What Every MSP Ought To Know About Selling Cloud Services

By The Business Solutions Network

I recently came across a study conducted by Avere and Gatepoint Research that highlights cloud trends based on feedback from 100 executives at companies throughout the country ranging in size from SMB to enterprise. Here are the highlights of the report:

• 80% of responders are currently using some sort of cloud access (37% of responders are using public cloud, 35% are using a private cloud service, and 7% use a hybrid cloud offering)
• Scalability and flexibility were the top two factors that responders gave as to why they're currently using or planning to adopt cloud solutions and services (these categories were nearly 12% more important than "reducing capital costs")
• 81% indicated they already have or are investigating or developing a cloud strategy.
• 45% indicated that they plan to be using public cloud in 5 years (29% plan to use private and 22% plan to use hybrid). Further, only 4% said they have no plans to use any cloud services within the next four years.
• 35% of responders plan to use the cloud for on-demand computing, 30% plan to use it for storage, and 28% plan to use the cloud to run their business applications.
• The #1 barrier for a company to use public cloud is security.

Here's the takeaway: Hybrid cloud adoption is going to triple over the next five years. Even though a company may realize greater cost savings using public cloud, there are still real security concerns that can't be ignored. In some cases, industry regulations prevent companies from using public cloud services. This is a great opportunity for managed services providers to consult with customers and help them create a plan to determine which applications and data can be housed in a public cloud and which assets need to be moved into a private cloud. Equally important and valuable to your customer is how well you can present files and applications -- whether public- or private-cloud based -- in a single user interface.