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Who needs a network?

Posted By: Mike Published in Managing, Operations Tags: allenport, managed services, MSP

Dec

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I’ve long ago realized that if I were to set up another business tomorrow, it would have no infrastructure to speak of - just about everything would be hosted. That has big implications for someone in my line of work!

I met with a neighbor the other day that is part of a management consulting firm doing several hundred million in revenue with several hundred employees, and get this:

They have no offices
They have no full time operations people
They have no network

If I hadn’t heard it straight from one of their employees, I would have told you that this was impossible. This is the definition of keeping LEAN!

The same day, my friend Andrew Morgan introduced me to a service/company called Allenport. They’ve essentially made it so you can get all of the benefits of a network, but without buying a thing. You just subscribe to their service for $80/month. Pretty slick.

If you don’t start questioning your business model when you hear these two examples, you are in for a world of hurt in the next few years. Sure, not everyone is going to go to these extremes, but just about everyone is going to expect a similar level of ease of use and ROI from their technology investments.

It’s coming up on the new year. You’ve got some time off around the holidays. Make sure to set aside a few hours of quiet time to do nothing but think. Think about what your business will look like two years from now. What will your clients expect of you? How will technology change between now and then? What adjustments to your business model should you make?

A few hours of doing nothing but thinking is rare these days, but will pay off many times over!

MRC

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3 Responsed To This Post

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wildcat50k Says, on 12-23-2008 at 06:39:30

Wow, a company of several hundred people doing hundreds of millions of dollars a year…with no network? Define “network”. Do they use computers? If so, do they email- requires a network of some type. Management consulting means business plans are included- not electronic? If so, then sneakernet? Even a hosted file sharing system is still a network. A fellow SMB IT consultant (one who recently RSS-subscribed to your blog) is curious…

On the Allenport note, their service looks interesting and a possible good fit for SOME business needs of SOME businesses, but you state that “they’ve essentially made it so you can get all of the benefits of a network, but without buying a thing. You just subscribe to their service for $80/month.” Really?

I thought today’s SMB networks did much more than just file sharing with some form of backup. (Incidentally, Allenport claims that LANs can’t share files. huh?) What about email/ messaging/ mobile support? They offer no solution, yet claim to REPLACE a LAN/network. Then there’s the many line-of-business apps that almost every company worth its salt depends on. What happens when SQL Server is required… then what? No solution with Allenport. What about remote access (TO COMPUTERS, not another name for data restoration)? What about how regulatory compliance impacts the requirements of SMB IT, i.e. HIPAA, PCI, Sarbanes Oxley, etc? That’s definitely not included. And now for the ironic part- what about the simple network required to connect to the internet safely…to access Allenport? Do they replace the need for that? No one in their right mind would direct-connect their PC to the internet without some form of protection…from a network.

Don’t get me wrong- I agree that hosted apps and SaaS are fast growing and enabling businesses to be lighter on the LAN side. Heck, even our SMB IT Consulting business is run using hosted versions of PSA and RMM tools. But we still have SBS running on our network. And we still use QuickBooks Pro, along with thousands, maybe millions of other businesses, which requires a server piece installed on the LAN as I’m sure you know. (Allenport/hosted solution?) And we still share network printers. (Allenport/hosted solution?) We enjoy remote access to our computers via RWW/ LogMeIn/ VNC (Allenport solution?) And we still appreciate connecting to the internet safely with business-grade firewall routers, antivirus, antispyware, etc (Allenport/ hosted solution?) I could go on but…

Mike Says, on 12-23-2008 at 17:47:54

Wow! I wish all of my posts got such engaged responses!

Dear reader (please don’t be afraid to use your name in future responses; I never mind my ideas being challenged in public!), you’ll have to forgive my limited sales/marketing/business vocabulary…I don’t have as literal of a definition of a network as you do.

But let’s not miss the point. This is a company that - if following the practices of most businesses - would probably have a pretty large investment in hardware and software, as well as a staff of people to maintain everything.

Instead they use almost 100% hosted services, and have no staff to maintain their IT investments. If you told me a 15 person company was doing this, I’d say “makes perfect sense”. But when I heard of a company of this size being able to pull this off, I was really surprised.

The point is that your business model is going to have to adjust. Whether they have 75%, 50%, 20%, or 5% of their “network” in house, they will still need IT leadership and assistance. However, how they consume those services, and what they are willing to pay for them - is going to change.

I hope that clarifies the point I was trying to make.

Mike

Jocelyn Says, on 1-21-2009 at 22:42:08

I read with interest the blog posting by Mike on SMBITPros.com and the related replies.

AllenPort provides a hosted business network solution that works really well for small business. For technical people, a LAN represents servers and server software and lots of configuration. These are the pieces of the business network that AllenPort hosts and provides as a simple service to small business. Of course, businesses will still need internet access and some kind of firewall. But you have to realize that all that configuration, management, and costs is a heavy burden for a business, and AllenPort offers a simple affordable solution… that’s the reason for the No LAN. AllenPort may not work for all businesses, but if you compare the basic file management functionality of AllenPort to any local server software or web based solution, you will see a simplified system for managing users, backup, remote file access, and other features that are second to none.

jocelyn@allenport.com
Marketing Manager