According to a recent IBM survey of 2,000 IT managers, mid-size companies plan to spend the next 12 to 18 months focusing more on cloud computing, mobility and customer relationship nurturing. No doubt, VARs and MSPs can profit from the mobility and CRM trends, but are channel partners truly ready for mid-size businesses that are increasing their cloud investments?

The KS&R Inc. survey, commissioned by IBM, looked at 2,000 midsized companies across 20 countries. The survey showed that 70% of respondents are pursuing analytics technology to better understand their customers, make better decisions and become more efficient.

Now for the big twist: Two-thirds of mid-size firms are either planning or deploying cloud-based technologies to improve IT systems management and/or lower costs.

The survey also showed that 53% of the respondents expect their IT budgets to increase inside the next 12-18 months. Within the spending increase, 70 percent of respondents said they will lean on IT providers for consulting-type guidance rather than pure IT purchases.

Translation: The door is open for VARs and MSPs — especially those that truly understand cloud, mobile and business analytics opportunities. But TalkinCloud wonders: How many of those channel partners actually exist?

FYI: You can find the full survey results here.

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