This time of year always reminds me we have hit the mid-year mark to 2018. The first half of the year was very productive and we made a lot of progress toward our strategic initiatives. 

As enterprises pursue digital transformations that impact infrastructure and operations, they face evolving IT needs requiring new skills and expertise for either finite project implementations or ongoing infrastructure needs. Simultaneously, some legacy systems, such as mainframes, may require updates and maintenance to remain viable, while other infrastructure needs may call for new platform implementations.

Are you struggling to keep up with everything your IT department is being asked to do? In today’s business climate, both threats and opportunities offer significant challenges to even the most seasoned staff. Escalating salaries and frequent job movement can make it difficult to find and retain the right people without breaking the bank.

First National Technology Solutions (FNTS), a leading provider of cloud services, has partnered with Pivotal to help businesses build and deploy brand new, cloud-based applications with innovative technology that is fast, affordable and secure.

Pivotal Cloud Foundry—the industry-leading cloud-native application platform—is now available in First National Technology Solutions’ cloud environment. This gives developers the ability to use modern technology to rapidly create, deploy and test the next generation of business-ready applications without having to invest in their own costly hardware. FNTS gives developers full visibility and control over their applications. Developers are free to update their apps instantly and securely, using a pay-as-you-go system.

According to Pivotal, more than 30 percent of Fortune 100 companies utilize Pivotal Cloud Foundry. Garmin, Ford, General Electric, Verizon and Home Depot are just a handful of the notable businesses that have transformed into software-driven companies with the help of Pivotal Cloud Foundry. Pivotal Cloud Foundry also is used by six of the ten largest carmakers; seven of the top ten banks; and half of the 10 largest insurance companies, according to Fortune.

Joseph S. Duryea has joined First National Technology Solutions (FNTS) as vice president of sales and marketing. In this executive role, Duryea will lead FNTS’ long-term sales and go-to market strategies as it continues to expand its Infrastructure as a Service, Public Cloud and Digital Transformation business.

First National Technology Solutions (FNTS), is excited to announce the addition of Microsoft Azure public cloud to its growing list of cloud computing services.  As IT demands continue to shift across all industries, FNTS is dedicated to meeting the needs of individual enterprises today and aligning with their strategic growth plans for the future.  The addition of Microsoft Azure serves to validate our mission of helping customers stay on the cutting edge of technology adoption and usage.

Last week FNTS announced the addition of Microsoft Office 365 to its cloud services offering.  With FNTS and Microsoft Office 365, organizations can work smarter and faster from any device, anywhere, any time.

Between an eventful presidential election season, the dawn of a ground breaking app in Pokémon GO and even an exit by Britain from the European Union, 2016 was an eventful year for many people. It was no different at First National Technology Solutions (FNTS), here are some of the highlights of initiatives from FNTS over the past year.

It’s important for customers to trust information which is shared with them, and First National Technology Solutions (FNTS) is setting the right expectation with clients as they’re coming on board. This is especially true in regards to Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

On Thanksgiving Day, our CEO, Ken Kucera, passed away after a long and courageous battle.  In remembrance and celebration of Ken, I wanted to share my thoughts on what made him so special for FNTS.  Ken was a great technologist.  His career included spending time as a project manager, application programmer, manager, CIO and CEO.  He had spent his career learning new technologies and always exploring what was coming next.  He encouraged innovation and challenged people to embrace new technology as it was developed.  

First National Technology Solutions (FNTS) prides itself on being on the cutting edge of both technology, and the industry. In negotiating contracts with clients, the very same is true. Here’s how contract negotiation is different with FNTS:

First National Technology Solution’s philosophy with customers focuses on really developing a long term relationship. In partnering with FNTS, customers are guaranteed a very high level of service, and one which continues to receive value throughout the life of their relationship.

The best way to add value is by giving customers access to the “best of breed” from a technology perspective. Doing so means providing the leading edge technology for customers to take advantage of in their operation. Going hand in hand with leading technology, is offering access to highly trained and skilled senior engineers, as well as delivering services in a very timely fashion.

Outsourcing your IT environment is an important decision for any business. Whether it be online backups, offsite backups or anything in between, it helps to keep certain tips in mind when choosing among mainframe outsourcing companies. Here are some “do’s” to help you in your outsourcing decisions.

Welcome back and Happy New Year!  As you remember, my last blog kicked off with the two of the five attributes of success: trust and healthy conflict.  This week’s blog defines the remaining three attributes.
Leaving off with healthy conflict brings us right into the third attribute which is commitment.  As a team, everyone needs to be committed to the direction, goals and overall decisions made.  By having the healthy conflict and discussions, each party’s opinion is heard and as such, once the decision is made, everyone on the team needs to commit.  Having a united front is necessary if a team is going to accomplish its goals and everyone on the team needs to be working towards the same goals, not trying to undercut the work of the rest of the team with their own agenda.

At the recent Gartner Sourcing Summit, I had the opportunity to listen to one of the keynote speakers talking about the five key attributes of successful teams.  While listening to his session and afterwards, it made me think of successful teams I have been a part of, and how we were able to accomplish our goals.  In each instance, I found that all five of these key attributes were absolutely a part of those teams.  It was an enjoyable session and so I thought I would summarize the five key attributes and share them, as I do think they are critical for defining a successful team.