Channel providers change their business models in the name of cloud

Rise asked the sample of senior execs from value added resellers (VARs) and managed service providers (MSPs) candid questions about how reselling the cloud has affected them. A further two thirds (65 per cent) of respondents admitted to being forced to make some changes, as demand for cloud and industry adoption rates grows.

“A vast majority of the IT channel has had to shake it up and adapt in order to capitalise on the cloud opportunity, because the way services are sold and subsequently delivered to businesses is permanently changing,” commented James Henigan, Managing Director of Rise. “As well as this, over half – 54 per cent – of the respondents said that the IT industry has not over complicated the cloud, but on the whole there is an agreement that all parties need to do more to educate customers as technology develops.”

CIF reported in late 2012 that since the beginning of 2011, cloud adoption amongst UK businesses of all sizes had increased by 13 per cent. Over half are now using some form of cloud technology today.

Respondents in the Rise survey also identified customer loyalty and the relationship that a channel partner has with their customers as the primary factor for success when selling cloud with 42 per cent, followed by ‘being able to fully educate the customer on cloud’ with 27 per cent.

Henigan added: “Education is a critical opportunity for channel providers and vendors alike to encourage cloud adoption, particularly amongst SMBs. Small businesses need to be able to trust someone to come in and walk them through the process, that’s why the relationship a channel provider has with its customers is so important. There is still a thinly veiled ignorance and fear of the cloud amongst British businesses; education is critical to changing this.”