When I started by business in 2011, my small and mid market customers thought the cloud was just wet air in the sky. I knew there was a better way, but didn’t realise what a massive impact cloud disruption would have.
Before there was Office 365, there was Google. We were one of the earliest adopters of business google (GSuite) which gave all businesses the chance to simplify their IT, increase worker productivity and save thousands on downtime and support costs. The only problem with Gsuite was, it looked like it was going to put the local IT guy out of business. It’s no surprise that business technology advisors weren’t pushing the solution.
The second wave was when Microsoft opened up the Office 365 partner program by ending and exclusive distribution agreement with Telstra. While partners scrambled to to understand the solution, we were well on our way to achieving our Microsoft Silver Competency. As customers become aware of the power of the cloud, IT service providers moved the email workload into office 365 to avoid losing their customers to born in the cloud partners like us.
The third and most important wave (2019-?) is now all about security and adoption. Customers have been moved into the cloud by their IT partners, but have failed to close all the doors to attackers. The average security score is 30ish out of 500, and now customers are starting to ask why they are getting hacked. They are also paying thousands for tools they aren’t using, while employees go about buying random software from the internet with little to no oversight. This has turned the promise of simplicity and security in the cloud, into a tyre fire of broken expectations.
Today I spend most of my time helping small and midmarket customers plan, consume and secure their cloud. In my spare time, I educate IT professions in best practice, whether it’s speaking at national conferences, or reaching them through my fortnightly podcasting activity. I’m driven by knowing that if I can keep one great business from going out of business, my work will have been worth it.
IT Solutions since 2013
Uptake Digital is a born in the cloud service provider. We provide IT solutions that just work so that our customers don’t have to think about technology, they can just get on with growing their business.
Brenton Johnson founded the company in 2013 with the simple vision of providing outstanding quality and value and has since grown the organisation into a leading cloud consultancy and managed services provider. Based in Bendigo and Melbourne our team of technicians are available to provide you with individual support from a real person who understands and cares about your business. We are now one of the fastest growing IT businesses in the region.
“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”
~ Steve Jobs
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