--- title: “Infrastructure does not differentiate us in any way” description: You’d think a cloud IaaS provider like nScaled would hate to see a sentiment like, “Infrastructure does not differentiate us in any way,” coming from the lips of a CIO. But quite the opposite – it’s why we’re here. When a business is ready to admit this to itself, they’re ready for our services. canonical_url: https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/infrastructure-does-not-differentiate-us-any-way/ locale: en last_updated: 2026-10-27 --- [Acronis Blog](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/) # “Infrastructure does not differentiate us in any way” You’d think a cloud IaaS provider like nScaled would hate to see a sentiment like, “Infrastructure does not differentiate us in any way,” coming from the lips of a CIO. But quite the opposite – it’s why we’re here. When a business is ready to admit this to itself, they’re ready for our services. [![Image 2: Acronis Editorial Team](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/d85707ae91461544212d39836dc32b42.png)](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/acronis/ "Acronis Editorial Team") [Acronis Editorial Team](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/acronis/) 1 min read Last updated 26 January 2015 You’d think a cloud IaaS provider like nScaled would hate to see a sentiment like, “Infrastructure does not differentiate us in any way,” coming from the lips of a CIO. But quite the opposite – it’s why we’re here. When a business is ready to admit this to itself, they’re ready for our services. I’m quoting from a great piece over at NetworkWorld, profiling Jim Honerkamp, CIO at Steel Technologies, and their recent move to the cloud. I’ve never met Jim, but I have to tell you – this guys gets it! He goes on to explain: “Infrastructure does not differentiate us in any way, shape or form in the marketplace. To be a strategic IT organization, you have to be delivering value in technology tools, either to strengthen customer relationships or to be used as weapons against the competition.” This is what Gartner refers to as “core vs. context” (and they probably got the idea from Geoffrey Moore). The idea is that you have to deliver both Core and Context, but you have to own Core while it’s okay to outsource Context. The point is to allocate your fixed resources (here, IT staff and budget) in the way that maximizes the value that both Core and Context deliver to the enterprise. The trap that many IT teams fall into is getting stuck on the Context treadmill – OS patches, disk failures, hardware upgrades, backup schedules, etc. – and they end up under-allocating resources to Core stuff. CIOs like Honerkamp understand this and take action, taking advantage of the cloud infrastructure services available today. They can choose amongst a variety of providers, and base their choice on price, architecture, service dependability, SLAs, support responsiveness, and more. Some companies will get a better infrastructure than what they could build themselves (how many of you winced when Honerkamp said, “If someone hit a telephone pole on Shelbyville Road, they could take the whole company down.”?). Others will get the same capabilities for less cost. Some are driven by converting some of their CapEx to OpEx. Whatever your motivation, take a hard look at your Core and Context, and ask yourself if your infrastructure differentiates your company in any way. [Cybersecurity](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/tags/cybersecurity/) [Cyber protection](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/tags/cyber-protection/) ## Written by ![Image 3: Acronis Editorial Team](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/d85707ae91461544212d39836dc32b42.png) Acronis Editorial Team Acronis is a global cyber protection company that provides natively integrated cybersecurity, data protection, and endpoint management for managed service providers (MSPs), small and medium businesses (SMBs), and enterprise IT departments. [Previous post](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/enterprises-need-clouds-not-droplets/) [Enterprises Need Clouds, Not Droplets](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/enterprises-need-clouds-not-droplets/) [Next post](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/can-hardware-and-opex-work-together/) [Can Hardware and OpEx Work Together?](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/can-hardware-and-opex-work-together/) About Acronis Acronis is a leader in AI-native cyber protection, unifying data protection, cybersecurity, IT operations and hybrid infrastructure to deliver business continuity, security and compliance with less cost and complexity. More than 21,000 service providers trust Acronis to protect over 750,000 businesses in 150 countries. Acronis is headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. [Add as a preferred source on Google](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=acronis.com) ## Related stories Want to learn more? Read the latest stories featuring this solution on our blog. 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A veteran cybersecurity CEO, Panjwani previously served as CEO of WatchGuard Technologies and SafeNet. **October 15, 2026**2 min read ![Image 6: Acronis expands MDR toward broader workspace protection](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/blog-card/18e90e89f5ec4ef0901f19008d4ccbf2.png) [Acronis expands MDR toward broader workspace protection](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/acronis-expands-mdr-toward-broader-workspace-protection/) Acronis is expanding the MDR service with capabilities that make this expertise easier to deliver and help partners address more risks. The developments build on a broader commitment to managed security: helping service providers protect the connected workspace while giving customers access to the expertise needed to investigate threats, respond effectively and maintain business continuity. **October 13, 2026**6 min read