When we were young, many times my friends and I would find ourselves lying on our backs in a field on warm spring day watching rabbits, cars, and sometimes even dinosaurs float by high above us in the sky. Ok ,of course those things weren’t really flying above us, but to us that’s what the clouds we were watching represented. But to guess back then what “the cloud” would represent today would have taken an astounding imagination.
It seems like the Cloud is all we hear about now in the telecom sector. It appears to be following a similar trajectory as VoIP, MPLS, TEM, DSL, etc, in that it starts as esoteric concept amongst a very small group of elite engineering types and from there it experiences a meteoric rise in popularity and the term is used ad naseum. Similarly, its’ adoption curve also appears to follow a similar trajectory in that initially it was adopted by larger entities, then medium to large enterprise, then SMB’s (Small to Medium Business) and sometimes then SoHo (Small Office Home Office). It even shares the same challenge that VoIP encountered as its’ popularity increased, like lack of a common and precise definition; as a sales rep I recall many a time during a probing session having a customer ask me “how much for VoIP” which at that point they didn’t know what they meant , a phone system? SIP Trunking? Cloud is clearly an umbrella term under which there are many varieties of products and solutions. The “Cloud” has transcended all of that, it has take a life of its’ own and has even become a part of pop culture.
This past Spring at the Channel Partners Show in Las Vegas and was fortunate enough to catch the Keynote address from Tiffani Bova of Gartner Group, which was a powerful message about where the industry is going and agents should be getting onboard. Tiffani expressed that according to Gartner Cloud is the number one trend, Mobility as a somewhat distant second. She said that 66% of SMB’s will pursue private cloud solutions, 30% alone will implement in 2011 and by 2015, 90% of Enterprises and some government will implement at least some type of cloud solution. Her question, and I believe the salient one from my position, is which agents will make the transition to survive and perhaps thrive, and which ones will not make the transition and ultimately be part of a dying breed.
The fundamental concept behind Cloud Computing is not a new one, yet with the ubiquity and cost effectiveness of bandwidth, along with the availability of virtualization technology and the evolution of security have made it feasible and indeed a preferable method of performing a variety of business functions. Agents for the most part agree that Cloud Computing needs to be a weapon in their arsenal. According to a recent Channel Partners survey, up to 99% of agents today* count up to 49% of their type of services through partnerships with IT Service Providers . So it seems that Agents “get it”, this isn’t a phase like 3D TV, this is a fundamental shift like entertainment over mobile devices. When faced with the last fundamental shift most agents I know embraced VoIP in a timely manner but even so, the transition can be a difficult one, taxing the resources of a small business. The dangers of cannibalizing your own business are only exceeded by the chances of losing your customers to someone else that did embrace the transition.
PAETEC recognizes that being an agent and adopting a new solution set and technology doesn’t come with a manual and can be daunting. We are able to leverage our superior engineering and technical resources with our Channel Managers and Management, trainer and other subject matter experts as well as our extensive view of best practices to help each of our agents to successfully design and implement their Cloud Computing strategy. No matter the agents’ business model, whether a Master Agent, Network Sales company, Data VAR or Managed Service provider, PAETEC can help you customize and execute a transitional plan for you. If your agency has been an early adopter of The Cloud, PAETEC can help you tweak your model to optimize for it for success.
Our Partner Services This include:
· individualized business planning
· co-marketing campaigns
· Educational Webinars and live trainings
· special SPIFF’s
· sales contests
· a comprehensive product and service suite
Altogether there is no carrier partner better positioned to work with you to ensure you are able to fully capitalize on the short term opportunity and build a foundation for long-term success. Contact Shawn.Cordner@paetec.con or your channel manager to learn more.
*SOURCE: VIRGO Channel Partners, Name of Study, Publish Date
