IT Security for Hybrid Work Models
Hybrid work models require a depth in defense IT strategy that encompasses remote work security to enable employees to work securely from anywhere.
"Manage-It-Yourself" Cloud Services
In 1973 BBDO, the global ad agency, created the memorable “Have It Your Way” jingle for Burger King. More than 40 years later, those words could easily be the slogan for cloud services. Like consumers across most markets these days, cloud users want their cloud services tailored to the specific needs. Equally important, they want them at their fingertips and under their control.
As a customer-centric company, US Signal understands that mindset and continually implements new technologies and processes to deliver what customers want. That includes employing a cloud platform — vCloud Director — that truly allows customers to “have it their way.”
vCloud Puts Customers in Charge
vCloud Director enables customers to manage pools of virtual resources themselves from a single pane of glass. In minutes, they can increase or decrease resources as their business needs require — without relying on US Signal to do the work. That includes deploying workloads and applications in multiple geographic locations at the same time, as well as building and modifying their own virtual environments.
What makes this a big deal? Because vCloud Director enables self-service, customers don’t have to go through US Signal every time they need more resources. As a result, they can more easily and quickly accommodate fluctuating business needs.
That doesn’t mean customers are completely on their own. US Signal’s Technical Operations Center (TOC), which operates 24/7/365, is just a phone call away if assistance is needed. Phone calls are typically answered within 30 seconds and are greeted by technical experts who can help resolve issues right away.
Self-service Cloud Capabilities
So, what are some things US Signal’s customers can do via vCloud Director? They can power up or down when needed. They can move workloads from different data centers. They can spin-up resources if a new project comes in and immediate capacity is needed. They can create their own vApps when building a hosting environment from scratch. Or, they can take pre-designed vApps, modify them as needed, and then upload them to their service catalog or hosting environment. They can also upload ISO or disc images right into their virtual environment, introducing applications into their hosted environment.
vCloud Director’s self-service capabilities eliminate the need to wait on US Signal to create or manage resources. Instead, catalog-based services can quickly and easily be accessed through a Web portal. That, in turn, yields greater business agility, reduced costs, and more for customers.
Customer Satisfaction Matters
vCloud Director delivers benefits for US Signal as well. It gives US Signal’s customers in highly regulated markets and stringent compliance requirements a multi-tenant solution that enables true segmentation of customers and their private networks.
It also results in reduced management overhead and entails less time for deploying new services thanks to different allocation models. For example, enterprise customers can use the reservation model and oversubscribe the resources, which allows for greater scale and customization of their environment. Managed services providers (MSPs) that provide their own cloud services can employ an allocation model to drive down costs and improve margin because they don’t require the highest levels of resource availability. Traditional pay-as-you-go customers can do just that: pay only for what they use.
Perhaps most important is how all this helps US Signal deliver a better customer experience. The flexibility inherent in vCloud Director makes for happier customers who appreciate “having it their way”.
US Signal is currently exploring the development of a dashboard to let customers see the entire breadth of US Signal services, including network, data backup, workload replication and others. The flexibility of the vCloud API will allow scripted access to cloud resources and a holistic view of the US Signal portfolio.
Keep checking US Signal’s blog posts for updates on what else the company has planned to help customers overcome their IT challenges, meet their business needs, and enjoy a better customer experience. Learn more about how US Signal has used vCloud Director to improve the experiences of its customers. Read the VMware case study.
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