As valued SMS customers, we think it’s important to put faces to the people you communicate with, and to allow you to learn more about us as individuals. The first team member we’d like you to meet is Paul Bhogal, our Head of Business Development.

GOOD MORNING PAUL. FIRSTLY, CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK AT MICROSOFT?

Good morning! At Microsoft, my role was to manage, support & develop Microsoft CSP partners, engaging them into exclusive Microsoft tailored programmes to suit their desired business goals. I supported with resources, sales opportunities, training, certifications, rebates, creating and executing Go-To-Market strategy, to help them sell more and increase margins for Azure, Modern Workplace and the Dynamics365 clouds.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO COME TO SMS?

With SMS established in 2006, being a leading managed cloud solutions provider specialising in the Microsoft stack, I saw the client value add for Azure, Modern Workplace and Dynamics365 with a great career opportunity.  The culture is great, the focus on customer outcomes and making a difference is refreshing and I get to work with a lot of good people. It is the right level of opportunity and SMS is projecting even more growth within the SMB market.

WHY MOVE TO AZURE CLOUD STORAGE?

Azure Cloud Storage is a great way for businesses to increase efficiency, agility, and secure storage that can grow with your business.  You can easily scale your resources up and down as needed, and you only pay for what you use. There are numerous business benefits: It is very scalable, enables remote working, it is reliable and always up. The service also supports multiple types of data.  Plus, Azure is incredibly secure and compliant with industry regulations.

You can also take advantage of automated backup and recovery so that you do not lose any valuable data. It is very cost effective compared to the expense of purchasing licensing, hosting, upgrading, and maintaining a server. You also don’t need to manually defend the servers from hackers, malware attacks etc, as it’s secure. As cyber-attacks targeting small to medium sized businesses are on the increase, many features include encryption, intrusion monitoring and two-factor authentication. Microsoft Defender for Storage is an Azure-native layer of security intelligence that detects unusual and potentially harmful attempts to access or exploit your storage accounts. It uses advanced threat detection capabilities; Azure cloud storage provides more peace of mind than desktop or local server storage.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT CLOUD SERVICES FOR 2022?

Cloud computing is the future of business, so to stay ahead of the curve, you need to make sure that your company is using the right cloud services.

I think that the most important cloud services for 2022 are storage, compute, networking, and those that offer security – Microsoft is a recognised leader in security. Gartner recently released Magic Quadrant reports across Endpoint Management, Access Management and more, making Microsoft a winning strategy for cybersecurity across all organisation types.

As a business owner, you know that technology is essential to your success. But what happens when you are not up to date on the latest trends? You can get left behind. Azure/Dynamics365/Microsoft365 offers the best cloud computing solution for businesses of all sizes. With this service, you will have access to the latest technology and can keep your business moving forward in today’s competitive market.

I KNOW YOU’RE HIRING SOME GREAT PEOPLE TO GROW THE SALES TEAM, WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE MAIN SKILLS NEEDED?

At SMS we believe that our commitment to our clients and employees is what sets us apart. We are passionate about providing our clients with the best possible service, and we are committed to providing our employees with the best possible working environment. We’re ideally looking for:

Someone who would first and foremost appreciate the opportunity to work within IT Sales and ambitious enough to strive and build a career within the Microsoft Stack.

A positive thinker, a customer-centric individual with the ability to communicate effectively with clients and colleagues is essential in any field, but it is especially important in sales. They will need to be able to build strong relationships with clients and understand their needs to close deals.

A salesperson striving to achieve technical knowledge – it’s no secret that cloud technology is constantly evolving and is now the biggest enabler for business growth, with Microsoft at the forefront of this, so it’s important that this role is up to date on the latest trends and developments particularly within Microsoft365.

BUSINESS VOICE FREES BUSINESSES FROM OLD PBXS AND WITH BT, REMOVING ALL THE OLD PHONE LINES OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS. WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE BENEFITS OF BV?

A PBX system is a big investment, and it’s not always clear if they are worth the cost. They often don’t offer the features that businesses need today. These old systems are expensive and difficult to manage, not to mention they can’t keep up with the latest communication trends.

Microsoft Business Voice is the solution. This cloud-based phone system is easy to set up and use, and it’s affordable for any size business.

With features like voicemail transcription and call routing, you’ll be able to communicate with your customers in ways that you never could before. You can make and receive calls from any device, connect with team members anywhere in the world, and get more done with powerful tools like voicemail to email and find me/follow me.

IF I ASKED YOU TO PREDICT WHERE THE CLOUD WOULD BE IN 5 YEARS TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

The 4th industrial revolution (4IR) has come along with disruptive technologies such as AI, Blockchain, Big Data, Edge computing, M2M, IoT, RPA, 5G and many others are already changing how we live and work. Looking into the next 5 years, I think our lifestyle will certainly include autonomous driving, industrial automation, robotic surgery, med-tech, smart-cities, holographic communication, robotic farming, cryptocurrency as mainstream, students taught by robots in education. Blockchain as a new form of internet. Cloud computing emerging technologies will create more jobs than will be lost through automation. Covid-19 may be the catapult to take us into the 5th industrial revolution where quantum computing will tackle certain types of problems, especially those involving a daunting number of variables and potential outcomes, like simulations or optimisation questions much faster than any classical computer.

Just to name but a few! I certainly think many other changes will come about driven by cloud computing as the main enabler, that above all will impact our lives for the better!