By
Mendy Green
December 18, 2022
•
20 min read
Business
“Should my business be going to Cloud?”
This is one of the most popular questions that comes up in my conversations with clients, and like every other question I get, I like to answer it with “It depends”.
Before we can address this, we need to address the ongoing struggle between IT Professionals and Marketing Professionals. This was cleverly outlined in the classic Project Management meme
We won’t get too far into the specifics of this as Marketing can be a post all by itself, but suffice to say, the…let’s call it exuberance to sell something new, tends to make for overly aggressive messaging targeting the Stakeholders which does not generate tingly-friendly feelings on the people who actually have to implement, support, or answer questions about the technical specifics. This is true no matter if the “Expert” person is at your company or the company the marketing person is sitting at. If you need a further demonstration of what this looks like you can watch the skit on YouTube called “The Expert” which should give you an idea of what frame of mind to approach this question with
Keeping this in mind we need to immediately increase our level of skepticism when we hear about Cloud Computing (or really any new technology).
Let’s switch tracks for a moment. One of the things I always talk about is how there’s at least two sides to everything. Literally you can take a specific item, scenario, concept, etc. examine it and you’ll see two or more sides that reflect or are directly opposite to each other. In business finances for example we have Operating costs and Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). Traditionally Operating costs were made up of things like Rent for the office, Utilities, supplies and things like that. Supplies would include the cost of equipment (such as computers) Utilities would include cost of the internet and so on. COGS would be made up of how much money the business would need to spend, in order to provide the service that they offer. This is essentially two sides to the same thing (money being spent), but you track them separately because they help you break down the cost of running the business vs the cost of providing services.
In other words, Operating Expenses can be broken down to the point where you would assign a Per Dollar amount for each Employee that you have, and COGS would be broken down and assigned a Per Dollar amount for each Customer
Now let’s get back to the point of this. Cloud, like everything else, has 2 or more (way more actually) sides. There’s Infrastructure as a Service offerings, Platform as a Service, Software as a Service, and so on and so forth and all of these items get mixed up and placed into the “Cloud” category. If you dig into what Cloud actually is, you’ll find that it’s just…rented computers. Really. If you’re skeptical, you can read more on this here from one of the bigger software platforms on their reasons why they’re leaving the cloud.
The questions we’d want to answer so that we can determine if you should be moving to the cloud are as follows.
Would you be moving your Operating Expenses to the cloud or your COGS. Specifically, are you providing an online service to your clients that requires you to rapidly scale up if you were to grow, or that allows you to measure out the cost of running in the cloud against the number of users you’re servicing?
Running in almost any cloud has pricing that is broken down to the minute, generally speaking. This is one of the big things marketing likes to tout “Scale up or down as needed, so it’s very cost effective”. Cost effective compared to running them 24/7 sure, but not cost effective compared to buying hardware. Marketing is selling you on the idea that if you needed to turn down services, you can do rapidly and save money with it off, but if you never need to turn down services, and your scaling doesn’t happen rapidly, then you’re actually spending way more over the same period of time of hardware life. Up to 4 or 5 times the amount potentially.
Do you have a need either from a compliance standard or your own security policy for enhanced security, physical auditing, a requirement to be highly available or a guaranteed uptime of 4 or more 9s (99.99%)?
Here is where it starts making sense to consider, although the question of finding a datacenter that will rent you hardware or allow you to place hardware vs running in something like Google Cloud, Azure, or AWS is still debatable. In the end the level of redundancies that exist in the cloud or datacenter are harder to build (read, more costly) than using an infrastructure that is already built and essentially being shared. This isn’t a new phenomenon, if you’ve read my article on the MSP Business Fallacy, or even just paid attention in the world the idea of pooling resources to save on costs is a well-established and very successful pattern. This is something that can range on a spectrum from sharing power costs, to sharing full on hardware and running your services on segregated containerized workloads.
Are you concerned about control of your data. Specifically, does it matter to you if your data is physically on equipment that you solely own and control, or is your business okay with the data being placed onto equipment owned and controlled by a trusted Third Party
Data sovereignty is an important part of the equation, even if you do trust it to a third party, the question of which region and where it is physically located is still an issue. In the end the agreements you sign with vendors and clients state that the data you hold for them is your responsibility to protect and keep safe and you do not have the right to assign that responsibility to anyone else. These are all concerns that should be evaluated and addressed in your assessment of moving to cloud.
In the end there’s no real good right answer, as most of these questions are ones you’ll need to decide for your business. I’ve outlined a table below to help with the decision matrix, but it is still only just a suggestion.
In Episode 5 of By the [run]Book, the crew digs into four HaloPSA releases in one session—covering versions 2.192 through 2.195. From new ways to share secure links and manage billable time to asset relationship mapping and invoice automation, this episode is packed with practical updates. If you’re an MSP looking to tighten processes, improve reporting, or explore Halo’s evolving automation and AI features, this one is worth the watch.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 5
Report Guide Field | v2.192 #783026 | 3:19
Halo added a Report Guide field in the report designer for better context.
Send secrets safely with one-time secure links.
A new Billable Time Recorded column is available in ticket profiles.
<<halo_url>>
Variable | v2.192 #762123 | 9:59A new runbook variable for halo_url has been added.
Control which quotes appear on tickets/opportunities.
A safer way to deactivate SLAs.
Specify invoice references when creating bills from POs.
Set whether closure timers run on SLA working hours or calendar hours.
New risk scoring tool for change management.
A default configuration for prorata handling in recurring invoices.
Expanded asset management capabilities.
A mysterious patch button—covered lightheartedly in the episode.
Custom buttons can now be restricted to asset type level.
Unpaid invoice tickets now include the invoice PDF automatically.
Choose recipients for automatic emails on pending-closure tickets.
New permission level for user management.
Sales order lines must now be marked complete manually (optional).
Runbook steps with SQL can now be tested directly.
AI field suggestions now appear inline as context hints.
Added access controls to the Entra ID integration.
Enhanced SQL imports for custom tables.
While we pride ourselves at Rising Tide on being clever, we didn’t make this up on our own.
Over the past year, multiple clients told us the same thing in different ways:
“We don’t need a full-on consulting. We just need someone to help us stay on top of the tools we already have.”
“Can you set aside time each month to tell us what’s working, what’s not, and what we should actually do next?”
“Honestly, I just want to know if anything’s falling through the cracks.”
MSPs weren’t talking about emergencies. They meant the small stuff. The not-yet-broken-but-might-be. The features that got launched but never rolled out. The bugs they forgot to follow up on. The process that made sense when they built it... but not anymore.
So we listened and built out our Monthly Support offerings for teams like yours. Support that pays attention, leveraging the best of Rising Tide to make the best of your systems. It’s not reactive. It’s not rushed. It’s not about being broken. It’s about staying in control, without wasting time figuring out where to start.
Designed for Rising Tide clients who’ve already implemented tools like HaloPSA, Hudu, and Rewst, and just want to keep things running smoothly without spinning up a full project or workshop every quarter.
Here’s what our Monthly Support looks like in practice:
A short, focused check-in on the systems you want our guidance on. for:
You’ll walk away with a small, clear action plan that you can execute on your own or leverage the Rising Tide team to complete.
We read the release notes so you don’t have to. You’ll get:
We’ll chase the vendor on your behalf. That includes:
If something breaks in a tool we’ve implemented or documented, we’ll:
Hand Rising Tide the recurring and tedious-but-necessary tasks tied to administrative upkeep inside your platforms like:
To be clear, the Rising Tide Proactive Support Plan is not consulting. Proactive Support is only for systems we’ve implemented and reviewed. It doesn’t include:
If we find something that should be a project, we’ll tell you and help you decide how you would like to move forward.
Monthly Support at Rising Tide is available in two flavors: Foundations and Catalyst.
$900/mo
The Foundations package is for MSPs who need steady, expert support to keep their tools working well, especially when system updates can throw a wrench in those plans. It’s perfect for teams who want someone to keep an eye on things, flag issues early, and offer helpful next steps without having to ask.
Rising Tide consultants will proactively review your systems, follow up with vendors, handle small fixes, and make sure nothing slips through the cracks. It’s a lightweight, low-friction way to stay on top of your platforms and make sure they keep delivering value.
$3500/mo
The Catalyst package is the Foundations package expanded for MSPs who want hands-on, high-touch support with structure. You’ll get 10 hours per month, including up to four scheduled weekly calls, priority scheduling, and deeper involvement from your Rising Tide consultant. This isn’t just support when you ask for it — it’s active partnership.
We come prepared with recommendations, process improvements, and a plan to help you get the most out of your systems. Catalyst is for teams ready to make consistent progress without needing to manage the support relationship.
The goal isn’t to keep you dependent on us. It’s to help you feel like you’re on top of your systems instead of under them.
We’ll help you spot friction before it becomes fire, surface fixes you might’ve missed, and give you the clarity to act, delegate, or table things with confidence.
Ready to add Monthly Support?
Contact Rising Tide Consulting Today.
In Episode 4 of By the Run Book, the team digs into HaloPSA v2.192 with a mix of technical deep-dives and practical tips for MSPs. Robbie and Mendy walk through improvements in holiday approvals, contract schedule plans, and important security updates like webhook authentication. They also explore quality-of-life changes in ticket type restrictions, AI suggestions without an AI license, and new admin mode controls. To wrap up, Robbie demos his “Quick Ticket” browser extension for lightning-fast ticket creation without breaking your workflow. Whether you’re streamlining internal processes, tightening security, or speeding up ticket logging, this release has something to improve your day-to-day.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 4
Robbie's Quick Tickets: Halo Quick Ticket - Microsoft Edge Addons