Going Google Roadshow – 15th November 2011
On Tuesday the 15th of November Cloud Technology Solutions held another of it’s “Going Google Roadshow – The Google Experience” at the prestigious Hilton Hotel in Manchester. Here at Cloud Technology Solutions we couldn’t have asked for a better day. With a room to accommodate over 50 people bursting to capacity, we were having to add extra chairs come the start of presentations.
Throughout the day we heard from Bryan Kinsella (ex CIO at Rentokil Initial), Stuart Cooke (IT Director at CN Media), Brad Kilshaw from Google, and our very of Cloud Expert Paul Lees (VP of Technology). In the room we had a wide spectrum of organisations from leading media companies, prestigious law firms and members of local councils.
The presentations began with an introduction to what we do at Cloud Technology Solutions from our CEO Steve Kaye. He looked at the triggering point when a company makes the decision to move to the cloud and how Cloud Technology Solutions can help you on this journey.
Stuart Cooke the IT Director at CN Media then took us through his personal journey to the cloud and how he, with the help of Cloud Technology Solutions, and the Cloud Migrator, successfully moved 500+ employees to the Google Apps platform. CN Media is a leading information and news provider to the Cumbrian area, Stuart spoke candidly about the challenges he had to face and how moving to a cloud based platform enriched their company financially and logistically.
After a coffee break we heard from Bryan Kinsella the ex CIO of Rentokil Initial. If you want to know how to successfully move your company to the cloud this is your go to guy! With 68,000 employees spread across 50 countries Bryan Kinsella’s presentation displayed how he, through moving to Google Apps, enriched Rentokil Initial through the cloud. Bryan Kinsella joined Rentokil Initial and saw that there was an opportunity for change from the archaic systems Rentokil had in place (40 email platforms and 180 email domains) he explained how he brought the company together in terms of collaboration and technology utilisation through the cloud.
Paul Lees our VP of Technology ended the proceedings speaking about how Cloud Technology Solutions can and has helped thousands of companies migrate their systems into the cloud. He briefly went through our unique pricing model and spoke about how Google Apps can bring flexible and longstanding business agility. Paul talked about some of the companies we are working with at present which are spread across multiple sectors including local government, hospitality and media.
Before the day ended we gave away a brand new Samsung powered Google Chromebook to one of our lucky attendees (Adrian Davies Specialist Support Manager from Stockport MBC). After an enjoyable day we all went for celebratory drinks at the very fitting bar ‘Cloud 23’ bar which is located at the top of the Hilton hotel.
Here’s what the lucky winner Adrian Davies had to say about the event
The event was well worth attending and gave my colleagues and I a great insight into the potential of cloud based services. It was very informative to hear directly from businesses presenting their experiences of making the move. As a manager within Stockport Councils ICT department greatest interest was the potential to reduce the costs of delivering our services whilst providing increased capacity. We will be watching with great interest the implementations at Warwickshire Council and Parliament and the CSG security implications around IL2 and IL 3 data.
The venue and facilities were 1st class and made for a very enjoyable afternoon, being selected from the prize draw and being presented with a lovely Google Chromebook was the icing on the cake.
Here’s what some of the attendees had to say…
It was an excellent day, very informative.
Very relevant and well structured. Thanks.
Very interesting. Well presented, well organised and thought provoking.
I’ve been to a few similar events and this was the best so far.
Great to finally meet the Cloud Technology Solutions team, looking forward to working with them in the future.
The format was different from usual seminars it was fantastic to hear from customers that have made the move to the cloud and listen to what they have to say especially Bryan Kinsella!
I now understand what Cloud Computing actually means. Thanks for a great day!
