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I've got a reputation in our industry of being someone who knows the IT infrastructure business very well, and also as one who  isn't afraid to speak the truth about how the business works.  Sometimes, that means pointing out how some vendors take advantage of customers, in hopes of educating our prospects so they can get the best value for their money spent.

Lately, though, I've been speaking plainly about how many end users are just blindly migrating to "the Public Cloud" as if it's some magic formula that all the smart guys are using.  

It isn't.  And it's time you guys started doing your homework.

Amazon makes most of its profit from Amazon Web Services.  AWS makes BIG profits off its customers...much bigger than most other computer companies.  It's not because they're smarter than others; it's because they've got customers that aren't doing their homework.

As I've said before...what if you, an IT manager, had to explain to your management why you doubled your cost of IT infrastructure by moving to the Public Cloud?  If your manager was smart, they'd drill into the evaluation you did before you decided on the Public Cloud.  And most times, they'd see you didn't do any!  How do you think that's going to end for you?

I've discussed this with at least 5 CIOs over the past few months.  Not one of them said their guys do much of an evaluation on IT infrastructure decisions.  They all felt that the Public Cloud made sense, mostly because their guys told them so, or they read about how all the smart guys were going to the cloud.  I asked them how they could possibly know that if they didn't even do an evaluation?  My pointing this out to them was interesting...they quickly realized their guys didn't do the work...and that going forward they were going to have to.

Understand I am not against the Public Cloud.  I AM against being lazy and not doing the hard work of looking at all of your options.   Public Cloud is ideal for some workloads, but not most.  And it's almost always about twice as expensive as doing it yourself.  Why would you EVER spend twice as much as you had to?

C'mon...be smart!  we can help.  Just ask!

Every day, I speak with customers and prospects for our business.  The business we created, Roundstone Solutions, is all about helping organizations and their IT staff simplify things, modernize infrastructures, and reduce cost.  It's gratifying when we're able to do so, which is often.  But our toughest job is to get It folks to realize there's usually a better way than they're doing it.

Despite what you may think, you don't get extra credit for continuing to do it the "old way", or "the way we've always done things".  In fact, over time, that approach becomes a very risky place to be.  If your senior management knew you could simplify things for your team and business, you could deliver better service, and do so at a much lower cost than you're currently doing it, do you think they'd be happy?  Does your company reward those who "keep on keeping on" or do they promote those who look for the path forward?  You know the answer.

If you're still using a 3-tier IT infrastructure to run your applications, and the vast majority of you still are, my question to you is "Why?"  Why would you deliberately avoid moving forward?  Why would you limit your personal and professional upside?  

Look, we get it.  If no one is forcing you to be innovative, you're happy to just keep things running the way you always have.  We can assure you, those of our customers who have looked forward and decided to improve their infrastructure are very happy to have done so.  They have more time, have happier employees, and a heck of a lot less stress.  Plus, they've got budget money to finally get those additional projects going.

We can help.  We have lots of experience simplifying IT infrastructures.  Our website talks about the 3 main areas we focus on.

Take us up on our genuine offer to help you see the path forward.  Don't keep pushing that boulder uphill.