Read More... - Micro Strategies Inc.

capital projects on hold,” says Rob Koch, managing partnerat Single Path. “We needed to enable customers to charge ourservices as an operating expense, so we became more of anMSP, and now we are leading with cloud services.”Cisco’s Hosted Collaboration Services (HCS), a cloud-basedunified communications (UC) solution, is Single Path’s tophosted service. The company also offers backup and restore,Microsoft Office 365, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), andis starting to customize and integrate business applicationsfor customers on force.com, a cloud development platformfrom salesforce.com. Microsoft 365 and force.com are hostedby partners, while Single Path hosts Cisco HCS and otherservices from its own data center.Koch agrees that today’s SMBs are embracing cloud solutions.The reason, he says, isn’t necessarily to save money.“Sometimes cloud can cost customers more, but they’re offloadingresponsibility,” he says. “They will pay us a premiumto manage their technology.” This premium adds profitabilityto the cloud solution.IT management is just part of the cloud provider’s serviceportfolio. A typical Cisco HCS solution generates recurringrevenue per user. Installation services are required, as are newWhere SMBs Are With Cloud ServicesCurrent Adopters Next Wave (2-3 years) Total Using Cloud26-50 51-100No. of EmployeesCloud User Characteristics:63%58%Most PopularCloud Services:• Email• Instant message• Voice communications• Backupexpect to increasesales in 2013.101-250believe the cloud makesthem more competiitive.4 No. of CloudServices Today:6No. in 2-3 Years:Source: Edge Strategies for Microsoft, March 2012phones that generate hardware sales—the attachment rate is80 percent to 90 percent. The UC solution must be configuredwithin the customer’s network, end users trained andthe overall solution managed. UC may require integration toapplications such as CRM, further increasing the service nut.“Cisco HCS shows the potential of the cloud to generateprofessional services projects,” says Bergeron of Ingram MicroCloud, which offers HCS and dozens of other cloud servicesfor solution providers to resell. “If you aren’t familiar with thecloud, and fear it could diminish everything you know and dotoday, the HCS solution shows the opposite. It leverages yourexisting networking expertise, and adds a cloud service thatkeeps you in the account in an ongoing basis.”A similar scenario exists for other cloud services. IaaS, forinstance, leverages cloud providers such as Amazon, IBM andRackspace to replace on-premise infrastructure. “The realityof cloud solutions is that they still need to be set up andmanaged,” says Brucker of Solve IT, which hosts IaaS from itsown data center. “The hardware and software may be off-site,but clients need someone to manage the infrastructure andthe relationship with the cloud provider, and they need helpconnecting to other applications. Clients don’t want to gofrom having to worry about on-premise Exchange to worryingabout it in the cloud.” As Solve IT’s cloud business grows,Brucker intends to shift his hosting to a vendor like Rackspacethrough Ingram Micro.Another promising service relates to software developmentthrough cloud platforms such as force.com and MicrosoftAzure. Force.com can be used to add custom elements toexisting applications, or to build new apps from scratch.After you render services that are typical of any developmentproject, the customer would have a modern cloud-poweredapplication. The platform provider would manage softwareupgrades, leaving you with annuity revenue as well as opportunitiesfor business consulting.Brokering Cloud ServicesTo highlight the need for cloud-specific professional services,Gartner has coined the term “cloud services broker” (CSB),described as a must-have for most end-user organizations. ACSB is a third-party provider that engages in two big-pictureactivities: aggregation of cloud services into a total solutionintegration of cloud services with each other and with onpremisetechnology; and customization of cloud applicationsto meet clients’ requirements. The CSB supports SMBs thatprefer to purchase multiple cloud services from a single vendor(or aggregator). SMBs also need help optimizing cloudtechnology through integration and customization.Gartner’s CSB concept resonates with Koch of Single Path.The company delivers cloud services from its own data center,but as a CSB it engages in aggregation, integration and customizationdepending on the customer’s need. “We might sellOffice 365 along with cloud-based security, which makes usa cloud aggregator,” he says. “We become an integrator if the14 CHANNEL ADVISOR SPRING 2013