After working with countless clients, and building custom virtual solutions for numerous businesses, we’ve have started to notice an alarming trend. Division of resources. It seems that a lot of companies come to us for an all-in-one solution because they’ve got their website hosted in the cloud, their CRM hosted onsite, their reporting systems are outdated, their IT is outsourced and they’ve hired third party consultants.   It can be overwhelming, and a little bit…. messy. Like my mother always said, disorganization is a disaster waiting to happen!

This isn’t just a messy closet. It’s your business.

Can your business function without a CRM or ERP? If not, how confident are you in your current onsite servers? Do you have backup? How about if your website goes down? And how much money are you spending to bring in consultants and pay IT people to manage your infrastructure?

Keep it simple!

Put your website, your business applications and your infrastructure in our hands. Not only will it be secure in our Tier 3 certified data centre, but we also provide fully managed solutions that include regular backups, 24/7 monitoring, firewall protection, upgrades/installs, expert support and IT services. A premium VPS hosting solution guarantees virtually dedicated resources – no sharing, no downtime, easy scalability.

And have you heard? Atum Corporation also provides Microsoft Dynamics CRM and GP (ERP) Deployment Services (includes licensing, deployment, customization, training and support). See how a Microsoft Dynamics CRM and/or ERP solution will modernize and revolutionize the way you do business and interact with your clients, seamlessly integrated with familiar Microsoft technologies.

Upgrade your infrastructure, manage your servers, update your CRM and ERP systems, and host it all in one place.

How can we help? Ask us today about an All-in-One Virtual Solution.

Need More Info? Check out these Links!

Learn more about Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Read about our Microsoft Dynamics Services

What the heck is VPS Hosting?

What will a Managed Package include?

You’re not the only one.

Some of the biggest, most successful companies in the world are undergoing a huge reinvention in order to keep up with the changing market landscape. Think RIM. That’s probably the most obvious and news worthy example this week. Next week it’ll be someone else, and the week after etc.

Every company, from the BIG guys, to the small business, have to go through periods of reinvention to be successful long term.

Be proactive.

Think of ways to start cutting costs, becoming more effective, and embracing new methods & technology. You have to keep up with ‘the times’. Go paperless, go wireless, adapt to new technology that will help you streamline your business and cut costs.

Your mother, father, and grandparents can tell you about when they hired secretaries to ‘take dictation’, or when computers were ‘room sized’, or when file cabinets held every company’s most classified information.

Business has changed (heck, it has probably changed in the past hour!) – what are you doing to keep up?

Here’s a suggestion: Virtualization

It’s the simple transition from a physical server environment, to a totally virtual solution. It cuts IT costs, it streamlines your business, it maximizes performance, it guarantees security and backup plans… it will give you a competitive edge instantly.

Ask us how to get started!  Reinvention is a phone call away, and the conversation is free.

Need some more Information? Check out these links…

• What is VPS Hosting?

• Managed vs Unmanaged VPS

• About Atum

…and ‘Test Drive’ the performance, speed and ease of Atum VPS with a 15 Day FREE Trial!

Start Today!

You don’t have the teams of marketing geniuses making a splash or buying Superbowl Ad slots. You don’t have offices in every corner of the country or a share of the market in Japan. You don’t even have a staff large enough to fill a baseball roster.

Where can you make up ground? How can you possibly gain traction and build your business from the ground up?

Entrepreneurs and small business owners are making it work by getting a competitive edge where they can in this environment.

Atum offers ANY business the opportunity to play with the ‘Big Guys’. Use the same high performance and industry leading equipment, exclusive 24/7 access to IT professionals for support and consultation and hosting in a Tier 3 level datacentre at a fixed cost.

The hardware costs, energy costs, staff expenses and infrastructure investment required for comparable value would be astronomical and out of reach for most small businesses. Virtualization and VPS solutions are making all of this possible at a low cost and high return.

Eliminate the costs of hiring more staff to manage your IT, throw away your out of date servers in your broom closet and enjoy the freedom to grow as your data is hosted in a bombproof, 100% uptime guaranteed, state of the art datacentre and equipment.

Size doesn’t matter… become a big fish faster by exploring how a VPS solution can give you a fighting chance!

We’ve talked to a few businesses over the course of the summer that have experienced serious downtime, outages, information loss and irreparable damage due to this summer’s significant natural disasters.

Floods, power outages, hurricanes, and tornadoes wreaked havoc on businesses that were unprepared to physically save their essential data and business infrastructure. Many business owners arrived to their offices to find their servers knee deep in water or damaged by building debris. The obvious effects of such physical disruption were devastating; internal and external outages for long periods of time are not only frustrating, but costly! For some, recovery was not an option and large amounts of stored data were lost due to hardware destruction.

Thinking about Mother Nature could keep you up at night in a cold sweat, but unless you move your bed to the server room, you will never be able to sleep knowing your data is safe and secure at all times. Let’s face it you don’t have super powers, you wouldn’t be able to save it from a wall of water even if you DID sleep beside it!

The beauty of virtualization is that you can eliminate all of your in-house hardware. That means when a freak storm hits, your sensitive company information and infrastructure will not be affected.

Instead, your data can be safely hosted in a bomb proof, flood proof, premium Tier 3 data centre with 24/7 monitoring and expert back up, recovery and maintenance for a mere fraction of the cost.

Disasters are inescapable (if you’re superstitious, remember that next year is 2012) but you can make a plan to save your infrastructure from feeling its effects. The lights may be out in your office, but your website won’t go down and your customers won’t even notice.

Give more thought to VPS solutions, read more info here.

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has been released as a comprehensive new study that outlines and predicts Cloud Computing business models as the IT solution of the 21^st century. The report serves as a forecast study to assess the financial and sustainability benefits for a company that is opting for cloud computing services, such as infrastructure-as-a-service, software-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service. It states that as companies fully utilize the Cloud services, a total of $12.3 billion will be saved in energy costs and 85.7 metric tonnes of CO2 will be reduced annually by the year 2020.

“The carbon emissions-reducing potential of cloud computing is a thrilling breakthrough, allowing companies to maximize performance, drive down costs, reduce inefficiency and minimize energy use – and therefore carbon emissions – all at the same time.” CDP executive chairman Paul Dickinson

This is big news as the Department of Energy indicates that data centres may be consuming 3% of total North American electricity today. This report forecasts that companies are planning to accelerate their adoption of cloud computing from a current 10% to 69% of their IT spend by 2020.

In essence, the traditional IT model that houses and manages infrastructure in a dedicated office server room is largely being dismissed and replaced by a consolidated Cloud model.

Along with the well-documented environmental impacts, many other advantages are clear:

Efficiency – enables companies to provide new services and server capacity at the drop of a hat.

Cost-Savings- the dedicated IT model is costly with labour, maintenance, and energy consumption considerations. The Cloud model consolidates and makes better use of hardware and helps to lower the cost of support and IT resources.

Scalability-Pay as you go and as you grow. Most Cloud services only require business to pay for the capacity used, reducing costs overall.

Cloud Computing is the IT investment of the future, and that’s good news for growing businesses in this economy and the prospective of environmental sustainability.

(Read the full CDP Project Report and Case Studies)

Let’s face it, the standard 9-5 hours plus 3 weeks’ vacation in reality becomes whenever-whenever and a sick day on occasion. Maybe this is the year you finally cash in on your un-used vacation time and join the ranks of people who can forget about work for a week or two.

Your friends and family who think you are a workaholic will be behind you 100%, but before you pack it in on a whim, consider the following particulars:   

1. Take it or leave it? The technology question…

This is probably the number one item of discussion for anyone leaving on an extended vacation… should I bring my Blackberry/Cell phone/iPad, or leave it? If you bring it, you will look at it. If you don’t bring it, you definitely will NOT look at it.  Simple as that. So can you live without casually perusing emails or checking in with colleagues? In some cases it is good to be aware of the conversations and issues happening while you are away. As long as everyone you deal with directly knows that you will not be available to answer, carrying your lifeline may not be a bad idea. But if you have explicitly advised your peers and management that you will not answer any calls or email, don’t break your own rule, or you will be ‘on call’ all vacation.

2. When is a ‘good’ time?

Is there ever really a ‘good’ time to take time off? Short answer: yes. The first thing to take into consideration is when your colleagues are taking vacation, and make plans to stagger your time away. You may be the only person who does your particular job, so make arrangements well in advance to hand off your work load to other team members. Though it may sound obvious, check your calendar and make note of deliverable dates and weeks/days that are particularly important and plan around them.

3. Keep it simple: Automate

If you haven’t set anything up to be automatic, now might be a good time. When you take vacation, the last thing you want to be worried about is whether or not your work is getting done in your absence. Maybe there are some tasks that can be handed off to someone else, outsourced, or automated that will help ease the stress of vacation and your daily work routine. Look into virtual resources and solutions that can take over day-to-day responsibilities and be efficient and reliable whether you are away or at your desk.

It should get easier and easier to take time away. With new technologies making the world more connected and with cloud and outsourcing resources allowing for the hand-off of responsibilities – plan to take vacation this summer, it won’t hurt!

Is it…

• Losing money?
• Getting beat out by your competitor?
• Losing customers and large accounts?
• Coffee machine malfunction?

What about…growth?

Let me explain. What happens when you outgrow your infrastructure? For example, there may come a time when you will outgrow your office space and need to move on to a bigger and more appropriate location. You may even outgrow your ability to supply a product or service. With increased traffic to your website and orders coming in, it won’t take long for you to run out of server space and find yourself scrambling for another data storage solution. Customers don’t have patience for downtime or slow response, they will go elsewhere at any sign of inefficiency.

Growth is scary – what are you doing to get ready for it?

There’s a word we ‘Cloud-folk’ like to throw around, and that is: Scalability. Webster’s Dictionary describes scalability as a: “system capable of being easily expanded or upgraded on demand”. Call it a flexible system that is built to expand based on your incremental or overnight success. Pre-planning and ensuring your company is scalable means your business will never crash into a glass ceiling or reach a plateau.

The scalability issue is one of the main reasons people are starting to embrace the idea of ‘the Cloud’. A recent poll conducted by the Cloud.com reveals that 71% of CTO’s asked would say scalability and the capability to adjust to resource demands  was the number 1 reason to adopt cloud computing.  A number that large speaks volumes about the value of utilizing the capacities of the Cloud in your own business – large or small. Remember, there’s always room for growth. Ask any entrepreneur; whether they are working out of a home office or the owner of Facebook – there is no ceiling.

Don’t fear ‘out-growth! Adopt a system that will virtualize your servers, hardware and data – growing at the speed of your success.

In the same way, moving plays a large role in today’s business environment. For example, moving from a physical environment to the cloud, or moving from a current server/web host to a new host provider.

If you really think about it, your business should follow the same procedures as someone buying and moving into a new home.

1. Know Your Needs – your requirements are specific to the way you run your business – no two companies are the same! Just as a home-buyer would make a list of ‘needs’ (a backyard for the dog) and ‘wants’ (a TV built into the shower), your business will have variables that are not negotiable, and others that are scalable for the long term. If you are making the move to a VPS solution, or switching providers – know what you NEED before you start the search.

2. Do Your Research- When you’re moving into a new neighbourhood, one tip is to knock on doors and ask people about the area. If you’re unsure, ask! People will always tell you what they think. If you are switching providers or moving to VPS for the first time, ask around or use social media to get some customer reviews and testimonials. Do customers complain regularly about service or support on Twitter? If there’s a history of ‘downtime’, you may want to look elsewhere. If you’re interested, check out Atum’s Customer Testimonials page for reviews of our client solutions.

3. Get an Expert- It is always worth it to hire an expert rather than going through the home buying experience alone. You’ll have to pay a little extra for the service, but it will save you from amateur pitfalls and confusion. Sometimes, you get what you pay for. There are plenty of hosts that will offer you hosting on a dime- but is that what you’re looking for? If your company is looking to roll out a complete VPS solution and moving your servers to the cloud, the cheapest option might not provide you with what you need to be successful.

4. All Hands on Deck- The big moving day has come, you call on your friends, family or a team of movers to help you with the heavy stuff! If you are moving (or migrating) from a physical environment to a virtual one, go with a streamlined, easy approach – use the support team and IT experts at Atum. Utilizing our migration services is the best way to get your ‘heavy lifting’ done without a hitch when the time comes.

5. Reap the Rewards – Once all the boxes are unpacked, and the housewarming parties are over… you can now reap the rewards of your decision to move. Maybe you’re paying less in rent, maybe the view is better, maybe the walk to work is shorter… these are the benefits you were searching for in the first place. So once your business finds a reliable provider, and the migration is complete – the business will start to benefit. Less downtime, less man-hours, better scalability for the future, more energy-efficient, and the list goes on. 

So, when are YOU moving?

 In the report, Gartner also broke down the acceptance of The Cloud vs On-Site Management by progressive IT leadership – and the results were intriguing. In the categories of Economic value, agility, creativity & innovation, simplicity and social impact, the large majority preferred The Cloud. The only category where On Site management was deemed more favourable was the Risk & Trust factor.

So, the Cloud is perceived and accepted as the most cost-efficient, the fastest, eco-friendly and progressive method of doing business. No surprise that the industry is growing so rapidly year by year! Yet for some reason, many leaders are still tentative due to the assumed risks involved with moving from a physical to a virtual environment.

At Atum, we field questions about privacy, network security and data recovery with every new client. The fears are all the same: Will I lose anything in the migration? Will any of my data be compromised? What happens if the network goes down?

The answer is – Atum guarantees 100% SLA network uptime and is fully redundant.  Atum is a Canadian company, which means we act under strict Canadian Privacy Laws, and our data centre is a Tier 4 bomb-proof facility (and probably 100 times safer than your office!) Worried about Migration? Our team of experts will help you make a smooth transition, and will even manage your servers and provide you with ongoing IT support.

You may be on the fence about going entirely virtual – you are not alone. But trends are showing that businesses are weighing the pros, reaping the benefits and beginning to trust the Cloud.

Virtualization is the most cost-effective, energy efficient and scalable model for future business practices, and here 5 good reasons why!

1. The Outsourcing Model -Keep it out of house!

Gone are the days when companies will have to spend massive amounts of money storing and maintaining hardware and servers. It’s expensive to buy new hardware, make updates to old equipment and pay for resources to store and monitor them 24/7. The outsourcing model frees you and your business from downtime, out of date hardware and equipment overload! 

2. The Green Model- Doing more with less.

It’s that simple. VPS allows you to consolidate your servers, save energy/electricity and get rid of CO2 emitting machines in your office! Ask your VPS hosting company about their green initiatives – Atum stores data in a completely green data centre, and exclusively uses energy-efficient machines to provide a green solution for every client. 

3. The Start up Model – Smart planning for the future.

Many start-up companies go into the hole trying to build an infrastructure for their future. Staffing, overhead, hardware, software etc are all costs that can cripple a small business before they even get the chance to grow! Stats say that between 30-50% of all new businesses fail before the first 5 years. Virtualization will eliminate the need for costly, yet necessary, resources and also provide scalability for future growth. Atum will store, manage, and provide ongoing support customized to your business need, thus virtually eliminating the cost of an IT department!

4. The Recession Model – A streamlined approach.
Companies that have thrived during the recession, are those companies that have been able to do away with burdening costs. Taking the streamlined approach, such as building an international business from a basement, has been a successful model in the worst of economic times. Virtualization will allow for companies to be more efficient with less physical obstacles to their success.  

5. The Internet Model – The Future of the Cloud.
So much of our day-to-day life is dependent on the internet; buying, selling, doing business, communication, information – our world is very much ‘in the clouds’ (the internet). It makes sense then, that you can build your business securely and efficiently into the cloud. Do business from ANY location with the freedom of virtualization!

How can your business benefit from virtualization? Read 1-5 again, and ask the team at Atum how we can help your virtual potential!