Blogs

By Emma-Jayne Hunt, 8x8

CIF and 8x8 held an engaging session on ‘Taking advantage of the UKs flexible and remote working boom’ at 8x8’s new UK Head Office on Tuesday 28^th February. Here is a summary of what was discussed.

By David Grimes, CTO at NaviSite

Companies are always looking for new ways to increase efficiency and reduce costs while maintaining excellence in the quality of their products and services. A big part of cloud computing that IT departments and service providers increasingly look to is APIs (Application Programming Interfaces – sets of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications) to enable automation, in turn driving efficiency, consistency and cost-savings. How are businesses doing this, and where are the opportunities for future development?

By HighCloud Solutions

If you’re thinking about saying goodbye to the responsibility of maintaining and supporting your in-house business systems, and you’re considering a move to the cloud to gain the agility and insight you need to compete effectively in today’s ever-increasing competitive environment, that’s a wise move.

All industries are facing more competitive pressures than ever before, and we know that wasting time and resources on costly and ineffective on-premise business systems that fail to support your business strategy is simply not a viable option for you and the long-term growth of your organisation.

Read on to discover the value that a true cloud solution can add to your business.

David Grimes, Chief Technology officer at CIF member Navisite, reflects on cloud market trends in order to continue to provide clients with the solutions and services they need in the ever evolving IT landscape. So what is the next big thing (or perhaps “next big things,” is more accurate) in the wonderful world of cloud?

New research undertaken by 8x8 and the IoD on the UK business community exposes rift between attitudes of company directors and IT managers when it comes to embracing new technology

By Antonio Piraino

All cloud services are prone to failure. Although technically correct, this argument is widely used by industry laggards as a deterrent to cloud adoption. And even if practical examples of cloud outages support this argument, the cloud industry already offers promising solutions to address these concerns.

By Simon Rutt, Programmes DIrector, CIF

As more and more IT systems are externalised, making sure you pick the right cloud providers has become critical to long-term success.

However, the available market is vast, with a myriad of providers offering an even larger number of services. From market giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Google through to smaller niche players offering bespoke services.

So how do you select the right cloud provider from so many? The answer is a defined selection and procurement process appropriately weighted towards your unique set of needs.

We’ve distilled the key factors into a definitive list of 8 consideration areas.

Technology has always been about change.

But there is something about right now – as we progress through the 21st century – that suggests this change is happening at an even greater pace than ever.

Like with all change, not everything moves in the same direction; some things grow, some things recede, and some things morph into something else altogether.

In...

By Bryan Oak, Director of Consulting Services, Searchlight Consulting

In this 2^nd blog, Louise Wynn, Business Manager at Instant on IT continues to assess the priorities and focus which customers in the legal sector require for effective management of IT services.