Get CompTIA’s Strategies for Cloud Service Success

There’s no denying it: cloud is growing. IBM just announced an aggressive expansion of its cloud services, and TheInfoPro’s “Wave 5 Cloud Computing Study” predicts a 36 percent compound annual growth rate for cloud into 2016, according to Forbes. Moreover, 69 percent of enterprises with cloud budgets in 2013 are expecting to increase them in 2014. These expanding market projections also mean expanding budgets for cloud computing, so if you’re not in the game already, you ought to get involved. And if you’re already playing, make sure you’re investing your resources effectively.

While the unique new business models springing up around the cloud can pose challenges, CompTIA can help you navigate them with these four strategies for success.

Strategy 1: Define Your Business Model — and Stick to it

While it’s tempting to try to be all things to all clients, it is important to start off with a clear focus on what role your business will play. To do that, you must understand the potential business models. CompTIA has defined three approaches an IT channel business might take when evaluating how best to provide cloud services. Make the choice to be one of the following:

• Cloud designers and builders act as both a trusted source of information and a builder of tech infrastructure. In this approach, you will help end-users determine their cloud needs, walk them through the myriad options available, strategize migrations to cloud-based architecture, and coordinate the relationships between internal IT and external cloud services. 
• Cloud resellers, also known as cloud brokers and cloud agents, add value to existing cloud packages, or white-label and rebrand services, generating sales based on a recurring revenue model.
• Cloud services providers have their own cloud infrastructure and provide access to those services, plus monitoring and metering.

Once you’ve decided what kind of services to provide, you can make that clear to the client and move forward with appropriate expectations.

Strategy 2: Set Yourself Apart from the Competition

Find a unique area of need that can be met by your cloud-delivered services and distinguish yourself from other players in the channel. Keep an eye on the evolution of cloud technology and the future of the industry so you can advantageously position yourself to be the first to assist a new client base.

Strategy 3: Hire and Train Appropriately

Cloud computing requires specific expertise, especially when you consider all the ways internal IT infrastructure can interact with cloud-based resources. Make sure, through appropriate hiring and training, that your staff has a working knowledge of how disparate systems interact with one another. Make sure they speak the language of cloud, too, so they can communicate clearly and effectively.

Strategy 4: Act as a Trusted Adviser

When it comes down to it, your value is in your expertise. Regardless of the kind of cloud services you sell, you want your business to give your clients the information they need. Ask the right questions. Look at a client’s existing IT infrastructure and evaluate what can be moved, in part or in whole, to the cloud, and provide a roadmap of how that migration will occur. You want clients to feel comfortable and confident with your command of the complex world of cloud computing as you lead them through big decisions with big potential payoffs.

According to Forbes’ cited study, 37 percent of the folks who struggle to get value out of cloud computing investments report a lack of clarity in organization and budget. Fifteen percent say it’s a lack of trust, visibility and reliability. If your business provides the clarity and builds the trust that some find missing in potential cloud computing endeavors, you can succeed in this burgeoning area of the IT channel.

Matthew Stern is a freelance writer based in Chicago.