INSIGHT Stuart Day - iland
“Resellers have the opportunity to transition to this new territory by serving as experienced scouts to help their
customers migrate to the cloud.” Stuart Day, EMEA Director of Channel Sales, iland
Seizing opportunities of a
multi-cloud/hybrid IT future
Most organisations now fully recognise the cost benefi ts and agility of moving applications and data to the cloud,
trading CAPEX to OPEX expenditures through cloud subscription services. For the channel community, this means
moving to an annuity-based revenue model, building out new types of cloud-based services that will replace large
parts of their traditional on-premise business. Stuart Day, EMEA Director of Channel Sales, iland explains
All this talk about cloud
adoption is good news,
right? Perhaps for the
customer, but it’s di cult
for resellers to restructure
overnight. And not all partners
have the agility to do this as
quickly as they would like. As
the sand shifts rapidly under
their feet, they must redesign and
adjust their solutions and sales
models. How can they remain
relevant and useful to customers
that migrate to the cloud?
Likewise, channel partners
must also evolve from Capex
revenue models to monthly
Opex subscriptions, which is
easier said than done for sales
reps who are accustomed to
moving and closing one-time big
deals.
Experienced Scouts in an
Unchartered Territory
Resellers have the opportunity
to transition to this new territory
by serving as experienced scouts
to help their customers migrate
to the cloud. is is especially
true in the age of multi-cloud
computing, where more
companies are stacking clouds
from multiple providers with
little or no means to manage
them.
Abandoning the maxim of
“standardisation at all costs,”
businesses realise they can
e ectively mix on-premise and
multi-cloud infrastructure
resources to get the optimum
combination of speed,
a ordability, compliance, and
security. Recent research found
84 per cent of companies have
a multi-cloud strategy, and
enterprises with a hybrid publicprivate
cloud strategy grew from
51 percent in 2018 to 58 percent
in 2019 – a clear direction of
travel towards a hybrid, multicloud
future.
is is all creating new
opportunities for the channel,
as cloud infrastructure services
increase, and businesses integrate
multiple providers with existing
on-premise infrastructure.
According to Canalys, cloud
infrastructure services spending
is set to surpass $143 billion
globally in 2020, driven by IT
channel partners. is means
that a channel partner that
manages a hybrid/multi-cloud
environment is in a turnkey
position with customers, to o er
exibility through its di erent
providers, but maintaining
the primary relationship on a
subscription basis, cementing
sustainable long-term revenues.
Teaming with Cloud Service
Providers
Getting into this position to
take advantage of this new
world will require the channel
to address Cloud Service
Providers (CSPs) as well as
customers. Companies are
looking to use the strengths of
di erent CSPs and deployment
models, depending on their
application, data, compliance,
Flexibility is another crucial
CSP attribute. ere’s no such
thing as a customer “one-size-
ts-all,” so exibility is needed
when delivering cloud services.
In exible partners cause
needless bumps in the road
to building a strong customer
relationship.
ere’s no denying that
there is a massive opportunity
for the channel to secure
sustainable long-term revenues
from cloud deployments
while still bene ting from
its expertise in on-premise
deployments. However, while
everyone is talking cloud, many
don’t understand the intricacies
and complications of moving
to a cloud-based model and
accurately sizing the cloud from
day one. With the right CSP,
the channel can di erentiate
and o er the skills and expertise
customers need.
Stuart Day, EMEA Director of
Channel Sales, iland
and performance requirements.
e result they seek is a
customised deployment that
exactly meets the needs of the
business. e challenge is in
selecting the right options.
at’s the point where the
channel and CSP partners can
team up and together o er the
right kind of guidance.
at’s why future channel/
CSP partnerships must double
down on collaboration to o er
a service that is seamless from
the customer’s point of view.
is is especially critical when
it comes to back up and disaster
recovery (DR) services, which
depends on trust and reliability
for support and guidance when
needed. ere can’t be an armslength
relationship between
customer, channel, and CSP, it
needs to be a true partnership.
When it comes to
collaboration, channel businesses
need to assess prospective
CSP partners on what they
will bring to the table.
Can they assist with cloud
scoping tools, concierge
services for customer
onboarding and migration?
Do they have specialist
skills that t with a client’s
industry needs like strong
security and compliance?
Do they simplify cloud
management and billing?
At the bottom line, will
they help close the deal
and keep the customer
happy?
50 | Comms Business Magazine | January 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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