“Cloud Technology is the ultimate accelerator, it can drive innovation, serves as a force multiplier, and is the fastest way to achieve a competitive advantage.” – Marc Staut, Boomer Consulting
Boomer Consulting’s Boomer Technology Circles Summit went virtual this year, and not surprisingly, it was a huge success. A unique but intimate experience was created by the Boomer team and it provided this annual gathering of technology vendors and partners, CIO’s, and IT aficionados an environment to better understand the pressing issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and how to drive growth while reducing the risks in a firm today.
Netgain’s Kate Krupey and Bill Sorenson took to the virtual stage with a presentation on how Microsoft Azure is vastly changing the role of IT going forward. The key takeaways and highlights for a “standing-room only” audience are below:
- Moving firm IT staff to a more business and strategic alignment with users and clients provides a deeper connection and increased value to the firm. The key is creating additional value from their expertise directly into the business and working projects that focus on both productivity and value.
- Digital innovation continues, but the next moves are actual ROI focused projects that can deliver results. Look for projects with shorter timeframes to prove value and focus on high impact areas. It’s a great time to get training on Robotic Process Automation (RPA), PowerBI, and Power Apps.
- There’s an acceleration to the public cloud and the move isn’t as difficult as once previously thought. Work with a partner that has both experience in the industry and a platform. Get started now – this can still be a 2020 project and will aid your next tax season productivity.
- The Shared Responsibility Model allows management of risk across the firm while sharing with expert partners. Understanding your continued role in protecting your client’s data and allowing partner experts to manage the environment, frees you to focus on what’s most important.
- Microsoft Azure has won the hearts and minds of the industry with dramatic uptime/reliability, performance, and innovation. Firms are accelerating their plans this year, and we’re seeing significant movement across firms of all sizes.
And Gary Boomer’s comments, from the conference, continue to ring true for firms that have already embraced cloud technology:
“Firms must be in the Cloud if they expect to compete through improved integration, workflow, data analytics, and value creation. Those that resist will have difficulty attracting talent and clients.”
Both industry experts and consultants agree that cloud technology is opening new business avenues and streams for firms. With always on availability, cyber security, and increased app performance, this frees up firms’ technology and partner resources to have the time to look at both incremental business in addition to new lines of business for the firm.
To reiterate, the Boomer Technology Circles Summit was a complete hit and shows how a core group can take adversity in any situation and leverage tools and partners to create industry changing innovation. It was a great success!