The saying, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight,” means that on red, cloud-filled evenings sailors can expect favorable conditions. For businesses migrating to cloud services, working with IT cloud-first consulting firm RedNight also indicates smooth sailing ahead.
Based out of Orange County, California, RedNight focuses on helping SMBs transition their IT infrastructure to the cloud for workflow improvement and increased employee productivity.
“We believe the future of computing is in the cloud,” says RedNight president Chris Ploessel. “In the next five to ten years, we don’t think companies will be owning servers.” He notes that particularly for SMBs, being able to pay for the performance and computing power that they need on demand — rather than investing capital up front — is critical to being able to compete.
In addition to helping companies make the move to the cloud, RedNight also provides managed services support. For SMBs, having some additional support to address IT issues can free up IT resource time to focus on more strategic initiatives.
Cloud Improves Mobility
One of the key ways that a cloud services environment can help SMBs is by enabling them to be more flexible and more mobile. “Businesses don’t have to worry about how computers are being managed. Being in the cloud gives them the ability to be agile and change rapidly as they need to,” notes Ploessel.
Tamarack Aerospace Group, a company in Sandpoint, Idaho that designs winglets and other aircraft efficiency technology, saw first-hand how cloud services could be leveraged to improve productivity for their highly mobile and distributed workforce.
Through a partnership with Samsung and RedNight, Tamarack piloted the use of Samsung Galaxy Note8 devices and Amazon Web Services. They had been looking for a solution that would allow them to work from anywhere on any device — including using their mobile device as a computer, in place of having to travel with a laptop.
Equipped with Samsung DeX — a mobile docking station that connects the mobile device to any monitor, keyboard and mouse — the Note8 devices made it simple to achieve this goal. “Instead of carrying a laptop, they could just carry a mobile device,” says Ploessel.
Greater Productivity, Security and Agility
Other benefits RedNight was able to help Tamarack achieve by moving to cloud services included workflow improvement and increased employee productivity.
“They had a disconnected work environment,” say Ploessel. “They thought they were in the cloud with Microsoft OneDrive, but what we found is that there were many files on individual workstations that weren’t on OneDrive and many files that weren’t being properly backed up.”
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RedNight helped Tamarack gain consistency in the corporate workstation environment while enabling employees to get things done faster. For example, if they were writing an email at the office and wanted to finish it up at home later in the evening, they could just log in and the email would be there.
“They don’t have to worry about VPN tunnels or not having a certain application loaded,” says Ploessel. “It’s allowed them to do things five to ten minutes faster.” Over time, that can add up to a lot of extra savings.
Moving to the cloud has also made the company’s environment more secure and more collaborative. “Tamarack now has a containerized environment where their data can’t leak or escape — and this is important because they are working on a lot of innovative technology,” says Ploessel.
Agility has been another benefit of Tamarack’s move to the cloud. The company recently moved to a new location, and having everything in the cloud made the move much easier and faster. “They didn’t have to worry about how computers were being managed. They could just move the workstations and plug back in. They also noticed that their applications were running faster in the cloud than when running locally on a desktop,” says Ploessel.
Lifting the IT Burden
Many SMBs are strapped for resources. Having ongoing tech support or a managed services provider can offset the IT workload when there are only one or two individuals in the business to manage the IT infrastructure. Additionally, a consulting firm like RedNight brings a lot of experience to the table, enabling a faster transition time when migrating to cloud services.
“We have expertise in putting all the pieces together,” says Ploessel. “RedNight knows what questions need to be asked to ensure that the businesses can use the apps they need and the devices they want, as well as be able to access to the files they need and provide a seamless deployment to the end users — making the transition to the cloud run smoother and faster.”
Learn how SMB solutions can be tailored to boost productivity and enhance workflow at your business.
