By Michael Brown 1

The IT industry as a whole has exploded the past few years. With the evolution of new technology and the rise in new security concerns it is harder than ever for businesses to make educated and strategic buying decisions when it comes to cloud-based file sharing.

As an MSP, it is your job to guide your clients through the complex and ever-changing marketplace to help make this decision easier. As you do this keep in mind, working with your client to find the right cloud services doesn’t simply involve pushing your solution as the clear decision in a sea of obscure options. You need to address your client’s specific cloud technology concerns and help demystify the industry as a whole before you can successfully present your solution.

Here are 4 things that your clients and prospects may feel are complicating their cloud buying decision so you can address them in your next meeting:

Internet of Things (IoT)

The main reason the IoT movement is a concern for you and your clients is mainly due to the hype surrounding it. IT managers are hearing the buzz around the topic and feeling the pressure to respond to it. While it certainly pays to stay mindful and prepared as the IoT rises in adoption, it doesn’t mean every business should invest in IoT products just because. For now, IoT presents an opportunity to solve problems for clients. If they don’t have an immediate need they shouldn’t have an immediate concern.

Big Data

Big data suffers from the same issue of hype. Integrating advanced data analytics into your cloud infrastructure is certainly not a bad thing, but it may not necessarily be as vital as many businesses believe it to be. For many companies and industries, traditional business intelligence tools are still extremely viable. While you shouldn’t talk your clients out of increasing their ability to manage data, you should help manage their expectations about the problems big data technology can solve and help them prioritize from there.

Cloud Security

We have written extensively on the issues many organizations have with cloud-based file sharing security, but it warrants another mention here. Unfortunately, many of the issues that plagued the cloud in the past – and have now essentially been solved or mitigated – are still not accepted by IT professionals or the general public. Educate your clients on the different ways you are able to offer cloud security to protect their sensitive information and ease their concerns.

IT Spend vs ROI

The good news is IT spending is projected to be higher in 2015 than ever before, at $3.8 trillion worldwide according to Gartner. Unfortunately, organizations and IT managers are getting higher expectations about what technology can do for their business and trying to stretch their growing IT budgets to more and more areas. While cloud services certainly have the ability to help a business optimize and grow, no service you offer can be the silver bullet that will double the company’s profits. Managing these expectations at the beginning of your sales process or annual budget discussion will help set the tone for your relationship.

The cloud technology landscape is getting more difficult than ever for companies to navigate. The main reason is because the industry is growing so rapidly with new services and companies entering constantly. Help your clients understand and excel in these complex buying decisions and you’ll be set to take advantage of this explosive growth.