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Ingram Micro Guest Blog 1_3

Job Title: Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of Talkin' Cloud's annual platinum sponsorship.

Ingram Micro Guest Blog 1_3

Recent articles by Ingram Micro Guest Blog 1_3

Ingram Micro's Renee Bergeron

The Truth about Ingram Micro’s Foray into the Cloud Service Provider Space

Earlier this year the channel was set abuzz by the announcement from Ingram Micro that it was entering the cloud service provider space with three new Ingram Micro-branded and hosted cloud solutions: Ingram Micro Hosted Exchange, Ingram Micro Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and Ingram Micro Web Hosting.

The First Step in Cloud Migration: Conducting a Virtualization Health Check

Server virtualization and services tied to virtualization are big business for channel partners. Recent research from VMware reveals that the percent of virtualized servers is growing at nearly twice the rate of historical physical server procurement and deployments. And, virtualization is no longer merely a large enterprise play with AMI-Partners’ research revealing that SMBs spent $1.2 billion on server virtualization in 2012, and server virtualization adoption is expected to grow 18.1 percent annually.

Key Considerations for Vetting Cloud Vendors

The relationship between a cloud provider and service provider tends to be very sticky. Think about it: If an MSP has 50 customers buying cloud services and the MSP receives an offer for a lower rate from a competitive cloud provider, does it make the switch? The likely answer: probably not, because it’s very disruptive to the MSP and its customers to switch.

Five Tips for Cloud Marketing Success

Deciding to sell cloud solutions and services and actually doing it are two different challenges. If you’ve made the decision to sell cloud but haven’t yet realized the success you had hoped for, here are five tips that can help ramp up interest and sales.

Transitioning Your Business to the Cloud, Part 2: Operational Plan

Last month, we highlighted a detailed process to help resellers add cloud services to their portfolios. This process works for VARs that are just starting to sell subscription-based services as well as MSPs that are looking to expand their portfolios, and it’s based on years’ of experience working with thousands of partners. The five-step process addresses the challenges and pitfalls that can stall your cloud services business efforts, and it includes the following:

Transitioning Your Business to the Cloud, Part 1: Financial Planning

Although making the move to cloud services is significant, it can be simplified. Every month we engage with hundreds of channel partners who are looking to sell cloud services or want to expand their existing portfolio of services to include cloud technologies. Either way, there are a handful of considerations and actions to take before you start selling. At Ingram Micro, we’ve broken them up in five phases:

Help Your Customers Rethink Their Cloud-Only IT Strategy

It wasn’t that long ago that many companies had serious reservations about storing their data in the cloud and/or running their business applications there. These days, it seems that the pendulum is moving to the other extreme as more companies move their servers, IT platforms, IT infrastructures, and data backups to the cloud. In fact, some startups proudly wear the label, “born in the cloud,” to signify their affiliation with cloud IT solutions and services.

With a New Perspective, the Cloud Can Shift from Enemy to Ally

A lot of VARs and MSPs I’ve spoken with over the past few years see the cloud as a threat to their businesses, and some report that they’ve experienced dwindling profit margins as more of their customers’ IT hardware and applications move off premise. In 2010, Gartner’s research corroborated this reality, noting that approximately 98% of all cloud revenue was between SMBs and cloud providers with only 2% benefitting the channel.

No Opportunity Left Behind

One constant challenge to solution providers immersed in today’s rapidly shifting IT landscape, where innovation and convergence continuously crash together, is remaining relevant to customers. Gone are the days where an IT shop might specialize in only one corner of the industry. Today’s MSPs and solution providers are challenged daily to stay ahead of the […]

10 Trends: A Peek At Cloud in 2013

While the concept of cloud has been at the forefront of technology trends for several years, I’d argue that 2012 was the start of an inflexion point for cloud moving from the periphery to center stage. A majority of businesses began leveraging cloud, and nearly every MSP and solution provider added cloud services to their […]

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