mindSHIFT Technologies, a Talkin’ Cloud Top 50 company, has been providing shared IT services for SMBs for the last eight years. A few years ago the company changed its business model to reflect the shift of IT services into the cloud — a move that has paid off for mindSHIFT, said president and CEO Paul Chisholm, who noted also his company’s focus on security has helped set it apart.

“IT departments started moving to the cloud because of security reasons, for better disaster recovery and because they don’t want the hassle of running all of their solutions themselves,” he said. “If you have an on-premise solution that is not managed properly then hackers can get to it. And it’s subject to things like power outages. The cloud improves physical security dramatically. And if you’re a cloud provider you have to be up-to-date on security because hackers are always getting better. I think overall the cloud is more secure than on-premise solutions.”

mindSHIFT has used cloud education as a means of transitioning its international SMB clients to the cloud. Five percent of mindSHIFT’s annual recurring revenue comes from its cloud solutions offerings. Chisholm credited customer steering committees and mindSHIFT’s high level of overall conversation with SMBs about the cloud for much of its sales success.

“Some think the cloud is just starting, but 5 percent is a high number so there is already a lot of adoption,” Chisholm said, adding mindSHIFT is “investigating new applications to put into the cloud.”

One last note: I asked Chisholm what he thought of GFI’s Alistair Forbes’ comment last week that some solution providers continue to see the cloud as a threat rather than an opportunity. Is there room for a traditional MSP in a cloud environment?

“There is a diminishing market for MSPs with on-premise solutions, but there is always room for MSPs [that are] providing quality service,” he said. “But there will probably be some consolidation. Not every MSP has the financial and technological strength to move to the cloud.”

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