This year at the Protech Fusion 2013 user conference, Cetrom was thrilled to host a panel discussion, “Cloud Computing: What you may not know,” which gave attendees an overview of Cetrom’s Cloud Computing Solutions for Associations and offered real-world scenarios from some of Cetrom’s association customers that are in the cloud. During the session, Cetrom’s president and CEO, Christopher Stark, moderated the panel of four cloud customers including: Jim Penrod, Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards; Katie Knaupe, Entertainment Software Association; Hans Zetterstrom, American College of Physician Executives, Inc.; and Kelly Jones, Agricultural Retailers Association. Customers addressed questions about moving to the cloud, including: • What was the #1 factor that convinced your organization to migrate to the cloud? • What were staff requirements before and after the migration? • How did you effectively set user expectations and achieve high rates of adoption? • Is the cloud living up to your expectations? • Are there any unexpected benefits? Here are some of the responses: “We are a very small office and our IT is actually outsourced. We don't have the resources to train staff for IT skills or take them away from other responsibilities. The cloud takes the IT out of our hands and places it into the hand of experts,” says Kelly Jones, office & membership manager of the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA). “We have been in the cloud since April 2011. I found our migration to be much simpler than expected. We moved our critical infrastructure and kept our data in-house on a file server. At the end of the day, Cetrom did all the work behind the scenes. We didn’t have any complications at all,” says Jim Penrod, deputy executive director of the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB). “We are a small association with no IT department to manage the database. Now if we have an IT problem, we submit a ticket and get great customer service to match our needs,” says Katie Knaupe, senior accountant, Entertainment Software Association (ESA). “As an association, we need the flexibility to be able to scale our IT environment. The ability to grow and have someone else worry about upgrading our system was what secured our decision to go to the cloud,” said, Hans Zetterstrom, senior manager of IT at the American College of Physician Executives, Inc. With over a decade of experience working with associations and nonprofits—a primary expertise vertical—Cetrom creates quality, customized, and cost-effective cloud computing solutions that help associations utilize leading technology, even on a limited budget. Cetrom delivers a fully managed or complementary IT solution that takes care of all the day-to-day upkeep, allowing association staff and executives to remain focused on the organization’s core mission and members. Is your association ready? Contact Cetrom to make sure your organization takes the right steps for a smooth transition. Call 866.364.1098, or visit: https://www.cetrom.net/about-us/contact-us/.
