hours and stuff like that, right?
00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:21.759
So the system that is installed over the offices, it will record the time whether the internet's up or down.
00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:29.040
So see if the internet goes down, it can people can still punch in and punch out of the system, and it can still record your time.
00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:34.000
As soon as the internet comes back up, it'll dump all the stuff out to the cloud, it'll synchronize the cloud.
00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:37.680
So that's kind of like a little redundancy built into that application.
00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:40.000
But every application like that, right?
00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:55.759
So moving accounting into the cloud is something you gotta think about what the things that that come with it, and all the internet access may be required or not be required, or or what happens if you give you like a safety situation, like I just play with UKJ, UKJ.
00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:05.920
So internet, cloud files, internet, cloud CRMs, internet, cloud point of sales, internet, right?
00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:13.759
So whenever you have anything fitted with the cloud and the service that runs in the cloud, you're gonna have to need you need the internet to get to that service.
00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:15.279
Think about that.
00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:25.600
So again, I'm not saying that's bad, but I'm I'm um but you are chained to that dependency, right?
00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:35.839
You remove some of the responsibility from your local infrastructure, great, but increase the dependency on the connectivity to the internet, and that's the trade-off.
00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:37.199
We talk about this all the time.
00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:39.839
Talk about that there's no solution in life but trade-off.
00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.439
This is what I'm coming to like.
00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:47.600
So you can decide okay, I'm gonna put all of my systems on the cloud, then you need the internet to be there.
00:05:47.759 --> 00:06:09.199
So now you're gonna really need a um two different ISP instead of just one because you really, really need the internet to get to all your resources, or you can have a hybrid where you have some stuff in the cloud, some stuff locally, or maybe some things kind of like the UKG example where it can work on its own, but need to dump off the information on the on the internet every once in a while.
00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:10.800
That's something you can think about.
00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:17.360
Get with your ISP, get with your um your your MSP, and you can like work out which software works for you, and it depends on your business too.
00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:31.839
Like a lot of people who work from home, a lot of people who have like uh you know work from home, they rely on the the cloud stuff because then they're very mobile, they can do things, they can go anywhere, and that might record for them, but it's still gonna be a drawback, right?
00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:52.800
If the internet go down, or they have an internet, they gotta go to a uh a cafe shop and stuff like that, and that might expose them or expose you might have hip high issue situation where you gotta be careful where you work or who you're around and that kind of stuff, or who can see your laptop, so all these things come into play when you're thinking about this, right?
00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:04.800
So think about like two dual internet providers, you have like your regular ISP and you have like a cell phone provider as a failover.
00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:07.040
That's something you probably can think about, right?
00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:08.480
So, there you go.
00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:13.120
So, maybe you need to know which application can operate offline.
00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:18.800
That's that the kind of planning business should be doing if you're thinking about this.
00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:21.519
So, what happens when your provider goes down?
00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:31.199
Right, here's another uncomfortable large cloud provider can outage outage can cost.
00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:36.079
So, very good infrastructure doesn't mean perfect infrastructure, nothing is perfect.
00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:37.439
We talked about that before.
00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:44.800
So, ask yourself what happens if one of your critical cloud service becomes unavailable?
00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:47.680
Can the employee do anything?
00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:50.319
Can your customer still reach you?
00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:55.120
Can you access important information in other ways?
00:07:55.600 --> 00:08:23.040
Do you have a manual procedure if the technical one goes down, or does anybody simply share a screen until the provider comes back up, which I've seen before, or some service weight thing may be perfectly reasonable, and others you need to a continuity plan, a continual plan a continuity plan again.
00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:28.399
Business it depends on your business and depends on how you how you do things, right?
00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:37.360
So, and this is the question you have to ask yourself like what happens when the provider goes down, what happens when either the provider or the internet goes down, right?
00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:43.200
The cloud can move the single point of failure from one thing to another thing.
00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:44.639
But let me talk about that.
00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:55.200
This is something I really want to emphasize, emphasize moving something into the cloud can eliminate certain single point of failure.
00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:01.200
Maybe you no longer depend on one physical server sitting in the office, right?
00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:14.639
That's good, but if everything on your business now depends on one cloud account, you just move the point of failure.
00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:18.080
You may have created another single point of failure.
00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:22.159
What happens if you lose account access?
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:25.840
What happens if your administrator account gets locked out?
00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.399
What happens if billing fails?
00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:30.639
That happens too, right?
00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:39.120
What happens if the person who generally creates the account leaves the company or doesn't come in or something like that?
00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:44.480
We move the dependencies, we haven't necessarily eliminated.
00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:47.200
That's why documentation still matters.
00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:48.720
See how things come into play.
00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:58.399
All the things I'm talking about over the past couple of years, say uh comes together right here in this in this simple thing about about cloud, it's not it's somebody else's computer.
00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:02.240
So people think that it's in the cloud, it's somebody's responsibility.
00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:03.440
No, it's not.
00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:09.440
You move some of the responsibility over to them, but you still retain a whole bunch, and that's for that one.
00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:11.840
Actually, you know, something can get across, right?
00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:16.240
So who owns the account?
00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:23.759
Here's a problem small business should think about who actually owns your cloud account.
00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:27.360
So your so makeup.
00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:37.039
So was your website dominion registered under your own business account or or other website designer personal account?
00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:40.639
So websites, sometime people make a synopsis what I'm talking about.
00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:45.519
Sometimes you might ask somebody to build a website for you, right?
00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:59.360
If you don't know the process, they might get the domain name, own the domain name, and they let you use and you give it a website and say, Hey, website is finished, and you don't know who actually owns the domain name.
00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:00.720
That could be a problem.
00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:07.919
If something happens, you're gonna you need to change something or update something or or do something with the website.
00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:11.200
You gotta get his permission, even though you ask him to do it.
00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:19.759
You have to make sure you get secure the domain name for yourself first, then get somebody to build a website, and then you attach the domain to the website.
00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:21.840
That's what I recommend, right?
00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.200
Um, who creates the Microsoft 360 account?
00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:27.360
Who controls the DNS?
00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.399
Who owns the cloud backup account?
00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:32.000
Who controls the billing?
00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:35.919
Which email address receives password recovery messages?
00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:54.480
You don't want to discover during an emergency that a critical business service technically belongs to somebody else, or who's who isn't working for you anymore, or haven't worked for you the last three years, or you fire them or the fire MSP or whatever.
00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:55.679
You don't know what they what they own.
00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:56.960
That can be just very important.
00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:01.840
Business technology should be owned and controlled by you, by the business.
00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:17.279
Your IT provider may manage it, your website developer may manage it, a consultant may manage it, but the business should understand where the keys are.
00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:21.679
Okay, moving on.
00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:24.559
The cloud doesn't replace documentation.
00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:28.320
Beat this one like a dead horse, but I'm beating it.
00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:32.799
This is another misconception.
00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:38.639
Cloud systems still need documentation, doesn't matter, it still needs it.
00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:43.919
And we talked about it before with spreadsheet, and and and it's not hard to do, especially with AI.
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.000
It's very good to do with AI now.
00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:48.720
What service are you using?
00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:50.320
Who manage them?
00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:52.960
Who has administrative access?
00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:56.080
When does the subscription renew?
00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:59.279
How is it built?
00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.480
What data is stored there?
00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:04.320
Very important one.
00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:06.960
What other systems connect to it?
00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.200
What is the recovery procedure?
00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:15.519
Who do you contact when there's an issue or is MSP?
00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:16.159
Right?
00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:24.000
If if your entire cloud strategy exists inside somebody else's memory, that's a problem.
00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:28.960
Technology may be modern, the management process isn't.
00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:34.799
Okay, so permissions still matter, permissions permissions still matter.
00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:40.960
Alright, so let's talk about permissions and file permissions and who have access to what and that kind of stuff.
00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:42.960
It's kind of annoying, but it's important.
00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:47.360
So cloud collaboration makes sharing incredibly easy.
00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.679
Talk about synchronization to it, right?
00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:52.159
Google does this a lot, and Google is very good at this.
00:13:52.240 --> 00:14:01.440
You can create a document in Google, Google Docs, and you can say who can just read it, who can edit it, who you share it with, who you're not sharing it with, that kind of stuff.
00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:15.600
Like you have like uh a tier system in your business where you have like certain emails for for subordinates and certain emails for management teams, and then you send out certain emails, they get it, or you send certain documents, only they can see it.
00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:25.440
That's very good because sometimes information is on a need-to-know basis or departmentalize based on their role.
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:29.679
So that's like so the sharing document thing comes in handy, right?
00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:35.840
And cloud does that very well, and um that's one of the things people love about it, right?
00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.519
So click share, send link, done, right?
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:47.360
But but easy sharing also means business need to think about who has access to what.
00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:50.639
Does everybody need access to every folder?
00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:56.159
Is something shared publicly that shouldn't be?
00:14:56.799 --> 00:14:59.679
Does a farmer contractor still have access?
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.240
Can employees share sensitive files outside the organization?
00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:05.759
Do you need policies?
00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:07.440
Do you need permissions?
00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:11.600
And periodically you need to review them.
00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:14.159
Yes, that's a good one, too.
00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:18.879
The provider gives you the tools, but you have to actually manage the tools, right?
00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:19.759
Very important.
00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:24.159
Updates don't completely disappear because it's in the cloud.
00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:26.000
That's another thing, too.
00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:32.639
Right, with many cloud applications, the provider handles software updates.
00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:35.759
That's another huge advantage to cloud.
00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:36.879
I agree.
00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:43.519
You don't have to manually install every new version of the server, yada yada yada.
00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:47.279
But changes can still affect your business.
00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:53.039
A provider changes the interface, people get freaked out by that kind of stuff sometimes, you know.
00:15:53.600 --> 00:16:03.440
Um, features might be removed, features might be added, integration changes, an API might change, make stuff not work my way it used to work.
00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:08.960
Um, a feature gets disconnected, security policy changes, right?
00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:17.519
Suddenly, workflow employees have used to two years of doing things a certain way, finding applications here and there.
00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:18.879
Now they can't find it.
00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:25.600
That's why everybody needs to pay attention to the technology and the business depend the business dependent.
00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:34.159
Manage by the provider doesn't mean you know, irrelevant to you.
00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.159
Now, another one vendor lock-in.
00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:48.159
There's another question business should ask themselves how difficult would it be to leave us uh a provider, right?
00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:52.960
I've thought about provider, I thought about um not MSP, talking about cloud providers, right?
00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:59.840
So this doesn't mean you should constantly be jumping from one provider to another provider.
00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:10.319
I'm not saying it, but remember, I I just did an entire episode called When Technology You know Works, Leave It Alone.
00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:20.079
But if the service works, great, use it, but understand that understand your exit path, put it like that.
00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:22.160
Understand how you can leave, you have to leave.
00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:25.119
So you can export your can you can you export your data?
00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:26.480
Like it's a question you're gonna ask yourself.
00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:30.960
If you want to leave, can you move the data from that to wherever you're gonna put it?
00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:34.079
What format does it come in?
00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:38.079
Would another application be able to use it?
00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:41.680
How long would migration take?
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.640
Does the business have documentation?
00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:53.279
You know, the more critical a service becomes, the more important these questions I'm asking.
00:17:53.359 --> 00:18:11.599
I'm telling you to ask yourself becomes, and maybe I'm doing a lot of these ask yourself these questions in my podcast, but I just want you to like to think about things kind of way a tech guy would think about things, not that you're gonna actually um not that you're gonna, you know, be a tech guy yourself, right?
00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:18.960
But if you are talking to the MSP, this is kind of the things you want to talk about with them to kind of like be on the same page with them.
00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:42.000
Because I'm I'm I don't I think I think you don't wanna I mean I can't say you can't be ignorant that would be a false because I think I think MSPs are really here to help you, so they're not gonna like take advantage of you, and again, I'm just I'm not talking talking generality, but I mean for the most part these guys, MSPs like myself, we're just doing this because we love it, and it's our passion, and that's why we're doing it.
00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:45.200
So nobody's trying to really get one over on you.
00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:49.440
I'm not saying it does happen, I just think it's far and few between.
00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:55.599
But I think going in there with some knowledge is very important, and going there with some understanding is very important.
00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:05.039
Understand what a cloud is, understand localize things, think about what you want to local what you want to put in the cloud, talk to the MSP, he's gonna give you feedback because he knows more than you do.
00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:09.440
I'm not saying he you know more than him, but again, you don't go in there ignorant, right?
00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:18.480
Like, for instance, like people who do the taxes, you know you gotta pay your federal taxes, and you know you gotta pay local tax, but you still go to the accountant, and the accountant know more than you do, right?
00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:25.119
So you still understand that you have to pay your taxes, and you have to understand you're gonna pay your local and federal, but you still go to the accountant.
00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:25.759
That's what I'm saying.
00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:33.759
So your MSP can help you through this, but you still go in there with some kind of questions like yo, listen, I have this server here and it runs this and this and this.
00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:37.440
I mean, do I can I move this to the code or should I keep it here or whatever?
00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:41.359
And think about like what will work if the internet goes on or not.
00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:43.759
Like, these are some of the questions you have to ask yourself, right?
00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:52.319
Now, let's talk about another thing that I'm realizing clients are doing, and it's kind of what triggered this whole this whole podcast to begin with.
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:55.519
Because I came across this a couple weeks ago and I wanted to talk about it.
00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:57.359
Now, free cloud service.
00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:00.160
Let's talk about free cloud service, all right.
00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:05.279
And we all use it to some degree, but in business, let's break it down.
00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:14.799
So, free cloud service and small business and small business need to be careful with free cloud service.
00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:18.720
So, free isn't automatically bad.
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:22.799
There are excellent free tools out there.
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:24.960
I myself even use them, right?
00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:38.559
But when something becomes operationally critical, you need to understand what you're getting, what's supported or what support is available?
00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.240
For free stuff, you don't really get no support in the car, it's free, right?
00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:45.839
You can't call nobody for help because you ain't paying for it, right?
00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:49.119
So what's guaranteed?
00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:53.279
What guarantees are you getting from the provider, right?
00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:57.519
What happens if the company changes the free plan?
00:20:57.680 --> 00:20:58.720
What happened then?
00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:02.400
Um, what happens if your account is suspended?
00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:12.559
If the business depends on the service, you need to evaluate it like a business service.
00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:23.839
So I'm gonna repeat that if the business depends on the service, you need to evaluate it like a business service, not simply well, it's free, you can't do that.
00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:27.279
You know, I mean that's kind of not good, right?
00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:40.319
So sometimes paying for an app an an appropriate business plan or buy you know something that cloud service offer, right?
00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:52.400
You get management, you get support, you get security, you get features, you get you know retention or administrative control over the actual thing that you're paying for.
00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:54.960
You get more control, right?
00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:59.680
I mean, again, it's a trade off, like so much all the time, so convenience can.
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:04.160
Another thing convenience can hide complexity.
00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:05.279
Talk about that.
00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:09.759
Either convenient or CF.
00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:11.200
Secure.
00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.759
If you can secure, not convenient.
00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:15.839
If you're convenient, you're not secure.
00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:24.160
So once of so one of the reasons cloud service becomes so successful or became so successful is because of the ease of use.
00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:27.839
And and easy to start using.
00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:29.039
Ease of use.
00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:29.920
And that's good.
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.160
And people love those ease of use things.
00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:38.240
But you can create an account in five minutes.
00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:40.400
Normally, what happens with closed service?
00:22:41.519 --> 00:23:01.279
Then three years later, the company has 27 users, shared folders, external collaborators, in you know, integrated automation, building information, and me for the tools, years of data.
00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:07.119
Now simply, now your simple account has become part of a company infrastructure.
00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:07.920
What do you do?
00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:09.039
You're locked in.
00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:11.119
You don't want that, right?
00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:14.960
Okay, so that's not so that's not something you gotta think about.
00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:18.799
So the convenience is there, yes, but think about the trade-off with that.
00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:27.039
You don't want to be locked into something because it was convenient, and then later on when you're gonna migrate or move or expand your problem, right?
00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:30.000
So shadow it, we'll talk about that again.
00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:32.079
Shadow IT and the cloud.
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:40.000
So shadow it and the cloud, and this is where shadow it can creep in.
00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:45.279
An employee needs to solve a problem, right?
00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:51.200
They find the online service, create an account, upload their files, problem solved.
00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:51.680
Right?
00:23:51.839 --> 00:24:00.799
Nobody tells IT that they did that, nobody documented it, you know, because somebody just had a problem and they solve it, you know, off to the side, and we didn't know about it.
00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:05.920
Then another employees start using it, then another, then another.
00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:19.200
Then two years later, important business information is in this thing that nobody never knew about, and nobody didn't tell anybody about it, and if no documentation, and voila that happens and not good.
00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:20.319
We don't want to do that.
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:23.920
Okay, maybe the employee who created it leaves.
00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:29.599
Maybe the cloud, maybe the cloud makes a technology incredibly accessible.
00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:41.839
That's a strength, but the business still needs some governance around what service is being used, right?
00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:46.079
Cloud service is a partnership.
00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:50.559
So when people ask, is the cloud service secure?
00:24:50.799 --> 00:25:10.640
My answer is usually that's not enough information nine times out of ten, because it depends which cloud service, which service, how is it configured, how are the accounts protected, who have access?
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:12.720
Is MFA enabled?
00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:14.480
I talk about this all the time with you guys.
00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:18.799
What information are they storing?
00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:22.079
What is the recovery option?
00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:37.119
A cloud provider can spend millions and billions on security, and then somebody at your company can click a fishing email and security, and security is you know out the window.
00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:38.960
Security is a partnership, right?
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:41.359
We talked about that before.
00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:56.640
The provider protects but the provider protects its part, you gotta protect your part, and you gotta know where that demarcation is, and this is kind of what this is to get you to think about the demarcation and what you have to do, right?
00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:06.799
So we talk about cloud service versus on premises, and is it well, I wouldn't call it a I wouldn't.
00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:08.319
I mean, is it important, not important?
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:10.559
Like I have my own opinions about it.
00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:13.599
I talked about it on the podcast before, right?
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:17.119
But I'm gonna end it here.
00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:19.519
There's a lot more I can say about this.
00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:28.960
Um, but I'm gonna give it to Abby for to wrap it up, kind of give it a summation of what we're talking about.
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:32.559
But this just but if you get any takeaway from this, right?
00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:43.759
Remember, cloud, all a cloud is is your computers and the system is somewhere else other than in your building, and it's somebody else's computer.
00:26:43.920 --> 00:27:20.559
Yes, they're responsible for keeping it on and maintaining it and keeping up with the hardware, but their responsibilities, and your responsibility, you have to figure out what you're responsible for and what they're responsible for, and if that having that system work for you, or if that partnership is it works for you because your business might need certain things, but you have to think about if you need certain things, can this club provider club provider provide these things for you and a benefit to you?
00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:24.960
You understand, and that's a kind of run over way I'm trying to say it.
00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:39.519
You don't want to create another another single point of failure, or you don't want to do something like getting on a bandwagon, you want to think about your planet out, document it, document everything like I always say, so that you can you know benefit, right?
00:27:40.000 --> 00:28:00.319
There is definitely more to this, um, because I wanted to cover club versus on-premises, I wanted to cover what are you paying for, you know, and I wanted to cover you know laptops still matters, okay, in this whole scenario, but I'm gonna have her finish it up.
00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:03.680
Yes, like I always say, stay productive.
00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:07.680
Hi everyone, I'm AI Abby, and here's your Abby Minute.
00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:15.920
As Alex continues this conversation about the cloud, remember that convenience and responsibility have to travel together.
00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:22.079
Moving your files, applications, and services to the cloud can make your business easier to manage.
00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:27.599
But the more you depend on those services, the more important it becomes to understand that dependency.
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:29.759
What happens if your internet goes down?
00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:32.880
Can you recover something that was accidentally deleted?
00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:34.880
Do you know who controls the account?
00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:38.720
Can you export your business data if you ever need to leave that provider?
00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:44.079
And if the person managing everything isn't available tomorrow, does someone else know what to do?
00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:48.960
The cloud can remove servers from your office, but it doesn't remove planning from your business.
00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:56.640
Know where your data is, know who has access, know how you recover it, and know what happens when the service you depend on isn't available.
00:28:56.880 --> 00:28:57.839
I may I, Abby?
00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:02.960
Anact on simplicity, act on reliability, and keep acting on tech.
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:04.640
Stay productive.
00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:36.559
With secure networks, reliable backups, and systems designed to run without interruption.
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:41.359
No guesswork, no quick fixes, just IT that works the way it should.
00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:47.119
For business services and professional camera installations, visit AlexCustomTech.com.
00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:50.559
Stay connected, stay secure, and stay in control.
00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:55.920
This is Abby from Polyvinyl 97 FM saying thank you for listening to Act on Tech.
00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:59.200
And we'll see you next Wednesday, same time, same place.
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.240
Are you ready to make technology work for you?
00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:14.560
Tune in to Act on Tech, the podcast where we break down the latest tech trends and show you how to boost your productivity at home and in your business.
00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:23.199
So subscribe to Act On Tech today and visit alexcustomtech.com to see how we can take your business to the next level.
00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:27.679
That's Acton Tech, your guide to smarter tech for a smarter business.
00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:31.679
Alex Custom Tech, IT means integrity and trust.
00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:33.679
Okay, hi.
00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:40.880
I am uh Alex of Alex Custom Tech, and you listen to Acton Tech.
00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:44.320
We talk all things technology and this is part two.
00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:49.359
And so we're gonna continue with where I left off.
00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:53.840
I left off at uh at SAS, so it's S-A-A-S.
00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:12.239
Um, I don't know if I I don't know if I I don't think I ever it's it's a software as a service, that's what it that's what the acrement means, and I'm gonna I'm gonna talk about that in in part two of this topic.
00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:22.560
So this applies to software as a service applications also, so SAS doesn't eliminate your backup decisions, right?
00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:34.560
So maybe your CRM is in the cloud, or maybe your accounting system is in the cloud, or maybe your business documentations are in the cloud.
00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.359
That's convenient, right?
00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:44.400
But you should still understand how that provider handles your your data.
00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:47.599
We talk about that in passing before in part one.
00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:51.120
Because about where the responsibilities lie, right?
00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:57.840
So can you export the data that you have there in the cloud with that system?
00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:03.599
Can you restore the deleted information if it's if it's been deleted, right?
00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:11.280
Because again, the question is what you're responsible for and what the provider is responsible for, right?
00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:17.680
And you should still understand how the provider handles your data, right?
00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:24.159
So how long the information is retained in that in that in the cloud system, right?
00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:28.719
What happens if you accidentally remove something, right?
00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:32.719
What happens if you cancel the service, right?
00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:36.639
How do you get your data back?
00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:41.759
Does does any how I say it?
00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:48.719
Does all these questions you have to ask yourself when you're thinking about your SaaS setup, right?
00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:52.960
And does these responsibility business questions you do those?
00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:56.960
I mean these are the responsible business questions.
00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:58.319
What I'm trying to say, right?
00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:09.520
You have to ask yourself when you have the SaaS system in place, so you should understand where your important information lives and how you can recover it if you have to recover it, right?
00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:18.800
So your internet connection becomes more important in this situation because without the internet, you really can't get to the cloud.
00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:31.120
We talked about that before, and this connects directly to other episodes that we've talked about with a single point of failure and that kind of stuff.
00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:44.479
But more the more things you move to the cloud, the more important your internet becomes because now you depend on the internet to get the all your resources that are located somewhere else.
00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:55.039
So if your account system is local or your internet goes down, maybe your account your code systems keep curve keep working.
00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:03.360
If it's local, if it's not not like, for instance, like what I'm getting example, I'm talking about cloud-based system, but locally.
00:04:03.599 --> 00:04:14.719
So um if in some in some of the some of the clients that I have, they use something called UKJ, UKJ, and that's how they they keep track of uh employee hours and stuff like that, right?
00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:21.759
So the system that is installed over the offices, it will record the time whether the internet's up or down.
00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:29.040
So see if the internet goes down, it can people can still punch in and punch out of the system, and it can still record your time.
00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:34.000
As soon as the internet comes back up, it'll dump all the stuff out to the cloud, it'll synchronize the cloud.
00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:37.680
So that's kind of like a little redundancy built into that application.
00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:40.000
But every application like that, right?
00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:55.759
So moving accounting into the cloud is something you gotta think about what the things that that come with it, and all the internet access may be required or not be required, or or what happens if you give you like a safety situation, like I just play with UKJ, UKJ.
00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:05.920
So internet, cloud files, internet, cloud CRMs, internet, cloud point of sales, internet, right?
00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:13.759
So whenever you have anything fitted with the cloud and the service that runs in the cloud, you're gonna have to need you need the internet to get to that service.
00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:15.279
Think about that.
00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:25.600
So again, I'm not saying that's bad, but I'm I'm um but you are chained to that dependency, right?
00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:35.839
You remove some of the responsibility from your local infrastructure, great, but increase the dependency on the connectivity to the internet, and that's the trade-off.
00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:37.199
We talk about this all the time.
00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:39.839
Talk about that there's no solution in life but trade-off.
00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.439
This is what I'm coming to like.
00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:47.600
So you can decide okay, I'm gonna put all of my systems on the cloud, then you need the internet to be there.
00:05:47.759 --> 00:06:09.199
So now you're gonna really need a um two different ISP instead of just one because you really, really need the internet to get to all your resources, or you can have a hybrid where you have some stuff in the cloud, some stuff locally, or maybe some things kind of like the UKG example where it can work on its own, but need to dump off the information on the on the internet every once in a while.
00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:10.800
That's something you can think about.
00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:17.360
Get with your ISP, get with your um your your MSP, and you can like work out which software works for you, and it depends on your business too.
00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:31.839
Like a lot of people who work from home, a lot of people who have like uh you know work from home, they rely on the the cloud stuff because then they're very mobile, they can do things, they can go anywhere, and that might record for them, but it's still gonna be a drawback, right?
00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:52.800
If the internet go down, or they have an internet, they gotta go to a uh a cafe shop and stuff like that, and that might expose them or expose you might have hip high issue situation where you gotta be careful where you work or who you're around and that kind of stuff, or who can see your laptop, so all these things come into play when you're thinking about this, right?
00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:04.800
So think about like two dual internet providers, you have like your regular ISP and you have like a cell phone provider as a failover.
00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:07.040
That's something you probably can think about, right?
00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:08.480
So, there you go.
00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:13.120
So, maybe you need to know which application can operate offline.
00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:18.800
That's that the kind of planning business should be doing if you're thinking about this.
00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:21.519
So, what happens when your provider goes down?
00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:31.199
Right, here's another uncomfortable large cloud provider can outage outage can cost.
00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:36.079
So, very good infrastructure doesn't mean perfect infrastructure, nothing is perfect.
00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:37.439
We talked about that before.
00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:44.800
So, ask yourself what happens if one of your critical cloud service becomes unavailable?
00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:47.680
Can the employee do anything?
00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:50.319
Can your customer still reach you?
00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:55.120
Can you access important information in other ways?
00:07:55.600 --> 00:08:23.040
Do you have a manual procedure if the technical one goes down, or does anybody simply share a screen until the provider comes back up, which I've seen before, or some service weight thing may be perfectly reasonable, and others you need to a continuity plan, a continual plan a continuity plan again.
00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:28.399
Business it depends on your business and depends on how you how you do things, right?
00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:37.360
So, and this is the question you have to ask yourself like what happens when the provider goes down, what happens when either the provider or the internet goes down, right?
00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:43.200
The cloud can move the single point of failure from one thing to another thing.
00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:44.639
But let me talk about that.
00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:55.200
This is something I really want to emphasize, emphasize moving something into the cloud can eliminate certain single point of failure.
00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:01.200
Maybe you no longer depend on one physical server sitting in the office, right?
00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:14.639
That's good, but if everything on your business now depends on one cloud account, you just move the point of failure.
00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:18.080
You may have created another single point of failure.
00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:22.159
What happens if you lose account access?
00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:25.840
What happens if your administrator account gets locked out?
00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:28.399
What happens if billing fails?
00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:30.639
That happens too, right?
00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:39.120
What happens if the person who generally creates the account leaves the company or doesn't come in or something like that?
00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:44.480
We move the dependencies, we haven't necessarily eliminated.
00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:47.200
That's why documentation still matters.
00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:48.720
See how things come into play.
00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:58.399
All the things I'm talking about over the past couple of years, say uh comes together right here in this in this simple thing about about cloud, it's not it's somebody else's computer.
00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:02.240
So people think that it's in the cloud, it's somebody's responsibility.
00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:03.440
No, it's not.
00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:09.440
You move some of the responsibility over to them, but you still retain a whole bunch, and that's for that one.
00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:11.840
Actually, you know, something can get across, right?
00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:16.240
So who owns the account?
00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:23.759
Here's a problem small business should think about who actually owns your cloud account.
00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:27.360
So your so makeup.
00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:37.039
So was your website dominion registered under your own business account or or other website designer personal account?
00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:40.639
So websites, sometime people make a synopsis what I'm talking about.
00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:45.519
Sometimes you might ask somebody to build a website for you, right?
00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:59.360
If you don't know the process, they might get the domain name, own the domain name, and they let you use and you give it a website and say, Hey, website is finished, and you don't know who actually owns the domain name.
00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:00.720
That could be a problem.
00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:07.919
If something happens, you're gonna you need to change something or update something or or do something with the website.
00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:11.200
You gotta get his permission, even though you ask him to do it.
00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:19.759
You have to make sure you get secure the domain name for yourself first, then get somebody to build a website, and then you attach the domain to the website.
00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:21.840
That's what I recommend, right?
00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.200
Um, who creates the Microsoft 360 account?
00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:27.360
Who controls the DNS?
00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.399
Who owns the cloud backup account?
00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:32.000
Who controls the billing?
00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:35.919
Which email address receives password recovery messages?
00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:54.480
You don't want to discover during an emergency that a critical business service technically belongs to somebody else, or who's who isn't working for you anymore, or haven't worked for you the last three years, or you fire them or the fire MSP or whatever.
00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:55.679
You don't know what they what they own.
00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:56.960
That can be just very important.
00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:01.840
Business technology should be owned and controlled by you, by the business.
00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:17.279
Your IT provider may manage it, your website developer may manage it, a consultant may manage it, but the business should understand where the keys are.
00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:21.679
Okay, moving on.
00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:24.559
The cloud doesn't replace documentation.
00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:28.320
Beat this one like a dead horse, but I'm beating it.
00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:32.799
This is another misconception.
00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:38.639
Cloud systems still need documentation, doesn't matter, it still needs it.
00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:43.919
And we talked about it before with spreadsheet, and and and it's not hard to do, especially with AI.
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:46.000
It's very good to do with AI now.
00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:48.720
What service are you using?
00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:50.320
Who manage them?
00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:52.960
Who has administrative access?
00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:56.080
When does the subscription renew?
00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:59.279
How is it built?
00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.480
What data is stored there?
00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:04.320
Very important one.
00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:06.960
What other systems connect to it?
00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:11.200
What is the recovery procedure?
00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:15.519
Who do you contact when there's an issue or is MSP?
00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:16.159
Right?
00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:24.000
If if your entire cloud strategy exists inside somebody else's memory, that's a problem.
00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:28.960
Technology may be modern, the management process isn't.
00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:34.799
Okay, so permissions still matter, permissions permissions still matter.
00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:40.960
Alright, so let's talk about permissions and file permissions and who have access to what and that kind of stuff.
00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:42.960
It's kind of annoying, but it's important.
00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:47.360
So cloud collaboration makes sharing incredibly easy.
00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.679
Talk about synchronization to it, right?
00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:52.159
Google does this a lot, and Google is very good at this.
00:13:52.240 --> 00:14:01.440
You can create a document in Google, Google Docs, and you can say who can just read it, who can edit it, who you share it with, who you're not sharing it with, that kind of stuff.
00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:15.600
Like you have like uh a tier system in your business where you have like certain emails for for subordinates and certain emails for management teams, and then you send out certain emails, they get it, or you send certain documents, only they can see it.
00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:25.440
That's very good because sometimes information is on a need-to-know basis or departmentalize based on their role.
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:29.679
So that's like so the sharing document thing comes in handy, right?
00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:35.840
And cloud does that very well, and um that's one of the things people love about it, right?
00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.519
So click share, send link, done, right?
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:47.360
But but easy sharing also means business need to think about who has access to what.
00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:50.639
Does everybody need access to every folder?
00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:56.159
Is something shared publicly that shouldn't be?
00:14:56.799 --> 00:14:59.679
Does a farmer contractor still have access?
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.240
Can employees share sensitive files outside the organization?
00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:05.759
Do you need policies?
00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:07.440
Do you need permissions?
00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:11.600
And periodically you need to review them.
00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:14.159
Yes, that's a good one, too.
00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:18.879
The provider gives you the tools, but you have to actually manage the tools, right?
00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:19.759
Very important.
00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:24.159
Updates don't completely disappear because it's in the cloud.
00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:26.000
That's another thing, too.
00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:32.639
Right, with many cloud applications, the provider handles software updates.
00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:35.759
That's another huge advantage to cloud.
00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:36.879
I agree.
00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:43.519
You don't have to manually install every new version of the server, yada yada yada.
00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:47.279
But changes can still affect your business.
00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:53.039
A provider changes the interface, people get freaked out by that kind of stuff sometimes, you know.
00:15:53.600 --> 00:16:03.440
Um, features might be removed, features might be added, integration changes, an API might change, make stuff not work my way it used to work.
00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:08.960
Um, a feature gets disconnected, security policy changes, right?
00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:17.519
Suddenly, workflow employees have used to two years of doing things a certain way, finding applications here and there.
00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:18.879
Now they can't find it.
00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:25.600
That's why everybody needs to pay attention to the technology and the business depend the business dependent.
00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:34.159
Manage by the provider doesn't mean you know, irrelevant to you.
00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.159
Now, another one vendor lock-in.
00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:48.159
There's another question business should ask themselves how difficult would it be to leave us uh a provider, right?
00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:52.960
I've thought about provider, I thought about um not MSP, talking about cloud providers, right?
00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:59.840
So this doesn't mean you should constantly be jumping from one provider to another provider.
00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:10.319
I'm not saying it, but remember, I I just did an entire episode called When Technology You know Works, Leave It Alone.
00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:20.079
But if the service works, great, use it, but understand that understand your exit path, put it like that.
00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:22.160
Understand how you can leave, you have to leave.
00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:25.119
So you can export your can you can you export your data?
00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:26.480
Like it's a question you're gonna ask yourself.
00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:30.960
If you want to leave, can you move the data from that to wherever you're gonna put it?
00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:34.079
What format does it come in?
00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:38.079
Would another application be able to use it?
00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:41.680
How long would migration take?
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:44.640
Does the business have documentation?
00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:53.279
You know, the more critical a service becomes, the more important these questions I'm asking.
00:17:53.359 --> 00:18:11.599
I'm telling you to ask yourself becomes, and maybe I'm doing a lot of these ask yourself these questions in my podcast, but I just want you to like to think about things kind of way a tech guy would think about things, not that you're gonna actually um not that you're gonna, you know, be a tech guy yourself, right?
00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:18.960
But if you are talking to the MSP, this is kind of the things you want to talk about with them to kind of like be on the same page with them.
00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:42.000
Because I'm I'm I don't I think I think you don't wanna I mean I can't say you can't be ignorant that would be a false because I think I think MSPs are really here to help you, so they're not gonna like take advantage of you, and again, I'm just I'm not talking talking generality, but I mean for the most part these guys, MSPs like myself, we're just doing this because we love it, and it's our passion, and that's why we're doing it.
00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:45.200
So nobody's trying to really get one over on you.
00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:49.440
I'm not saying it does happen, I just think it's far and few between.
00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:55.599
But I think going in there with some knowledge is very important, and going there with some understanding is very important.
00:18:55.759 --> 00:19:05.039
Understand what a cloud is, understand localize things, think about what you want to local what you want to put in the cloud, talk to the MSP, he's gonna give you feedback because he knows more than you do.
00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:09.440
I'm not saying he you know more than him, but again, you don't go in there ignorant, right?
00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:18.480
Like, for instance, like people who do the taxes, you know you gotta pay your federal taxes, and you know you gotta pay local tax, but you still go to the accountant, and the accountant know more than you do, right?
00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:25.119
So you still understand that you have to pay your taxes, and you have to understand you're gonna pay your local and federal, but you still go to the accountant.
00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:25.759
That's what I'm saying.
00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:33.759
So your MSP can help you through this, but you still go in there with some kind of questions like yo, listen, I have this server here and it runs this and this and this.
00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:37.440
I mean, do I can I move this to the code or should I keep it here or whatever?
00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:41.359
And think about like what will work if the internet goes on or not.
00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:43.759
Like, these are some of the questions you have to ask yourself, right?
00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:52.319
Now, let's talk about another thing that I'm realizing clients are doing, and it's kind of what triggered this whole this whole podcast to begin with.
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:55.519
Because I came across this a couple weeks ago and I wanted to talk about it.
00:19:55.599 --> 00:19:57.359
Now, free cloud service.
00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:00.160
Let's talk about free cloud service, all right.
00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:05.279
And we all use it to some degree, but in business, let's break it down.
00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:14.799
So, free cloud service and small business and small business need to be careful with free cloud service.
00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:18.720
So, free isn't automatically bad.
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:22.799
There are excellent free tools out there.
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:24.960
I myself even use them, right?
00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:38.559
But when something becomes operationally critical, you need to understand what you're getting, what's supported or what support is available?
00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.240
For free stuff, you don't really get no support in the car, it's free, right?
00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:45.839
You can't call nobody for help because you ain't paying for it, right?
00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:49.119
So what's guaranteed?
00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:53.279
What guarantees are you getting from the provider, right?
00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:57.519
What happens if the company changes the free plan?
00:20:57.680 --> 00:20:58.720
What happened then?
00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:02.400
Um, what happens if your account is suspended?
00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:12.559
If the business depends on the service, you need to evaluate it like a business service.
00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:23.839
So I'm gonna repeat that if the business depends on the service, you need to evaluate it like a business service, not simply well, it's free, you can't do that.
00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:27.279
You know, I mean that's kind of not good, right?
00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:40.319
So sometimes paying for an app an an appropriate business plan or buy you know something that cloud service offer, right?
00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:52.400
You get management, you get support, you get security, you get features, you get you know retention or administrative control over the actual thing that you're paying for.
00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:54.960
You get more control, right?
00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:59.680
I mean, again, it's a trade off, like so much all the time, so convenience can.
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:04.160
Another thing convenience can hide complexity.
00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:05.279
Talk about that.
00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:09.759
Either convenient or CF.
00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:11.200
Secure.
00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.759
If you can secure, not convenient.
00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:15.839
If you're convenient, you're not secure.
00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:24.160
So once of so one of the reasons cloud service becomes so successful or became so successful is because of the ease of use.
00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:27.839
And and easy to start using.
00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:29.039
Ease of use.
00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:29.920
And that's good.
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.160
And people love those ease of use things.
00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:38.240
But you can create an account in five minutes.
00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:40.400
Normally, what happens with closed service?
00:22:41.519 --> 00:23:01.279
Then three years later, the company has 27 users, shared folders, external collaborators, in you know, integrated automation, building information, and me for the tools, years of data.
00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:07.119
Now simply, now your simple account has become part of a company infrastructure.
00:23:07.359 --> 00:23:07.920
What do you do?
00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:09.039
You're locked in.
00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:11.119
You don't want that, right?
00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:14.960
Okay, so that's not so that's not something you gotta think about.
00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:18.799
So the convenience is there, yes, but think about the trade-off with that.
00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:27.039
You don't want to be locked into something because it was convenient, and then later on when you're gonna migrate or move or expand your problem, right?
00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:30.000
So shadow it, we'll talk about that again.
00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:32.079
Shadow IT and the cloud.
00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:40.000
So shadow it and the cloud, and this is where shadow it can creep in.
00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:45.279
An employee needs to solve a problem, right?
00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:51.200
They find the online service, create an account, upload their files, problem solved.
00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:51.680
Right?
00:23:51.839 --> 00:24:00.799
Nobody tells IT that they did that, nobody documented it, you know, because somebody just had a problem and they solve it, you know, off to the side, and we didn't know about it.
00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:05.920
Then another employees start using it, then another, then another.
00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:19.200
Then two years later, important business information is in this thing that nobody never knew about, and nobody didn't tell anybody about it, and if no documentation, and voila that happens and not good.
00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:20.319
We don't want to do that.
00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:23.920
Okay, maybe the employee who created it leaves.
00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:29.599
Maybe the cloud, maybe the cloud makes a technology incredibly accessible.
00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:41.839
That's a strength, but the business still needs some governance around what service is being used, right?
00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:46.079
Cloud service is a partnership.
00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:50.559
So when people ask, is the cloud service secure?
00:24:50.799 --> 00:25:10.640
My answer is usually that's not enough information nine times out of ten, because it depends which cloud service, which service, how is it configured, how are the accounts protected, who have access?
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:12.720
Is MFA enabled?
00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:14.480
I talk about this all the time with you guys.
00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:18.799
What information are they storing?
00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:22.079
What is the recovery option?
00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:37.119
A cloud provider can spend millions and billions on security, and then somebody at your company can click a fishing email and security, and security is you know out the window.
00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:38.960
Security is a partnership, right?
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:41.359
We talked about that before.
00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:56.640
The provider protects but the provider protects its part, you gotta protect your part, and you gotta know where that demarcation is, and this is kind of what this is to get you to think about the demarcation and what you have to do, right?
00:25:57.519 --> 00:26:06.799
So we talk about cloud service versus on premises, and is it well, I wouldn't call it a I wouldn't.
00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:08.319
I mean, is it important, not important?
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:10.559
Like I have my own opinions about it.
00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:13.599
I talked about it on the podcast before, right?
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:17.119
But I'm gonna end it here.
00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:19.519
There's a lot more I can say about this.
00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:28.960
Um, but I'm gonna give it to Abby for to wrap it up, kind of give it a summation of what we're talking about.
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:32.559
But this just but if you get any takeaway from this, right?
00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:43.759
Remember, cloud, all a cloud is is your computers and the system is somewhere else other than in your building, and it's somebody else's computer.
00:26:43.920 --> 00:27:20.559
Yes, they're responsible for keeping it on and maintaining it and keeping up with the hardware, but their responsibilities, and your responsibility, you have to figure out what you're responsible for and what they're responsible for, and if that having that system work for you, or if that partnership is it works for you because your business might need certain things, but you have to think about if you need certain things, can this club provider club provider provide these things for you and a benefit to you?
00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:24.960
You understand, and that's a kind of run over way I'm trying to say it.
00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:39.519
You don't want to create another another single point of failure, or you don't want to do something like getting on a bandwagon, you want to think about your planet out, document it, document everything like I always say, so that you can you know benefit, right?
00:27:40.000 --> 00:28:00.319
There is definitely more to this, um, because I wanted to cover club versus on-premises, I wanted to cover what are you paying for, you know, and I wanted to cover you know laptops still matters, okay, in this whole scenario, but I'm gonna have her finish it up.
00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:03.680
Yes, like I always say, stay productive.
00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:07.680
Hi everyone, I'm AI Abby, and here's your Abby Minute.
00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:15.920
As Alex continues this conversation about the cloud, remember that convenience and responsibility have to travel together.
00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:22.079
Moving your files, applications, and services to the cloud can make your business easier to manage.
00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:27.599
But the more you depend on those services, the more important it becomes to understand that dependency.
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:29.759
What happens if your internet goes down?
00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:32.880
Can you recover something that was accidentally deleted?
00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:34.880
Do you know who controls the account?
00:28:35.119 --> 00:28:38.720
Can you export your business data if you ever need to leave that provider?
00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:44.079
And if the person managing everything isn't available tomorrow, does someone else know what to do?
00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:48.960
The cloud can remove servers from your office, but it doesn't remove planning from your business.
00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:56.640
Know where your data is, know who has access, know how you recover it, and know what happens when the service you depend on isn't available.
00:28:56.880 --> 00:28:57.839
I may I, Abby?
00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:02.960
Anact on simplicity, act on reliability, and keep acting on tech.
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:04.640
Stay productive.
00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:36.559
With secure networks, reliable backups, and systems designed to run without interruption.
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:41.359
No guesswork, no quick fixes, just IT that works the way it should.
00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:47.119
For business services and professional camera installations, visit AlexCustomTech.com.
00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:50.559
Stay connected, stay secure, and stay in control.
00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:55.920
This is Abby from Polyvinyl 97 FM saying thank you for listening to Act on Tech.
00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:59.200
And we'll see you next Wednesday, same time, same place.
