
Still Looking to Get into the Cloud Game? Here’s Your Plan
Even if you’ve been sitting on the sidelines until now, there’s still major opportunity for channel players interested in shifting their focus to selling cloud solutions. Here’s how.
Job Title: Contributing Editor, MSP Mentor/The Var Guy
Charles Cooper is an award-winning freelance author who writes about business and technology. During his 30-plus year career, he has worked as an executive editor at several leading tech publications including CNET, ZDNet, PC Week and Computer Shopper.
Even if you’ve been sitting on the sidelines until now, there’s still major opportunity for channel players interested in shifting their focus to selling cloud solutions. Here’s how.
Old school habits die hard but simply pitching a prospect with speeds, feeds and a price tag doesn’t work the way it once did. More than ever, solutions providers are being challenged to craft meaningful pitches around customer needs. And that means asking the right questions—a lot of them.
Thanks to the internet, buyers now know your strengths, weaknesses and selling points. So don’t think you can still win business with a hard sales pitch. You can, however, open doors if you become part of the buyer’s trusted circle. Here’s how.
There’s ample incentive for resellers to make the change; some 73 percent of the managed services providers surveyed by CompTIA late last year reported that their services were profitable. But it takes no small amount of effort to move a legacy business to a new operations model.
If you’re still treating marketing as an afterthought, you’re likely courting trouble. A fresh marketing strategy is just as crucial to a reseller’s business as is a strong sales and engineering plan.
When it comes to workplace horror stories, everybody can pull out a favorite “can you believe this” anecdote. That goes with the territory.
Billions of connected, intelligent devices are entering the business mainstream as part of a collective phenomenon known as the Internet of Things (IoT). Many of these devices are connecting over networks for the first time, communicating with the headquarters as well as with other connected “things.”
Companies face cyber threats from an increasingly sophisticated cohort of attackers armed with a toxic assortment of malware, ransomware, and APTs. And 2017 is shaping up to be as bad, or worse, than 2016, which was a year punctuated by a series of devastating cyberattacks.
Tech history is littered with failure. Think Yahoo’s push into apps, Cisco’s foray into consumer products and HPE’s acquisition of Autonomy.
Cloud security is better than ever. But you can still put your organization at unnecessary risk by taking too much for granted.
As always, corporate security plans are being put in jeopardy by employees who ignore protocol so they can make it easier on themselves.
A massive attack powered by a bot army showed how easy it is to overwhelm a cloud. But attackers are planning a lot worse than to simply take your cloud offline
MSPs have an opportunity to push clients to pivot to a future where they can reap major advantages by revolutionizing their internal software delivery processes.
IT needs to consider the implications of how to best secure devices that are often left unsecured- and prevent breaches that could endanger data stored on the cloud. Here’s where things can get tricky.
Cost cutting often leads the list of benefits that companies want to reap by moving to the cloud. But there’s also the bigger picture where MSPs can help potential clients understand the transformative aspects of cloud computing.
Greater cloud usage has opened up a myriad of business possibilities. But MSPs shouldn’t hesitate to get preachy about preaching the basics when it comes to securing the processing and storage of customer data in the cloud.
Many IT decision makers face a dilemma: Even as they plan major cloud deployments, their organizations still remain unprepared to handle the transition. Here’s where MSPs can lend their expertise to help guide companies for a successful digital transformation.
Ransomware attacks haven’t crippled victims – yet. But it’s only a matter of time before a major attack takes place. Before the big one hits, MSPs should push their clients to take proper defensive measures.
How many horror stories have you heard about getting locked into one cloud vendor’s technology? But before getting religious about a one-vendor policy, consider the bigger picture.
Resistance has melted away and CIOs are on board, pushing the cloud as a way to transform their infrastructure away from traditional datacenters. And there’s a role for MSPs to play.
Read about @coxbusiness' acquisition of @Logicworks. dlvr.it/Shty4t https://t.co/3MaKai6SVr
Where in the world are the top MSPs?? Take a look at the infographic breakdown of 2022 #MSP501 winners by region >>… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
.@SovosCompliance offers tips for how and when to revamp #partnerplans. dlvr.it/ShtDgv https://t.co/vPzajXnjee
Day 2 of #ZTW: @ThreatLocker unveils new Ops threat detection tool. dlvr.it/Shs93Y https://t.co/dAnj6IUiF2
.@broadvoice appoints a channel vet as new program leader. Before joining the company, he had risen through the ran… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
More activity over at @Pax8 (which just hired @RobTRae): the #cloud marketplace firm has purchased @BamBoomCloud.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
.@SamsungMobile launches #GalaxyS23 phones, new #GalaxyBook3Ultra at Samsung Unpacked. dlvr.it/ShrW8G https://t.co/DloltwdMsE
The new partnership between Channel Futures and @ITExchangeNet is poised to benefit the partner community.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…