Cloud/SaaS - The Email Laundry 10-WEEK GUIDE POWERED BY: Cloud/SaaS CompTIA Cloud BusIness...

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Cloud/SaaSCompTIA Cloud BusIness developmenT GuIde

A 10-WEEK PLAN FOR SHAPING YOUR CLOUD SERVICES STRATEGY

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how to use this guidethis business development guide is intended for small to

midsize solution providers who sell primarily to small and

to medium-sized businesses. it assumes that your company

is at the beginning of its journey into cloud computing and

that you are in the process of developing relevant strategies

for incorporating the cloud into your organisation’s overall

business model.

As we will cover later in this guide, there are numerous

deinitions and technologies associated with cloud

computing. this guide is primarily intended to provide

guidance about how your organisation can incorporate

public cloud offerings into your solution portfolio. it does

not focus on strategies your business might embrace when

building your own cloud offerings and cloud infrastructure.

the decision to offer cloud services and solutions is much

more than a technology-driven business imperative.

technology solution providers who have made the switch

will tell you that establishing a successful cloud computing

practice requires operational discipline, substantial

organisational adjustment, and a long-term view. What’s

more, it requires lexibility. As cloud computing evolves,

so will the business models that perpetuate it and drive it

toward mainstream adoption. this guide’s mission is to help

solution providers manage that ongoing evolution in the

fashion that is most relevant and proitable for their existing

and future business aspirations.

this 10-week guide will bring structure to the process

of adding cloud offerings to your business. Whether

you are planning an end-to-end cloud practice or are

thinking about supplementing your existing technology

solutions and services with cloud-based options, you

should consult this guide to examine your organisation’s

unique deal economics. it also allows you to start exploring

the inancial and operational implications that adding

cloud services and solutions will have on your business’

pricing strategy, marketing practices, sales processes, and

compensation policies.

Your chances for a successful cloud business transformation

will increase substantially if you focus on:

• understanding that adding cloud services to your business

is more complex than simply adding a new product

offering to your solution portfolio

• examining the revenue and cash-low implications of cloud

services, based on your oWn speciic deal economics

• establishing ways to package repeatable cloud offerings,

and to measure and manage services utilisation rates

• Creating a complete metrics-driven approach for

evaluating sales and marketing efforts

CompTIA Cloud BusIness developmenT GuIde

A 10-Week PlAn for ShAPing Your Cloud ServiCeS StrAtegY

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This guide is intended to help you and your team develop a

strategy for cloud business transformation over a period of

ten weeks. Here is a summary outline of what you’ll tackle in

each week:

Week 1: Understand the CloUd BUsiness

Model

• Collect and analyse the deal economics associated with your

existing solutions

• Model the potential economics of on-premise vs.

cloud deals

Week 2: stUdy Up on the Market

• document customer needs

• investigate current cloud options

• review vendor and distributor offerings and programmes

Weeks 3 and 4: develop yoUr strategy

• Create and select your unique technology offerings

• deine your services offerings

Weeks 5 and 6: prepare for serviCes

delivery

• develop transition plan for adapting current services policies to

accommodate cloud services

• design plans for pre-implementation services, implementation services,

and post-implementation services

• Create a list of services that can be packaged for eficient

implementations

• examine and decide on data migration and/or hybrid services offerings

• investigate and commit to training for technical staff

Weeks 7 and 8: Create yoUr Marketing plan

• decide on marketing strategy

• document your new customer approach

• develop your existing customer plan

• evaluate and modify your overall value message for the cloud

• develop your social media and online marketing plan

Week 9: sales planning

• decide on sales approach

• Commit to and execute the sales training plan

• develop sales compensation plans

• decide on inside sales or telesales investments

Week 10: Create a CloUd ManageMent fraMeWork

• Commit to action on your revised business plan

• revise the sales and revenue forecasting model for recurring revenue

• develop revised marketing and service delivery metrics

don’t expect your transformation to

happen overnight. By consulting this guide

regularly over the next ten weeks, you will be well

on your way toward creating a rock-solid foundation

for your unique cloud services and solutions. What’s

more, you’ll have a framework for the ongoing

assessment and management of your cloud-

computing business strategy, one that provides real

substance around your strategy.

HeRe ARe sIX sTeps You musT Be

WIllInG To TAKe AlonG THe WAY:

• Be realistic: Taking on cloud services may have a

short-term impact on your organisation’s revenue; it

will also require you to make investments.

• think repeatable: Building prepackaged oferings is

critical for success.

• Understand the operational implications: sales

goals must be rethought, reporting metrics should

be adjusted, and compensation models may need to

be revisited.

• embrace new marketing tactics: Build a plan

focused on new customer acquisition, while

including education for existing customers.

• Make a commitment: Appoint someone to lead the

transformation.

• get started noW!

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executive Summary

Respected market research that examines future trends in

technology purchases suggests that more than half of all

businesses—of every size and across every geography—will

move at least some portion of their information technology (IT)

infrastructure into the cloud by 2012. How does that translate

into revenues? By 2016, technology forecasters predict that

cloud computing—across all its diferent permutations—could

help boost the economy across europe by £650 billion.

is your head spinning? if so, take a deep breath. it’s important to

realise that this transition will not happen overnight. You will have

time to plan. What’s more, the hybrid nature of anticipated customer

adoption patterns suggests that technology solution providers will be

able to accommodate cloud services offerings within the framework of

their existing business model. that is, many solution providers will add

cloud offerings to round out their suite of solutions and services while

maintaining many of their on-premise offerings.

Still, any technology solution provider who ignores the potential impact

of cloud computing could be putting both current customers and

prospective new business at risk.

What do we mean when we talk about cloud computing? there are

easily more than two dosen deinitions of the term. A ComptiA Cloud/

SaaS Community analysis of the concept (“outlining Cloud Computing for the Channel”) helps provide

clarity. in the broadest sense, cloud computing refers to the practice of delivering applications, platforms, or

infrastructure via the internet or a private network as a service.

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An academic definition, courtesy of

the National Institute of Standards

and Technology (NIST), serves

as the foundation for CompTIA’s

definition of cloud computing:

“ Cloud Computing is a model for

enabling convenient, on-demand

network access to a shared pool of

conigurable computing resources

(e.g., networks, servers, storage,

applications and services) that can

be rapidly provisioned and released

with minimal management efort

or service provider interaction. This

cloud model promotes availability

and is composed of ive essential

characteristics (on-demand self-

service, broad network access,

resource pooling, rapid elasticity

and measured service), three

service models (software as a

service, platform as a service, and

infrastructure as a service), and four

deployment models (private cloud,

community cloud, public cloud, and

hybrid cloud).”



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people CoMMonly lUMp CloUd CoMpUting into three distinCt

Models or types:

1. Infrastructure as a service (Iaas) or Hardware as a service (Haas): this is the practice of looking

to some outside provider for core computing capacity. the management of that infrastructure is

primarily left up to the business using it. two examples of companies offering this functionality are

Amazon and rackspace. Solution providers could serve as providers of iaaS through their own data

centres or as brokers of iaaS, reselling offerings of service provider partners.

2. platform as a service (paas): this is a cloud service that offers a richer set of management,

integration, and development options than iaaS. three notable PaaS options are Microsoft Asure,

google App engine, and force.com (tied to the Salesforce.com service). PaaS offers solution

providers an opportunity to develop new applications and services offerings more economically.

Solution providers could also broker PaaS offerings to their customers.

3. software as a service (saas): Probably the most widely known and used cloud service, SaaS refers to

the practice of offering an application via the public internet or dedicated online connection. Application

features are managed and updated in a way that is transparent to the user. high-proile SaaS examples

include Microsoft dynamics CrM online, Salesforce.com, Microsoft BPoS, and google Apps. Many

developers that have created SaaS offerings are working with solution providers who can add business

value in the form of assessment, deployment, migration, training, and support services.

Projections concerning how much of today’s it spending will shift toward cloud computing options

vary. end-user research conducted by the iPed channel research, consulting and education division

of everything Channel in early 2010 suggests that approximately 30 percent of it budgets in 2012

will shift to off-premise-hosted or pure cloud services as businesses move into a hybrid technology-

sourcing model (Can You See Through the Clouds? -The Evolution of Technology Delivery, 2010 IPED

Cloud Survey).

from the customer point of view, there are several cloud business “drivers.” these include inancial

factors, such as a desire to decrease the costs of core it infrastructure or to shift technology expenses

from a capital expenditure line item into a more predictable operational expense that can be metered

out monthly or annually. Many businesses looking to the cloud are doing so because they believe these

services will provide them with a competitive business advantage, for example, the ability to unfurl a

new service or product more quickly to their own customers. technology solution providers will need

to play to both mindsets to be successful in the new cloud business model.

let’s be clear, businesses will still buy on-premise technology solutions for years to come. But

increasingly, they will consider cloud alternatives for certain elements of their it infrastructure. this

guide will help your organisation take a disciplined, proactive approach to deining your cloud services

and solutions strategy and putting your business transformation plan into action—positioning your

organisation to win prospective new accounts and bring new business value to long-time clients.

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Week 1: understand the Cloud Business Model

during the irst week of planning for your cloud business transformation, study

the impact that cloud computing could have on your bottom-line revenue and

top-line margins. Your focus should be on collecting speciic data that will guide

your team’s decisions about where cloud services make sense and where they

don’t. the information you need to examine and carefully consider includes your

current cost of sales, marketing investments, average deal, and services margins.

there are four primary business reasons that your organisation might consider adding a

cloud practice:

1. To expand your reach: this might mean selling to a new industry or new segments within your

current target audience or addressing new computing needs within your existing customers,

especially teleworkers and remote branch-ofice mobility scenarios.

2. To create new revenue streams: one of the most attractive aspects of cloud offerings is that

solution providers can develop a predictable, recurring revenue stream. new service opportunities

might include cloud-readiness evaluations, integration, and migration services.

3. To increase proitability: Cloud services allow technology solution providers to prospect

customers outside their local geography more easily, extending the reach of existing sales efforts.

recurring revenue streams can help increase margins and service-attach rates.

4. To reduce business risk: there is deinitely an element of risk in making the cloud business

transition. for example, it likely will take multiple cloud deals to generate the same revenue

you previously could expect from a large project. But adding cloud services can help your

organisation create a more predictable cash low, standardise product deliverables, and make

better use of existing intellectual property.

to assess the speciic impact that cloud offerings will have on your particular business, we

recommend taking the following steps over the irst week of your cloud business transformation:

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aCtion 1: ColleCt and analyse the deal eConoMiCs

assoCiated With yoUr eXisting solUtions

Start by reviewing metrics for your current on-premise deals, including margins earned through

product resale and all the relevant consulting, implementation, and support services that your

organisation wraps into or attaches to its existing technology solutions. if this isn’t something

your team already analyses regularly, many of your existing vendor partners may have return-

on-investment (roi) calculators that may streamline the process of gathering and reviewing this

information—at least for their speciic products.

outline the typical revenue and margin expectations that your business expects for each on-

premise solution. understand which solutions generate the bulk of your revenue, which drive the

highest services margins, and which are loss-leaders that help your organisation get a foothold into

new accounts. Ask yourself: do your expectations for each of your existing on-premise solutions line

up with reality?

from a macro level, document your typical hardware, software, and services mix; not just for each

opportunity but from the standpoint of your entire organisation.

the point of this exercise is to understand the real economics of your existing business. You should

use this information to assess and understand the impact that adding a cloud business practice will

have on your entire organisation.

here is a comparison of an on-premise opportunity with a cloud opportunity.

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on premise solution Cloud solution

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Total

product sales

hardware revenue £10k £10k

Software revenue £25k £25k £1k £1k £1k £3k

services

Before Sale Services £5k £5k £5k £5k

technical implementation Services

£25k £25k £12k £12k

Business Customisation Services

£25k £25k £12k £12k

Post Sales Services [Managed services, help desk, etc.

£18k £18k £18k £54k £18k £18k £18k £54k

Total £108K £18K £18K £144K £48K £19K £19K £86K

sample solution provider Revenue

on-premise vs. Cloud saas Comparison

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aCtion 2: Model the potential eConoMiCs of on-preMise vs. CloUd deals

Start by collecting the speciic data for your current offerings (email migrations, new server deployments, etc.).

Model the implications of adding a cloud service that could be either a replacement or alternative for that solution.

Consider all up-front factors, such as the difference in deployment margin potential, the potential shift in revenue

from an on-premise offering to a cloud version, and the anticipated managed services or support costs associated

with each.

Also compare what services personnel or technology resources might be required for each model. What new

services (data migration, integration between cloud and on- premise solutions, etc.) might your organisation need

to add? Some high-tech vendors have developed roi or pricing models that allow you to quickly understand the

differences between the revenue potential for your current offerings and the cloud offerings. But you’ll need to dig

deeper into the services delivery implications to understand the true potential impact on your unique business.

aCtion 3: develop a praCtiCe BUsiness Model that addresses the neW

CloUd deal eConoMiCs

once you have a sense of how the cloud might impact speciic pieces of your business, look at it from a 50,000-foot

view. Although the cloud computing model is still emerging, here are two big considerations to keep foremost as you

develop your cloud business practice model:

The hybrid model is here to stay: Many customers will not move to the cloud, so most technology solution

providers should support both on-premise solutions and cloud services. in order to build out the practice model that

is right for your business, however, you will need to have some notion of how much of your existing revenue could

or should move into cloud services alternatives. ninety-one percent of uk it businesses see hybrid cloud model as

their preferred option, but 71% are concerned about potential management complexity this will bring, according to a

research by iCt services provider 2e2. So you need to cover all your bases from a technology delivery standpoint.

don’t forget the new customers you might bring into the fold: decide whether your organisation can drive new

customer acquisitions, based on the availability of new cloud offerings. (See chart on the following page citing

the top reasons that end-users are seeking cloud computing solutions. the data comes from ComptiA’s July

2010 survey of 602 u.S. it decision makers and solution providers.) And research elsewhere suggests trends are

similar across europe.

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Reasons Why end users Are seeking Cloud solutions

At the end of the day, assessing your deal economics can be a very detailed exercise. ultimately, however,

you want to gain an understanding of the short-term impact to your revenue associated with moving to the

cloud, so that you can use this as the basis for moving forward. for example, consider that your potential

gross margin associated with a cloud opportunity is 50 percent less in the irst year than the margin

associated with a traditional on-premise opportunity. from that information, you know that, to maintain the

same proit in your business you will need to build a cloud business plan that:

• drives twice the number of opportunities you previously targeted for on-premise deals,

• adds services that allow your organisation to maintain its margins with the same number of opportunities, and

• takes a longer-term view or recognises that, over time, the cloud opportunity may drive signiicantly more

revenue than can be scaled with on-premise solutions (note: this plan may require additional investment

or use of current capital).

remember that the hybrid technology delivery model is expected to be the predominant model for the

foreseeable future, so these considerations will probably apply only to a part of your business.

priorities and resoUrCes

• Model the economics of your current offerings.

• understand the revenue and margin differences between on-premise solutions and cloud alternatives.

• determine the portion of revenue your business expects to generate through cloud services (either new

customer targets or existing clients). Aggressive solution providers often view a cloud business practice as

the growth engine for incremental revenue.

• Calculate the number of cloud deals your sales team should close to generate the same margin and proit

levels your business currently generates. use this as the basis for developing your new business plan and

forecast model.

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not a Reason minor Reason major Reason

desire to reduce cap-ex on

hardware, other systems14% 36% 49%

desire to cut costs 16% 40% 44%

desire to add new capabilities not

available with alternative models19% 48% 33%

Simplicity or speed in

implementation/on-ramping16% 52% 33%

desire to reduce operational

complexity/enable self-service20% 50% 30%

transition from conventional

software licensing25% 45% 30%

Modernisation of legacy it 25% 49% 27%

Predictable, subscription-based

pricing25% 49% 26%

desire to outsource it management/

administration43% 33% 24%

reduction in internal it headcount 50% 31% 19%

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Week 2: Study the Market

the work your team did during Week 1 will give you a detailed sense of your

organisation’s core business metrics and how they will be altered by adding

cloud services and offerings. during Week 2, it’s time to focus externally. three

tasks will dominate your time:

1. documenting your customers’ cloud needs or desires,

2. investigating current market solutions for SaaS, PaaS, and iaaS that might

make sense for your organisation to represent, and

3. reviewing and analysing vendor/distributor programmes and offerings.

All of these activities will provide your organisation with perspective and

context on the broader cloud market, so that you can begin to build out a cloud-

centric business plan that is right for the unique needs of both you and your

organisation.

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aCtion 1: doCUMent CUstoMer needs

Cloud services and solutions provide a means of serving existing customers more eficiently. they

also offer a way to reach new prospects. You need to think about the implications of both.

Cloud prospects can be found across the entire spectrum of business organisational sises, although

the sweet spot in the current marketplace seems to be among small and midsise companies. the good

news is that this is the same sweet spot for many technology solution providers. in other words, many

of these prospects will be familiar with the products and services, but the discussions you have with

them about how technology can solve their business challenges will transform over time.

understanding what drives a business to use cloud services is imperative for both your sales

team, which must learn how to describe beneits succinctly, and your services team, which will

need to recalibrate its delivery mindset and priorities. the end-user chart in Week 1 of this guide

(reasons Why end-users Are Seeking Cloud Computing Solutions) summarises the speciic

motivators driving businesses to embrace the cloud computing model. here are some other

general business motivators:

1. Business continuity and disaster recovery concerns often play a role in convincing them to

embrace a cloud vs. on-premise option.

2. they view cloud-delivered applications and technology infrastructure as a competitive business

advantage.

3. Business leaders believe sourcing applications and technology via the cloud can help them control

proit margins and shift some capital expenditures related to technology into operational expenses.

Your organisation also needs to understand the common objections to cloud-computing models,

which generally focus on the angst around security and privacy, as well as concerns about how

access and service levels might affect application performance and network latency. the following

ComptiA chart details some of the challenges that business face during the adoption of cloud

computing (again, the data comes from ComptiA’s July 2010 survey of 602 u.S. it decision makers

and solution providers).

As you develop your services plan, take particular note of the huge burgeoning challenge

associated with integration. Many solution providers consider this to be one of the biggest services

opportunities related to cloud computing, especially since most businesses will operate in a hybrid

technology model for many years to come.

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not

Significant

Somewhat

Significant

very

Significant

integration with existing systems 10% 47% 44%

Painful transition from legacy

systems to cloud computing

environment

18% 48% 45%

initial costs (training, hardware, etc.) 21% 46% 32%

other 58% 26% 16%

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aCtion 2: investigate CUrrent CloUd options

the deal economics-modeling scenarios you explored in Week 1 will have given you a sense of what

your organisation might stand to gain from adding cloud solutions. now, you need to igure out

which ones are most relevant for your business.

for example, if your organisation focuses on delivering on-premise software applications and

solutions to small or midsise businesses in your local community, now is the time to assess

whether they are candidates for SaaS. this model continues to be one of the fastest-growing

portions of the cloud market. According to market research irm idC, compound annual

growth for the category was 32 percent from 2007 to 2011, and revenue is expected to top

$20 billion (£12.5 billion) in 2011. ComptiA’s 2010 cloud-computing model research shows that

approximately 47 percent of established technology solution providers (in business more than

20 years) have embraced the SaaS model. however, more than 70 percent of channel newcomers

include SaaS offerings in their business model.

on the other hand, if your organisation provides data-center infrastructure, you should study the

iaaS model with particular attention to how margins for existing on-premise solutions might be

impacted and whether it is worthwhile to offer both on-premise and cloud-hosted solutions for

server, storage, and networking needs. You’ll also need to consider how cloud computing principles

might affect your existing data-center solutions in the form of private cloud infrastructure.

the private cloud refers to infrastructure that is conigured and managed in the same way as

publicly-provisioned services, but is only available on a controlled base to certain businesses and/

or its business partners. ComptiA research shows that nearly one-third of technology-solution

providers use iaaS internally. Approximately 41 percent sell storage, security, virtualisation, and other

infrastructure-related services.

if your organisation’s skills lie in software development, PaaS may represent an opportunity to

rewrite your application development, testing, and distribution strategies. for example, imagine

that your organisation has written software for clients in a speciic vertical market. By moving that

development into a PaaS environment, your company could streamline the process of keeping

the application updated. in addition, PaaS could help your organisation market that application

to a broader potential customer base outside the conines of your local geography. According to

ComptiA’s 2010 research concerning cloud-channel adoption, PaaS is the least penetrated of the

three cloud services types today. About 27 percent of the solution providers surveyed by ComptiA

use PaaS internally, while 33 percent use it as the foundation for a customer-facing cloud solution.

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aCtion 3: revieW vendor and distriBUtor offerings

and prograMMes

Which of your existing vendor and distributor partners could play a supporting role in your

organisation’s business transformation? on the lip side, which have offerings that could be

competitive to what you are considering? the answers will depend entirely on your existing

portfolio of alliances.

the fact is your organisation could launch your cloud-services strategy more quickly by leveraging

some of the investments that existing product vendors and distributors have already made. here’s

what you should look at and why:

• Closely examine whether or not your existing software-application partners have developed

hosted versions. By representing that offering, you could create a recurring revenue stream with

a smaller up-front technical or infrastructure investment.

• services aspirations. Most well-known hardware vendors have enhanced their professional

services capabilities and capacities substantially over the past decade. More recently, big-name

players in servers and storage have overhauled their data centers in a bid to improve eficiency

and set the stage for cloud services. likewise, some have established partner programmes

intended to support would-be hosting providers and cloud-services partners.

• don’t overlook distributors. the value that distributors could bring to your organisation’s cloud

business practice is twofold. first, many are studying ways to help package complementary

technologies, applications, and services which might accelerate the development of your own

offerings. Second, distributors could provide technical assistance and resources when it comes

to some of the operational processes that cloud-service providers must embrace, including

customer provisioning and managed help-desk services.


• Study existing customers to determine potential improvements you could make to their service

delivery experience.

• discuss new prospects that your organisation is interested in reaching and the implications cloud

computing has for those targets.

• evaluate which cloud solution(s) make sense in the context of your existing business model

(iaaS, PaaS, or SaaS, or all three).

• research what your key product vendors and distributors are doing and saying about cloud

computing

• review vendor sites for cloud-related training material. for example, some vendors like

Microsoft, rackspace, and Amazon provide not only cloud education about their speciic

products/offerings, but offer general education on the cloud model.

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Weeks 3 and 4: develop Your Strategy

get ready to exercise some patience, creativity, and honesty during the next two

weeks, as you begin applying the possibilities of cloud computing to your unique

organisational needs and structure. this is not a simple exercise. during this next

phase of business development, keep the following factors in mind as you develop

the cloud strategy that is right for your company:

• focus on areas where your company excels today and how you can extend that

expertise into the cloud business model.

• remember that this is an evolutionary time in the market, which means your

strategy should take into account changes you might need to make in your

business to keep ahead of the curve as cloud computing becomes more widely

accepted.

aCtion 1: Create and seleCt yoUr UniQUe teChnology

offerings

Successful solution providers share a proven ability to craft customer-centric

solutions through differentiated combinations of technologies and software

broadly available in the market. it is not the intention of this guide to recommend

speciic technologies around which to build your cloud practice. however, we have

identiied a number of strategy options from technology solution providers who

have successfully built a cloud practice.

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iaas

technology solution providers become involved with iaaS by reselling this type of offering from a

cloud provider (rackspace, Amazon, etc.). Another option is for solution providers to build their

own iaaS offerings and cloud infrastructure; which is a less common option because of the costs

involved. As illustrated in the iPed chart below, there are two ways a technology solution provider

might represent an existing iaaS offering:

1. Reselling an existing Iaas ofering: under this model, the solution provider acts as an agent or

broker for an existing, publicly hosted iaaS offering. there are plenty of distributors, hosting

companies that offer cloud options, and emerging options from hardware and infrastructure

vendors. this option offers a way for a solution provider to enter into the iaaS market,

maintaining a single interface and brand presence to its customers, but clearly acting as a

business partner to an established cloud infrastructure provider.

2. selling white-label Iaas solutions: under this option, the solution provider might represent

a publicly-hosted iaaS offering under its own brand. Again, it allows the technology solution

provider to maintain a single interface and brand presence to its customers.

Another less-common way for a technology solution provider to become involved with iaaS is by

building out its own private cloud offering. A January 2011 MarketBridge survey estimates that

52 percent of SMBs would prefer to deploy on some sort of private cloud infrastructure rather

than on a public cloud. the drawback to this approach is that it will require data-center and other

infrastructure investments by the solution provider, which requires capital. the advantage is that

it might appeal to more cautious businesses, such as inancial service concerns or healthcare

organisations that are leery of the cloud’s privacy and security implications. the iPed chart below

outlines where private cloud offerings it within the broad continuum.

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ON-PREMISEPRODUCT

RESALE

On-premise product re-sale,product related

services, etc.

ON-PREMISEHOSTED

Hosting, platform, solution, or data resides

on-premise

OFF-PREMISEHOSTED

Hosting, platform,solution, and data resides at 3rd party

PURECLOUD

CLOUD CONTINUUM

Re�e�� e �e�e�v� �

New ��e� e�v��e�� e Labeled Data Center provided by IaaS

• New partners can’t compete with economies of Rackspace, Amazon, etc.

• Few new data centers are built, in fact some data centers may migrate to IaaS

Hosting, platform, solution, and data resides at the vendor

and is delivered on demand via SaaS, IaaS, or PaaS either

in a private or public cloud

DELIV

ERY

MODE

LDE

FINI

TION

The Hybrid Model

ON-PREMISEPRODUCT

RESALE

On-premise product re-sale,product related

services, etc.

ON-PREMISEHOSTED

Hosting, platform, solution, or data resides

on-premise

OFF-PREMISEHOSTED

Hosting, platform,solution, and data resides at 3rd party

PURECLOUD

CLOUD CONTINUUM

Private Cloud Built in

Customer Data Center

Private Cloud Built in

Partner Data Center

• Can follow a resale model with one-time charge HW, SW; may also be hosted

• Servers, storage and systems management software skills critical

• Cloud Server in a Box well received

Hosting, platform, solution, and data resides at the vendor

and is delivered on demand via SaaS, IaaS, or PaaS either

in a private or public cloud

DELIV

ERY

MODE

LDE

FINI

TION

The Emergence of the Private Cloud Builder

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saas

Solution providers that have layered SaaS offerings into their services portfolio have opted for two

predominant strategies:

1. Reselling public saas cloud ofering, such as Microsoft BPoS or ofice 365, Salesforce.com,

netSuite, or SAP Bydesign: this strategy leaves the management of the software infrastructure in

the hands of the public cloud provider, with the solution provider in an agent or advisory role. the

general view from successful solution providers is that this option may generate less short-term

revenue (2x less than on-premise deals in many cases), but that it generates signiicant margin

potential in the form of integration, migration, and hybrid services.

2. ofering managed hosted environments: With this model, the solution provider might take on

management of a hosted application or software infrastructure environment. this might be

applicable in circumstances where your customers require a private cloud environment or are

seeking to improve the management of custom applications. however, it could put pressure on

margins when you consider the typical pricing models that vendors are offering to their service

provider/hosting partners.

paas

Currently, the PaaS cloud computing model (think Salesforce.com’s force.com, Microsoft’s Asure or

google’s App engine) offers two primary business paths for technology solution providers:

1. morphing into an Isv: PaaS provides a more structured, cost-effective way for solution providers

to develop, support, and maintain their own software applications, which may be add-ons or

complements to existing ofice-productivity or back-ofice software. in essence, PaaS would help

underpin the commercialisation of your organisation’s software applications and development work.

2. selling development platform capacity: PaaS might also prove useful to midsise and enterprise

businesses seeking more cost-effective ways to support in-house development activities. under

this model, the solution provider might sell capacity or support for one of the publicly-available

PaaS offerings, helping their customers manage their development more eficiently.

aCtion 2: define yoUr serviCes offerings

After you deine your core cloud-product offerings, you can focus in on the services that your

organisation will need to deploy and support them. here are ive key things to remember as you

conduct internal services strategy discussions:

1. Clear, streamlined processes must be in place to deliver consistently and quickly.

2. Sero in on services that differentiate your approach and messaging as a cloud service provider.

3. deine each step carefully, since cloud implementations tend to be shorter and more repetitive.

4. technical implementation services, such as database coniguration and server set-up, are likely

to contribute less to your margins than in the past. however, integration of cloud and on-premise

services is considered a growth area for solution providers.

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5. Your technicians will support hybrid infrastructure environments for years to come.

As you develop your services strategy, consider which of your current services offerings are

applicable for a cloud offering. Some of them may no longer be relevant, such as server installations

or conigurations and software tuning. others might be extended into the cloud model with relative

ease. for example, extending an existing managed service to accommodate the cloud variation

of infrastructure or an application has been a successful strategy for many solution providers. the

cloud model is also creating a number of compelling new services opportunities, including:

• data migration of customer information and data from an on-premise model to a cloud service,

• integration between on-premise solutions and related cloud services or among multiple cloud-

hosted services,

• Business process consulting and customisation services (since companies will be spending

less on technical integration services, more budget is likely to be available for worklow

improvements made possible by cloud applications), and

• Cloud training and education, especially as the model continues to evolve.


• if you offer on-premise infrastructure, investigate the white-label or branded iaaS offerings

available for you to resell.

• interest in private clouds is growing. Although this model might require infrastructure

investment, it may be appropriate for businesses that are especially sensitive about privacy and

security.

• Customer adoption of SaaS is escalating. So consider a SaaS alternative for your current

portfolio of application and software offerings, such as google Apps or Microsoft ofice 365.

• once you have developed the offerings that will be part of your cloud practice, revisit the

services portfolio you currently offer. Are they still valid for the cloud model? if not, decide which

ones are relevant and which new services you might need to introduce to your services team.

• revisit your strategy quarterly, if not more often, as the cloud stack changes daily

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Weeks 5 and 6: Prepare for Services delivery

Supporting and delivering cloud services will require your organisation to

signiicantly readjust its services delivery mindset.

While in the past, many of your services activities may have been customised for virtually every

customer engagement, the margin structure of cloud computing demands that your organisation

subject its services policies and processes to much more discipline. that goes for both simple and

complex services offerings. Many solution providers that have successfully layered a cloud business

practice into their organisation have invested in speciic, repeatable prepackaging services—from

presales to implementation/migration and post-sales activities. this will offer a higher degree of

predictability when it comes to services margins. But it also will require that your services personnel

abide by new metrics: automating routine maintenance tasks and encouraging ever-higher rates of

eficiency for low-margin services offerings.

during the next two weeks, you should review existing series processes and policies with an eye to

determining those that are relevant for your cloud services offerings. this assessment will also help

identify potential gaps in your services delivery capabilities that might hinder the rapid provisioning

and delivery of cloud services. You may choose to focus junior-level services personnel on certain

prepackaged services related to the cloud, reserving senior-level personnel for projects that are

more complex.

aCtion 1: develop a transition plan for adapting CUrrent

serviCes poliCies to aCCoMModate CloUd serviCes

the reality is that the services team supporting your organisation’s cloud offerings is likely to be

the same one involved with delivering your on-premise solutions. But technology solution providers

who have successfully layered cloud offerings into their business model say their ability to do so has

hinged on signiicant changes to their services philosophy, including:

• development of repeatable, packaged service offerings,

• A conscious move to limit or decrease customised consulting engagements that are dificult to

manage from a margin standpoint, and

• Adoption of speciic processes that govern service-delivery procedures, speeding decision-

making and deployment activity.

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aCtion 2: develop plans for pre-iMpleMentation serviCes,

iMpleMentation serviCes and post-iMpleMentation serviCes

As mentioned during the strategy section of this guide (weeks 3 and 4), your cloud services

opportunities will span the entire project lifecycle. here are some speciic offerings you might consider:

pre-sales ConsUlting

• Cloud-readiness assessments and requirements gathering

• data migration planning (if appropriate)

• Worklow or business process consulting

• industry-speciic customisation

ConfigUration and iMpleMentation

• Provisioning and set-up according to predeined, prepackaged parameters

• data migration

• infrastructure and application integration

• Security and access policies/deinitions

• testing

• Project management

post-sales sUpport

• remote monitoring and management

• user training

• Managed help desk

• Service level and usage reporting

• Account management

aCtion 3: develop a list of serviCes that Can Be paCkaged

for More effiCient iMpleMentations

there are three reasons that your team’s ability to maintain a strict services-delivery process—

centered on prepackaged offerings—will be paramount to the inancial success of your cloud

business practice:

1. You can dedicate junior-level resources to delivery, while devoting more experienced services

professionals to higher-margin integration and customisation tasks.

2. Your organisation should have a more accurate view of future resource needs.

3. Your team can focus on ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction, which will go a long way

toward ensuring the high customer retention and renewal rates required for success with a cloud

business model.

By examining your organisation’s current skill sets and its target customer proile (both current and

prospective), your services team can determine the sweet spot for your cloud services. By deining

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speciic tasks and processes around these services, you can create prepackaged offerings that will

offer margin predictability. for example, you can structure services according to the number of

users supported or by promised/anticipated service levels. there are a number of services that can

be packaged to ensure that their delivery is time-bound and that your services team can deliver a

repeatable experience to your customers within set utilisation parameters. examples of prepackaged

services that successful cloud solution providers have crafted include:

• exchange mailbox conversions (scaled on a per-user basis),

• training (managed per-user),

• Packaged reports and worklows for CrM implementation, and

• deined (via SoWs) data migrations from on-premise systems to cloud solutions.

aCtion 4: investigate and deCide on data Migration and/or

hyBrid serviCes offerings

Chances are, not only will your organisation be a hybrid one—offering both on-premise and cloud

infrastructure options—your customer environments will create hybrid services and support

opportunities. one of the considerations you might explore surrounds migration services for

businesses moving an existing piece of infrastructure or application into the cloud (or vice versa).

Your customers might also be candidates for data-integration services that ensure that cloud-hosted

pieces of their infrastructure can interact seamlessly with on-premise components.

aCtion 5: investigate and CoMMit to training yoUr

teChniCal staff

if your organisation plans to manage its cloud business practice within the context of a larger

solution-provider operation, you should invest in leadership resources for your cloud services

initiatives. that includes leaders who can help you navigate the philosophical shifts of custom vs.

prepackaged, reactive vs. proactive.

given the amount of market “noise” your customers and prospects are hearing about cloud

computing, it’s important to position your team as experts who can help them transform the vapor

into tangible business beneits. By committing to pre-sales consulting and assessments, your

organisation will retain its role of trusted advisor. the training around your cloud services offerings

should be focused on process, not product. two of the most important subjects to cover thoroughly

and often are:

1. determining if a business (client or prospect) is a candidate for cloud services.

2. escalation strategies, such as recognising when a customer or prospect will require additional

attention that goes beyond the scope of prepackaged services.

our irst recommendation is to make sure that you make training a priority, not a last minute

requirement. if you expect customers to follow your direction for their cloud strategy, your team

must be able to explain to them the real differences between on-premise and cloud solutions—do

not just parrot the standard marketing hype. our discussions with many of your peers who have

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layered cloud solutions into their business suggest that the following should be priorities for your

training activities:

• don’t wait until you have your irst cloud prospect to train your staff. Be proactive.

• Make sure your team members are all on the same page. there are so many deinitions of cloud

that you need to make sure everyone within your organisation speaks the same language.

• Make sure your technical team understands the return-on-investment the cloud brings to your

customers. even the services delivery team needs to understand the business value of the cloud

at the product and solution level. More than ever before, your services-delivery teams may be

asked by customers why they should move to the cloud. their answer should focus on beneits,

not technical merits.

• don’t forget product training. Pick your cloud solutions and understand them in detail. Make

sure your team understands the nuances between on-premise and cloud solutions from the

same vendor.

aCtion 6: doCUMent and develop a gaMe plan for the

reQUired proCess Changes

it can’t be repeated enough: in order to support the prepackaged services offerings mandated

under the cloud business model, your organisation will need to review its services-delivery

processes and manage those procedures closely. the biggest reason is the shift in personnel

utilisation rates you’re likely to see under the cloud model. for starters, many projects will probably

be shorter in duration.

A higher number of your projects can also be managed remotely, which means your professional

services staff typically will work on multiple projects simultaneously. Project management business

practices will be essential to ensuring that engagements progress smoothly and your services

leadership has the capacity to handle your cloud-deal pipeline. the key services processes that

need to be evaluated and adapted are:

• resource assignments (senior, higher paid vs. more junior, lower paid staff)

• Skills development and management

• utilisation metrics

• resource allocation expectations (many cloud projects are shorter term and are delivered mostly

remotely, therefore resources are often deployed on multiple projects simultaneously)

• Pricing, and

• Statement-of-work development and change management.


• Assign a leader for cloud services management.

• determine focus for services that support cloud offerings, pre-sales, implementation, and post-sales.

• deine speciic, prepackaged offerings so that margins can be managed more closely.

• Build a plan for ongoing training.

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Week 7 and 8: Create Your Marketing Plan

now that you have a sense of the shape and scope of your cloud business plan,

devote some energy to reshaping the story you tell in the marketplace. this section

outlines a phased process for getting there.

aCtion 1: deCide on yoUr Marketing strategy

You can take one of two approaches with your marketing plan: integrate cloud services messaging

into your existing marketing strategy or develop a separate campaign focused entirely on the cloud

portion of your business. You might use different tactics within your installed base than with new

customer prospects. Your approach will depend primarily on whether you treat your cloud practice

as a separate division or consider cloud solutions as an alternative delivery model within your core

operational model. in either case, you should invest in a well-deined, step-by-step process and stick

to it. here are the implications of each.

Integrated marketing plan

• Your team can build on proven marketing tactics.

• You can strengthen existing messaging with cloud beneit statements, such as the elimination of

capital expenditures.

• Cloud solutions provide your company with differentiated deployment and inancing options.

• Approach can be adapted and matched to customer needs organically.

separate Initiative for Cloud oferings

• leverage high-volume, low-touch campaigns (prospective cloud buyers are more likely to be

reached online).

• Closely match the costs for your online marketing activities with the margin structure of your

cloud services and solutions.

• Make an aggressive push into social media and digital marketing, along with a multi-touch email

programme with website landing pages.

aCtion 2: doCUMent yoUr neW CUstoMer approaCh

Prospective buyers for your cloud services can be sorted into three primary categories, which should

be considered as you develop your marketing plan.

1. Web-centric buyers, who will seek information almost exclusively online

2. line-of-business managers, interested in how cloud technology will affect their business

3. it-savvy executives, looking to the cloud for new features and cost-savings beneits

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aCtion 3: develop yoUr eXisting CUstoMer plan

don’t ignore your current installed base when developing your marketing plan, especially since so

many companies are considering cloud service investments as a way to better manage their legacy it

infrastructure. Your organisation has a unique opportunity to serve as a cloud expert with your installed

base, providing educational materials, and addressing speciic questions or objections head-on. Consider

developing road shows, breakfasts, and other face-to-face opportunities where your team can bring value

to your customers by helping them understand their cloud options.

aCtion 4: evalUate and Modify yoUr overall valUe Message for

the CloUd

Your overall messaging should underscore the key reasons that businesses are moving to cloud-based

services, including:

• lower initial costs and predictable recurring expenses,

• Agility and scalability,

• Ability to focus on strategic initiatives, rather than manage technology infrastructure,

• Access to advanced and emerging technologies that were previously out of reach, due to cost or

management considerations.

aCtion 5: develop yoUr soCial Media and online Marketing plan

Since cloud solutions are online-centric, you should leverage the internet and social media heavily for

lead-generation programmes. the key is to think about high-volume forums of outreach. find the forums

in places such as facebook or linkedin where discussions about cloud computing are taking place, and

assign your best and brightest cloud advocates to participate. Canvas blogs about cloud computing, and

selectively join the dialogue. use email marketing campaigns with special website urls to track and qualify

prospects more speciically and proactively.

online trials that provide prospective customers with a way of trying a cloud service or application for a

limited time will dramatically improve your chances of closing the deal. Partners who have invested in this

strategy report that proof-of-concepts can sometimes double those chances. So, it’s worth investing in a

way of allowing customers to test out your cloud offerings before committing to a contract.

The metrics for tracking cloud marketing initiatives should relect:

• Pipeline-to-close ratios,

• Social media touch points and their payoff,

• landing-page activity,

• Conversion rates for trials or proof-of-concepts, and

• gap in customer acquisition costs for on-premise deals vs. cloud services engagements.


• Assess whether an integrated or separate approach is most appropriate.

• deine marketing targets, including new prospects and existing customers.

• Appoint someone to build a social media strategy.

• update your website to include information related to your cloud expertise

and offerings.

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Week 9: Sales Planning

the success or failure of your cloud business transformation hinges on the ability of

your sales team to identify and close deals. that will mean overhauling your existing

approach to sales and creating a framework that goes beyond project-based solution

selling to incorporate high-volume outreach and demand-generation activities. the

following are speciic action steps for building out your sales strategy over the next

two weeks of your cloud business-transformation planning.

aCtion 1: deCide on a sales approaCh

Your sales activities, like your marketing plan, can be managed in either of two ways, depending

on your overall strategy, resources, and capabilities: as an integrated cloud practice that dovetails

with the rest of your sales efforts or as a separate initiative led by a team of evangelists within your

organisation. But, if you choose to integrate cloud services and offerings into your overall sales go-to-

market activities, it may be tougher to track deal metrics speciic to your cloud business. if you already

manage other lines of your business separately from each other or have clearly-deined practice areas,

managing your cloud sales independent of project-focused sales may be an easier transition. here are

characteristics and considerations associated with each approach:

integrated CloUd praCtiCe

• Your team will continue to lead with solutions to business problems. Cloud services will be one

deployment option for solving those problems.

• this approach involves less risk than establishing a separate initiative.

• it assumes that it infrastructure and applications will be offered in both on-premise and cloud

alternatives.

separate CloUd praCtiCe

• Your team will lead with the beneits of the cloud model, adopting an evangelist role.

• Cloud operations will have a distinct focus within your company.

• deal cycles tend to be accelerated, when compared with the process of traditional technology-

solutions sales cycles.

• this practice carries more risk but allows your company to get in the game more quickly, because

the team can sidestep legacy processes.

our discussions with many successful cloud-based solution providers show that they fundamentally

believe establishing a separate business practice or division to handle cloud offerings is imperative to

success. the primary reason is focus! this may not be completely feasible for smaller organisations,

but even those solution providers will ind that having some level of dedicated sales staff helps their

organisation stay focused on developing its cloud practice.

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aCtion 2: CoMMit and eXeCUte on the sales training plan

training the sales team is a critical step in the process, because metrics for success in cloud services

are unique. topics and issues that must be part of sales training include:

• how to educate prospects about the cloud model speciic to your business

• how to communicate with business owners or business-line managers, rather than it managers

• how to discuss the cost implications of moving to a cloud service model for it infrastructure,

including the shift from capital expenditures to operational expenses

• Cross-selling and upselling opportunities

• new compensation models and the value of establishing strong renewal business

• new prospecting, qualifying, and closing processes and the inherent cost-of-sales implications

associated with sticking to a strict process

• deal proitability metrics, including those that allow your sales team to address questions about

on-premise solutions vs. cloud services

aCtion 3: develop sales CoMpensation plans

the key to this part of the sales planning process is that sales compensation is meant to motivate

your sales representatives, while ensuring that your organisation still makes money on the deal.

here are some speciic issues to address when building your sales compensation policy:

• When to pay commissions: Because payments for cloud services typically are made over an

extended time during the life of a contract, the schedule guiding commission payments will

likewise need to be adapted. So, compensation might be paid out over a period of time instead

of delivered as a lump sum. An alternate strategy is to pay complete commission on bookings up

front, which requires working capital to loat customer receivables.

• Bonuses for cloud services deals: if your sales organisation will be responsible for selling both

cloud services and on-premises solutions, you may need to consider a bonus structure to help

kick-start your cloud sales activities. this will help the team stay focused on cloud opportunities

and provide them with short-term incentives.

• Remember renewals: the recurring revenue-stream that cloud offerings will bring to your

business cannot be overemphasised. offering annual renewal incentives will help keep customers

engaged and help your organisation maintain prospective retention revenue. Payment policies

for renewals should be set in place at the start of the deal.

• Reward long-term contracts: Cloud services engagements come in various lengths. You may

choose to offer compensation accelerators on contracts that lock in customers for a longer

period of time.

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aCtion 4: deCide on inside sales or telesales investMents

A well-trained inside sales staff can help identify and qualify prospects quickly, using predeined

bundles to close deals. they can also help you contain the costs associated with selling cloud

offerings. By using telesales or inside sales representatives, more complex engagements can be

routed more quickly to an outside sales team, which can follow the closing tactics associated

with the traditional solution sales model. inside sales or telesales may be a new role that your

organisation must create in order to make the cloud business transformation.


• Assess whether an integrated or separate approach is appropriate.

• Build a sales compensation plan that recognises the deal metrics of cloud services.

• research the viability of establishing inside sales or telesales operations.

• Create well-deined worklows and processes to guide the entire sales cycle—from presales

consulting through the initial close, to the renewals phase.

• educate the sales team thoroughly.

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Week 10: Create a Cloud Management framework

to navigate the cloud business model successfully, your organisation must develop and use

dashboards that accurately relect your organisation’s ongoing progress. We recommend

spending the inal week of your cloud business transformation developing a management

framework and performance dashboards that will keep you on track. tracking leading indicators,

such as demand-generation activity, new customer acquisition, and a projected pipeline is critical

to gauging your cloud business practice’s health. What’s more, monitoring services utilisation

rates will ensure that target margins are maintained. Metrics around each customer’s potential

lifetime value and around your organisation’s retention rates are vitally important to monitor.

aCtion 1: CoMMit to aCtion on yoUr revised BUsiness plan

launching a cloud business practice requires commitment across your organisation. Services personnel need to

embrace a new delivery philosophy. Whereas in the past, they might have been encouraged to bill by the hour,

keeping service calls to a minimum becomes critically important. Sales representatives who have been used to

extensive price negotiations must be taught how to avoid discount scenarios. if you have not already done so,

we suggest appointing a leader for your cloud business practice, someone who will be accountable for keeping

your transformation on track.

aCtion 2: develop revised sales and revenUe foreCasting Model

for reCUrring revenUe

Solution providers who have successfully layered a cloud business practice into their organisation or created a

separate entity to sell cloud services are focused on a slightly different set of sales metrics than required for a

traditional technology solutions business. here are your primary considerations:

• lead generation: Building a strong pipeline of new customer prospects should be a core focus of your sales

team from the start, since the deal economics associated with a cloud business differ dramatically from

those associated with on-premise solutions.

• Bookings growth: Since revenue will be recognised over time, the bookings that your organisation makes

now will provide the foundation for future sales forecasts.

• Customer lifetime value: the value of customer relationships is measured and calculated over a period of

time. You can calculate the lifetime value of the deal by considering the revenue earned over time, minus the

costs of acquisition, support, and maintenance over the contract lifespan.

• Customer churn and renewal rates: every solution provider hates customer churn, but it can be even more

disruptive to a cloud business practice. iPed research shows that successful cloud services partner strive for

renewal rates of at least 90 percent, which underscores the need for your organisation’s services-delivery

processes to be rock-solid.

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aCtion 3: develop revised Marketing and serviCe

delivery MetriCs

let’s consider these two items separately. if your organisation hasn’t spent much time on marketing

or monitoring marketing effectiveness in the past, this may be one of the biggest organisational

changes you need to make. iPed’s ongoing research with best-in-class cloud service providers

shows that they spend approximately 8 to 10 percent of revenue on marketing activities for their

cloud offerings. the higher transaction volume of deals necessary to make your cloud business

practice successful demands a keen focus on marketing effectiveness.

Your cloud business practice will beneit from close scrutiny of service metrics. one of the things

that your organisation should monitor most closely is the percentage of engagements that are

based on repeatable, prepackaged offerings, compared with those that require some level of

customisation. Another metric to study closely is the attach rate of follow-on integration or

migration services that go with your prepackaged offerings. You should set goals for each.


• deine sales goals and develop dashboards to monitor pipeline and forecasts closely.

• Set metrics for marketing effectiveness, based on sales expectations. don’t be afraid to adjust

them on the ly if necessary.

• Set speciic goals for the ratio of prepackaged vs. customised services that your services team

will be required to support.

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Week 11 and Beyond: evangelise, Act and Adjust

over the past ten weeks, you have created a cloud business transformation framework that

is relevant for your organisation’s unique skills and aspirations. now it’s time to put your

strategy into action, with the knowledge that you’ll probably need to make adjustments

and changes along the way. As you set your cloud business transformation into motion, we

recommend that you follow and revisit these inal recommendations as often as weekly to

make sure you stay on track.

• evangelise internally: Make sure you appoint a change-oriented leader within your organisation.

• Be patient: Your cloud business transformation will impact your company’s revenue, margins, and cash low

over the short term. Be prepared to invest and to give your transformation time to blossom.

• Keep close tabs on your operational metrics: review sales, marketing, compensation, and customer-

retention metrics often. investigate surprises, and make adjustments to your original plan if necessary, based

on how things play out in the market.

• Be willing to take marketing risks, but measure campaigns closely: for many solution providers, this will

be one of the toughest operational changes to make. While customer referrals are always a great source of

leads; high-volume, online-centric marketing campaigns are required for a successful cloud business practice.

• Commit to your sales processes: Pay attention to and discourage behavior within your sales team that could

negatively affect margins, especially price discounts. encourage faster deal closes and investigate sticking

points that might arise. You may need to consider different sales resources to handle volume sales.

• Be willing to evolve with market needs: use your ongoing analysis of service metrics to determine which

offerings are working and which are missing the mark. encourage your team to identify new prepackaged

services opportunities that might have been overlooked in your original planning.

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www.comptia.org/communitieswww.comptia.org/communities

resoUrCes and edUCation Materials

the cloud business model is evolving daily, but there are a number of channel-focused resources

that are particularly relevant for solution providers embarking on their cloud business-development

journey. the list below highlights publicly-available materials from ComptiA; everything Channel’s

iPed Channel research, Consulting, and education division; and several technology vendors that

are pioneering cloud channel programmes for their business partners.

CompTIA white paper: Cloud Computing Business models for the Channel

http://www.comptia.org/cloud

CompTIA white paper: outlining Cloud Computing for the Channel

http://www.comptia.org/cloud

Iped cloud white paper: “Can You see Through the Clouds?”

http://i.cmpnet.com/iped/pdf/CanYouSee.pdf

Iped “The Health of the Channel”

http://i.cmpnet.com/iped/pdf/eBook_health_of_the_Channel_merged.pdf

ongoing cloud news for solution providers

http://www.crn.com/news/cloud

microsoft white paper on the economics of the cloud

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/cloud/docs/the-economics-of-the-Cloud.pdf

General education on the cloud (sponsored by Rackspace)

http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/cloudu

visit the following site for the latest information on cloud partner programmes:

http://www.crn.com/news/cloud/cloud-channel-programmes/index.htm

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About ComptiA ComptiA is the voice of the world’s information technology (it ) industry.

As a non-proit trade association advancing the global interests of it professionals and companies, we focus

our programs on four main areas: education, certiication, advocacy and philanthropy. We:

• educate the IT channel: our educational resources, comprising online guides, webinars, market research,

business mentoring, open forums and networking events, help our members grow their businesses and

become the “best in class”.

• Certify the IT workforce: We are the leading provider of technology-neutral and vendor-neutral it

certiications.

• Advocate on behalf of the IT industry: We bring the power of small- and medium-sized it businesses

together as a united voice.

• Give back through philanthropy: in addition to our foundation enabling disadvantaged populations to gain

the skills they need for employment in the it industry, ComptiA provides support to it-based charities

choosen by the membership.

our vision of the it landscape is shaped by more than 25 years of global perspective and more than 2,000

members and 1,000 business partners. We are driven by our members and led by an elected board of industry

professionals.

All proceeds are directly reinvested in programs that beneit our valued members and the industry as a whole.

headquartered outside of Chicago, we have ofices across the united States and in Australia, Canada, China,

germany, india, Japan, South Africa and the united kingdom.

About the uk Channel CommunityComptiA communities are the building blocks of the Association’s industry- focused activities. each group

engages a group of like-minded thought leaders in a particular technology, market or business segment.

Community members discuss and develop initiatives from hot topics, trends, and industry requirements that

are then managed with the resources and backing of ComptiA, to ultimately help them grow their business.

the ComptiA uk Channel Community was formed in early 2011 following the acquisition of technology

Channels Association (tCA). the community was formed in an effort to provide a platform for resellers,

distributors, and vendors to focus on developing best practices, business education and resources for

companies engaged in the delivery of it services in the uk.

the uk Channel Community meets face-to-face four times a year, and monthly conference calls keep the

members up-to-date in between meetings. the group also communicates with each other through the linkedin

forum. non-members are also welcome to participate in the online forum, access a selection of free ComptiA

education and attend events without having the right to vote. ComptiA members have full access to everything

including our online forums, education, certiications/credentials and events in which they have full voting

rights. for more information about the ComptiA uk Channel Community or to get involved in our community’s

activities, please contact [email protected].

��.comptia.org/communities

P O W E R E D B Y :

© 2011 ComptiA Properties, llC, used under license by ComptiA Member Services, llC. All rights reserved. All membership activities and offerings to members of ComptiA, inc. are operated exclusively by

ComptiA Member Services, llC. ComptiA is a registered trademark of ComptiA Properties, llC in the u.S. and internationally. other brands and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or service

marks of ComptiA Properties, llC or of their respective owners. reproduction or dissemination prohibited without written consent of ComptiA Properties, llC. Printed in the uk. July 2011 2923-uk

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