http://www.tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/feed Description http://www.tbs-llc.com/xres/images/logo.png http://www.tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/feed en TBC-LLC Copyright 2012 2012-03-15T08:46:21+00:00 http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/TBS-Educates-CPAs-on-Cloud-Computing/ http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/TBS-Educates-CPAs-on-Cloud-Computing/#When:04:46:36Z December 13, 2011 -- Technology & Business Solutions LLC founders Jay Ethridge and Joe Jezior presented an educational workshop titled “The Cloud for You and Your Customer’s Business” at the annual winter gathering of the Virginia Society of CPAs’ northern chapter in Falls Church, Virginia. “At our last Northern Virginia CPAs meeting, everybody said they wanted to learn more about cloud computing,” said NVSCPA professional development committee member, Cindy Laporta, a Principal at Kositzka, Wicks and Company. “I can think of no one better qualified than TBS to provide that education for CPAs.” The TBS educational session provided a practical overview on the types of cloud services available in the marketplace, highlighted by a hands-on guide that helps organizations decide when and if cloud-based solutions are appropriate for their business systems. “The rapid evolution of cloud services presents most organizations with more questions than answers,” says TBS co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Joe Jezior. “So, it’s important to critically assess your business requirements system-by-system, in order to determine which cloud is best for you.” Experts 2011-12-13T04:46:36+00:00 http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Project-Success-Webinar/ http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Project-Success-Webinar/#When:05:46:13Z Management Concepts, a preeminent training resource for government personnel and contract employees for over 36 years, is offering its complimentary webinar -- Managing Stakeholder Expectations for Project Success -- on Tuesday, July 26th from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. EDT. You can REGISTER HERE. In today’s world of cross-functional, matrix-managed, virtual, and geographically dispersed teams, recognizing the expectations of your stakeholders is critical to the success of any project. While the expectations of some stakeholders may be straightforward and aligned with project goals, others may be unachievable or worse yet, unknown. Managing these relationships is key to ensuring requirements are met and ultimately project success is achieved. In this webinar, you will learn how to: Implement a stakeholder-based approach to your projects Identify and meet stakeholder needs, requirements, and priorities Actively build and manage relationships with your stakeholders Join Management Concepts for this interactive presentation, where you will have the opportunity to receive answers to your stakeholder-related questions, engage in polling and discussion questions, and learn about the tools that will help your projects succeed! Don't wait! Space is limited. For more information contact Management Concept's John Driessnack at jdriessnack@ManagementConcepts.com, or REGISTER HERE. Experts 2011-07-18T05:46:13+00:00 http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/New-Genius-Deltek-Integration/ http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/New-Genius-Deltek-Integration/#When:06:46:35Z “Talent imitates. Genius borrows.” This aphorism was first attributed to Galileo Galilei, someone who knew a thing or two about genius – the Renaissance physicist, mathematician and astronomer is widely hailed as the “Father of Modern Science.” (Galileo is perhaps best known for “borrowing” and advancing Copernicus’s theory that the Sun is the center of our planetary system. His radical new view ultimately found him lifetime house arrest via The Inquisition.) Of course advancing technology is all about borrowing and building upon the best solutions, practices and applications, and this is particularly true in the world of software development, where universal programming languages form the bedrock of all commercial products. Surprisingly, when it comes to integrating software – that is, creating programmed connectors to synchronize accounting systems, for example, with other corporate software assets – the solutions have traditionally been talented imitators, custom applications written by programmers and consultants that work just like other custom applications written for other businesses. So, where’s the genius? Experts 2011-07-04T06:46:35+00:00 http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Enterprise-Cloud-Expect-More-From-Deltek-Cloud/ http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Enterprise-Cloud-Expect-More-From-Deltek-Cloud/#When:07:46:02Z At TBS, we know that the push for delivery of corporate software – like Deltek GCS, Costpoint, Vision, Time Collection & Expense – securely, scalably and cost-effectively via the Internet is undeniable for today’s workforce, which is increasingly mobile and distributed at multiple work sites for their clients. According to Gartner’s recent CIO survey titled "Reimagining IT: The 2011 CIO Agenda” (sampling 2,014 CIOs in 50 countries with $160 billion in IT spending) -- "Currently, 3 percent of CIOs have the majority of IT running in the cloud or on SaaS technologies, but over the next four years CIOs expect this number to increase to 43 percent." As a result, Gartner says the typical IT organization, which invests two-thirds of its budget in daily operations, will free up between 35 to 50 percent of its resources by moving to the cloud. Thankfully, TBS has been hosting Deltek products in our Enterprise Cloud since 2004 – yes, before “The Cloud” was even cool. And though giants like Google, Deltek, Microsoft, and the Federal Government are joining the momentum for cloud hosting and SaaS, TBS’s focus is right where it’s always been. We’re that same small, service-first company that’s always known cloud delivery is the most cost-effective, scalable and secure IT environment for businesses of all sizes. At TBS, we know that not all clouds are the same. They don’t all have silver linings. Experts 2011-05-10T07:46:02+00:00 http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/TBS-Blog-Experts-Does-It-Rain-In-Cloud-Argy/ http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/TBS-Blog-Experts-Does-It-Rain-In-Cloud-Argy/#When:06:46:09Z No doubt, you have heard of or are somewhat familiar with the latest technology term to hit the mainstream business vernacular – cloud computing.  In short, the term cloud is simply a reference to the internet; it is only when the term is combined with computing that things can start to get a little fuzzier. For those of you that are not familiar with this new term it refers to organizing or provisioning a variety of computer resources using a computer network, most often with the end user having no knowledge of either the physical location or configuration of the computers that are being accessed or delivering the services requested.  Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand access to a  shared pool of computing resources; such as networks, servers, storage, or application services.  One of the key characteristics of cloud computing is that data is processed in an often unspecified location.  This is in contrast to the client-server model, which we have all become familiar with over the past 20 years, where data processing occurs on one or more known specific servers. Experts 2011-04-29T06:46:09+00:00 http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Enterprise-Cloud-Agile-IT-for-Your-Business/ http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Enterprise-Cloud-Agile-IT-for-Your-Business/#When:08:46:11Z What is “Agile IT”?  In today’s world of mobile, cloud computing, it’s best-in-class technology that: Scales along with your enterprise and is fully forward-compatible – as the needs of your business advance, agile IT bends and flexes too, cost-effectively with no additional capital expenditures. Continually delivers instant and ongoing ROI Provides control and flexibility directly to end users and decision makers, not IT managers and consultants Does this describe your IT investment? Since your internal deployment, what has happened to your business? Has everything gone according to plan?Have market opportunities expanded more rapidly? Have you contracted service offerings?Have their been acquisitions? New partnerships? Experts 2011-03-15T08:46:11+00:00 http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/TBS-Blog-Experts-What-Is-EVM/ http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/TBS-Blog-Experts-What-Is-EVM/#When:06:46:00Z About twenty years ago a story surfaced about a substance called “dihydrogen monoxide.”  This compound was a major component of acid rain, deadly if inhaled and could even cause severe burns, often found in industrial solvents and nuclear power plants.  Yet dihydrogen monoxide was an excellent fire retardant and often found use as an additive to many food products in the supermarket!  This story was, and is, a simple hoax that reappears occasionally on the web.  For most anyone with a basic chemistry background, “dihydrogen monoxide” is quickly recognized as H2O.  We call it water. The story of Earned Value Management (EVM) is not altogether different than the saga of dihydrogen monoxide.   EVM is not a hoax, of course, but it often suffers unnecessarily from detractors who give the subject barely a second glance and, come to think of it, likely did not do well in high school chemistry, either.  In typical project management preparatory environments such as a training class,  EVM tends to be explained and demonstrated in terms of formulas (e.g. CPI equals planned value divided by actual costs) and terminology than with respect to leadership and decision-making.  Thus, EVM has at best a “number-crunching” image and at worst is associated with the esoteric and irrelevant.  Perhaps some would even believe those who practice EVM prefer the solitude of dark corners in office buildings reciting obscure passages from ANSI/EIA-748B while entering data into large, complex spreadsheets.  The aggregate result is an unfortunate myth, which goes something like this: Establishing an EVM system is a challenge to be undertaken by no less than a major corporation as the “price of entry” into the big-ticket Federal Acquisition contracts. The truth says otherwise.  EVM is, and always has been, an interdisciplinary performance measurement tool designed to inform leadership decision-making.  Yes there are numbers and artifacts and guidelines and processes, but those are but means to an end.  They need not dominate the discussion, for the root enabler of EVM, the very foundation upon which it survives, is leadership, common sense, discipline and a willingness to live with reality on a daily basis. Experts 2011-03-07T06:46:00+00:00 http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Enterprise-Cloud-Affordable-World-Class-IT/ http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Enterprise-Cloud-Affordable-World-Class-IT/#When:09:46:15Z In our first four installments of the TBS Whitepaper Series – Understanding Cloud Computing: What’s Best for Your Enterprise – we’ve defined cloud computing and explored the differences between private and public cloud environments, examined how only public enterprise cloud hosting delivers a true reduction in costs, and explored the security and compliance advantages of the public enterprise cloud. Underlying all of this is the topic of our fifth installment in the series – that cloud computing is an IT game-changer for small- to mid-sized companies. Simply put, public enterprise clouds provide access to world-class IT solutions at one time only available to Fortune 500 giants. As discussed before in this series, public enterprise clouds are highly cost-effective solutions for obtaining the very best software platforms, be it your CRM, ERP tools, or your HR and Accounting systems, such as Deltek® GCS Premier. But cost reduction with the benefits of everywhere availability and world-class security is just half the story. Put another way, public enterprise clouds not only provide cost-effective solutions, they make the very best information technology – typically only within the reach of the largest and most profitable firms – obtainable and desirable for all businesses, whether small or medium sized, or start-ups. Experts 2011-01-01T09:46:15+00:00 http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Enterprise-Cloud-Best-Security-and-Compliance/ http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Enterprise-Cloud-Best-Security-and-Compliance/#When:10:47:49Z Rightly so, many businesses worry about third-party providers managing and controlling their most precious corporate data, especially financial and personnel-related documentation and systems. And so, cloud hosting providers – those that promise to safely guard and deliver critical data at all times – should indeed be held to very high expectations for software, hardware, and infrastructure security.As examined throughout this series, private cloud hosting providers – those that build unique and dedicated server environments on a client-by-client basis – deliver a wide range of security configurations to their clients. Many private cloud environments are very secure, to be sure, but just as many are not so robust. (Remember, remote servers sitting in your brother-in-law’s closet constitute a private cloud.) This is because private cloud providers do NOT deliver their security environment as a “platform” – one industry-leading template securely deployed to all users all the time (more about this below) – but instead they create unique installations in reaction to each individual client’s stated requirements, know-how, and budgets. Experts 2010-12-01T10:47:49+00:00 http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Enterprise-Cloud-True-Cost-Savings/ http://tbs-llc.com/newsfeed/detail/Enterprise-Cloud-True-Cost-Savings/#When:11:47:44Z In our last white paper, we discussed the benefits of a public enterprise cloud versus a private cloud, and stated our belief that public clouds exemplify cloud computing in the best sense, and represent where the market is headed.  One very clear advantage that we see with public enterprise clouds is the fact that they bring about a true cost reduction for an organization, as opposed to a mere transfer of costs from your company to the one furnishing the external infrastructure, as is the case with private clouds.Most cloud providers that deliver dedicated infrastructures offer nothing more than a cost transfer.  That is, they say they can run your hardware, applications and manage your people better than you can.  But if you’re dedicating equipment or resources to another company’s facilities, you’re still effectively paying for the same infrastructure you’d manage internally, plus now paying a margin (their profit).  The problem with private clouds is that users still have to buy, build, design and manage them, and maintain these liabilities, and therefore do not benefit from lower up-front costs and reduced exposure.When it comes to cloud computing, cost reduction, not just the transfer of costs, is where real financial benefits are created. Experts 2010-11-01T11:47:44+00:00