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So now you finally admit - you want to be in the cloud – and you want to be there NOW – smelled the coffee did you?

Wonderful but………………

A few major disruptions have recently occurred in the technology and business world,

• Cloud computing has emerged to become the most dramatic technology evolution in the past 20 years since when the internet first emerged in the 90’s. At it's core, one of the main benefits cloud provides businesses is the ability to deliver "business outcomes" to Business Managers.
• The internet and cloud have teamed up to cause the demise of the traditional marketing and sales playbook where “interrupting” prospects is (was) the name of the game. Today the buyer is now in control of the sales process known as the buyers’ journey, 1. awareness, 2. consideration 3. decision. Marketing and sales is now executed in the digital world and according to IDC, 65% of B2B buyers have already researched and made a purchase decision before they contact a sales rep.
• Technology purchases have moved out of the IT department to the Business Managers of an organization. According to Forrester 65% of new technology decisions are made by Line of Business Managers looking for cloud-based solutions to help achieve their desired business outcomes. Cloud Solutions Providers (CSP) are taking the lead in providing cloud-based business outcomes solutions to these Business Managers.

As much as we are all talking about the impact that cloud, subscription based consumption etc will leave many channel partners in the dust....I believe it's the new world of sales and marketing via the buyers journey that will be the real culprit.............

Time and time and time again, talking to, and working with ITSPs of all types (VAR, MSP, CSP, SI etc) and sizes I hear "ok, I'm ready to sell cloud - let's go!". Really?

Yes, the cloud world is heating up. And an even more resounding yes to the marketing world heating up - even more? And for the cloud-focused IT Solutions Provider it's a double whammy!! How the hell is a cloud-focused IT Solutions Provider going to execute on this new world of marketing (let's call it marketing 2.0 for the heck of it) required to add great recurring revenue cloud business?

You're a CSP or SaaS ISV.........Are you ready to expand your market coverage? Thinking about the tradeoffs between hiring more direct sales people and creating an indirect channel to widen your footprint? Well, before you go too far down the indirect channel route, ask yourself these key questions - and don't forget to rate your responses.

So you're a CSP and you just launched a new cloud service offering. Congratulations! All of that hard work to design, develop and launch your cloud solutions into the marketplace is finally beginning to pay off. Or is it? How is customer acquisition going? Are you bringing new customers on board without the use of personal networking or leveraging friends and family? Or are you still cherry-picking new deals?

It's happening........what's happening????????

For too many years I was a "gym lollygagger" going to the gym too inconsistently and when I did I measured my results on how much time I would spend there. I was basically checking the health check box and got zippo results. A few years ago I finally came to my senses and signed up for a personal trainer spending a pretty hefty monthly OPEX (Operating Expense) for a committed 12 months.

I think we all know how a very large percentage of the 10's of thousands of the IT Channel/IT Solutions Providers (VAR, MSP etc) came about starting decades ago. In case you dont,

Many, many, many of these were started by a guy/gal that became tired of "working for the man" at a vendor (Cisco, Avaya, HP, you name it) or at an existing large IT Solutions Provider and said "heck I can do this myself" and/or they were part of the latest RIF. So he or she hung up a shingle, brought on some clients they knew and that trusted him/her and next thing you know, over time the client base grew, they now had a handful of staff and "voila - a nice little business emerged". And do you know that virtually everyone of these guys/gals say today "it's the best decision I've ever made"