uMedia - content worth sharing

It's easy to move into the cloud but what about ongoing management? Who's got the time or the experience for that? Short answer - Umbrellar. Adrian and Rob explain how to get the cloud environment you were 'sold' on the brochure and the advantages of having a crack team of cloud specialists at your beck and call.

Umbrellar CEO Dave Howden and Vanessa Sorenson, Chief Partner Officer A/NZ and Managing Director Microsoft NZ, catch up on all the dramatic changes since their last podcast chat - her roles, the pandemic, new data centres for the region and the integration of Australia and New Zealand in the Microsoft world. There's a lot to unpack! They discuss how Microsoft is increasingly focused on making it easier for partners to grow their business through improvements to Marketplace, IP Co-Sell and the April 2022 launch of Microsoft Founders Hub, bringing people, knowledge and benefits together at every stage to solve startup challenges.  Vanessa also shares her passion for corporate citizenship initiatives such as 10K Wahine, Global Skills Training Initiatives, growing Maori and Pacific Leaders through partnering with TupaToa. Vanessa says New Zealand punches way above its weight - but we're not so great at sharing our success stories. With the creation of A/NZ and the soon-to-be-online regional data centre, now is the time to get louder, take more risks and build our industry depth. Take a listen.

Umbrellar's Rob Farnell (Head of Cloud Technology) and Adrian Venter (Head of Cloud Operations ... or  talk tech with Head of Business Operations Nadia Phillips. This engaging conversation covers everything from AI art, Machine Learning, SaaS, Automation and Managed Services.  Uncover how AI is exciting people that wouldn't otherwise have used tech and understand why it won't 'take over' our jobs but rather free us to do more (there's even mention that the 30 - 40 hour work week could become a thing of the past!). Get the details on what Umbrellar's Managed Service offering really entails and how it has evolved from a "fix things that break" type of service to a economical insurance policy, continually fine-tuning and future-proofing your cloud environment.  Learn more about Azure Virtual Desktop and how it securely gives you the power to work from literally anywhere with anything.  Finally, find out what excites Umbrellar's tech gurus about the future of the cloud. Here's a hint: gaming subscriptions and endless possibilities!

CEO Dave Howden and Head of Business Operations Nadia Phillips share the background story behind the recently announced purchase of New Zealand company Umbrellar Cloud Ltd by US-based cloud technology distributor Pax8.  Pax8 have built a strong reputation on a global level over the past few years and recently set their sights on the Asia Pacific region. After identifying Umbrellar's service regions as areas they could expand into as a means of continuing their global reach and building their client base, the offer was made and the rest is history. So what does this mean for Umbrellar staff, vendors, partners and customers? Listen in to find out that it's actually ALL good news for everyone - and an exciting step forward for cloud services in New Zealand.

David Howden (CEO Umbrellar) and Nadia Phillips (Head of Business Operations Umbrellar) talk to Patrick Quesnel (Microsoft Azure Platform Growth & Development Product Engineering Lead ANZ) and Jimmy Kerr (Launch Lead NZ Datacentre Region) about the upcoming launch of the new Microsoft datacenter region in New Zealand and how this huge investment in cloud technology will help accelerate our digital evolution. Listen in as they deep dive into the details and find out what you can do to be ready when Microsoft officially launches in 2023. 

Does your business unwittingly commit the biggest cardinal sin of Privacy? Did you know that New Zealand's Privacy Act is applicable to ALL businesses, regardless of size? Are you aware all businesses must have a delegated Privacy Officer responsible for protecting customer information? Privacy is one of those topics businesses tend to shy away from as it all seems too hard - but this podcast will reveal how simple it can really be. In honour of Privacy Awareness Week (May 2 - 8 2022), Umbrellar CEO David Howden and INFO by Design founder Paul Holmes demystify the New Zealand Privacy Act as part of their chat about all things privacy. Paul uncovers how implementing good privacy practices early on will avoid issues later; shares his 5 major dot points for privacy design and highlights that at the end of the day,  it's really just about people. Uncover the social media privacy habits of the savvy millennial crew,  listen in on common privacy breach scenarios and best practice fixes, find out how resellers can protect customers, and learn where NZ's leading privacy consultants INFO by Design can help you guard your customer information.

This month's partner podcast features Umbrellar guests David Howden (CEO) and Alexandr Basan (Head of Product & Commerce) and covers the latest happenings in and around Umbrellar. Nadia and Dave chat about the recently announced rebranding of the Microsoft Partner Network to the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program as of October this year. Dave shares the reasons why he feels it represents a big step forward in simplifying and consolidating the program and will provide robust, objective measurements of progress for partners. Alex, Dave and Nadia discuss the reasons behind the small change to billing cycles happening in May and how the new billing preview feature soon to be available for Umbrellar customers is going to make life in the cloud so much easier. The gang finish off with a public service announcement about Umbrellar Connect's weekly newsletter, where partners can get all the latest on what's happening in NZ tech - and share their own stories to over seven thousand readers every week.

In December 2021, Umbrellar asked Jimi Hunt, Mental Fitness Change Maker, for some tips, tricks and words of wisdom around mental wellness, resilience and coping with the ups and downs of covid lockdowns. As always he delivered, with meaningful stories, great quotes and some quick and simple tricks for building up your ability to cope with the stresses and strains of the modern world. Listen in as he covers everything from cold showers to martyrs to taking mental health days to the Dunedin Study. Jimi reminds us that in the grand scheme of things, practically everything is unimportant. What is important is you - your emotional and psychological safety. Without those things, you cannot be a good partner or a good parent or be a useful participant in your organisation. For more from Jimi, visit www.jimihuntcom 

The challenges of the last two years have created greater complexities in our workplace and a huge jump in the use of applications and online collaboration tools. PEP Worldwide's General Manager Jo McFadden chats with Nadia (Umbrellar Head of Marketing and Operations) about the "humanware" organisations often forget to "upgrade" when they update the software that's supposed to help make work life easier and more productive. Jo talks about how PEP Principles and PEP Principles with Microsoft 365 can help employees utilise tools such as Teams to not only improve output but also generate a greater sense of wellbeing. Listen until the end to get Jo's top 3 tips for getting your work/life balance on an even keel.

In our complex world of hybrid work and BYO technology, how do organisations maintain security? Mobile Mentor's CEO Daniel McCarthy and Head of Sales, NZ Jared Pedersen discuss with Nadia Phillips (Umbrellar Head of Marketing and Operations) how the pandemic has accelerated the practice of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) when onboarding new employees and how working from home has presented major challenges to keeping business data secure. They demystify the methodology of Zero Trust and outline how tools organisations may already have, such as Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 licences, can build a Zero Trust architecture that works. For more information on Zero Trust, check out their Endpoint Ecosystem education page.

Listen in as 4 ladies flying high as executives in the tech industry discuss all things #breakingthebias for this International Women's Day Special. Nadia Phillips (Umbrellar), Tina Comrie (The Attention Agency), Samantha Borg (Datto) and Erika Palmer (Cupla) cover a range of important issues including hiring for diversity, how bad bosses made us better leaders, and how inherent biases inside technology make equality a little bit challenging. Also, why you shouldn’t have a photo on your CV and how nightclub toilet encounters should be a model for how we celebrate each other as women 😎.

What's possible in using technology to solve sustainability problems? In this episode, Umbrellar Digital Journalist, Cat asks Damon Kelly of Enlighten Designs about the current and future role of data and AI. 

What's possible in using technology to solve sustainability problems? In this episode, Umbrellar Digital Journalist, Cat asks Damon Kelly of Enlighten Designs about the current and future role of data and AI. 

As organisations across Australia adapt to the 'new normal' of living with Covid-19, Veeam has been helping customers make sure their data is secure, accessible and easily recoverable if disaster strikes.

Research from NZIER and Xero suggests billions in productivity gains could be achieved by accelerating businesses' move to the cloud. Listen to this Cloud Talk with Craig Hudson, Managing Director of Xero to learn more.

As retailers and property owners adapt to living with the presence of Covid-19, one artificial intelligence company is offering new ways to help them keep their people safe.

David Howden is joined by Patrick Quesnel from Microsoft for a discussion around the new Microsoft Azure region that is coming to New Zealand.  

David Howden is joined by Patrick Quesnel from Microsoft for a discussion around the new Microsoft Azure region that is coming to New Zealand.  

Umbrellars very own Head of Cloud David Howden comes onto the podcast to discuss how Umbrellar is adjusting to this new working landscape brought on by the Covid 19 lockdown. 

In this episode David Howden (Head of Cloud, Umbrellar) is joined by David Downs (Task Force Lead, MBIE) and Scott Arrol (CEO, NZHIT) as they discuss resiliency and community within New Zealand bushiness