7 Must-Read Insights: Increasing Your Business in the Cloud

In today’s fast-paced world of news aggregators, abstracts and weekly email digests, many of us rarely take the time to read past the headlines. We’ll see the entry, “Cloud IT Infrastructure Will Skyrocket to $54.6 Billion in 2019,” but we miss all of the details that actually create the story and that can make a real impact on our businesses.

I recently moderated a panel discussion at VMworld U.S. with some of the top industry experts in the cloud space as panelists. The insights they shared can be true game-changers for cloud service provider partners. They looked beyond the headlines–and discussed key details including how increasing percentages of enterprise IT spend are being directed at cloud, according to a recent IDC survey on worldwide cloud adoption. They analyzed the evolution of IT roles within an organization and shared the importance of consumers doing their homework.

So, what insights did the panelist share?

Here are the top seven takeaways that every service provider should read:

1. Focus on workloads. Your customers are not only comfortable with the concept of cloud; they are increasingly seeing the value in moving business-critical workloads in the cloud–no longer primarily test/development or application development workloads. This creates tremendous opportunities for service providers, as you can help businesses move their workloads and create new revenue streams of your own, especially as we move up the stack from proprietary applications to more commercial ones.
2. The value of lending a hand. As your customers accelerate their journey to the cloud, many of them will have questions on how to transform their IT operational model. Service providers should jump on this opportunity to show clear economics and financial modeling as to which workloads are best suited for cloud. By holding your customer’s proverbial hand, you can solidify your position as a trusted adviser and consultative business partner–one that they’ll look in the future as they accelerate their move to the cloud.
3. The confusion around hybrid cloud. The panel all agreed that there seems to be a disconnect between what IT professionals and your customers consider a hybrid cloud to be. At VMware, we look at hybrid cloud as a combination of on-prem and off-prem infrastructure. But, the average consumer may see hybrid as leveraging multiple clouds. By being cognizant of how your customers view cloud and how they intend to use it, service providers can open doors to consolidation under your cloud umbrella.
4. Spread the word about cloud security. With security breaches being highly publicized in the press, there’s a growing public misconception that large cloud providers are the ones being hacked–when, in reality, it’s generally a private data center that was compromised. As industry cloud providers, it’s our job to get the message out about the incredibly high security available from most cloud providers–usually much more secure than enterprise data centers.
5. Managed services are key. As we look beyond IaaS and traditional hosting services, the panel sees managed services as the next big shift in the cloud. Service providers, focused on growth, are wise to investigate new vertical applications and develop new services, such as outsourcing IT and managing customer workloads on-prem. These new initiatives can make a dramatic impact on your bottom line.
6. The importance of doing homework. When the panel was asked what guidance they would give a customer new to managed services and cloud, the resounding answer was: Do your homework.  There are literally dozens of criteria to consider when choosing an MSP or cloud provider–from data center location(s) to compliance certifications to security to vertical market expertise. Cloud providers should advise their customers of key criteria. This will go a long way toward establishing credibility with customers. To help customers narrow down the list, there are searchable lists available online, like VMware’s “Find a Provider,” which are great resources. From that point, your customers should meet with providers and thoroughly do their homework to find the right fit.
7. Cloud’s (positive) impact on internal IT. As cloud adoption approaches mainstream acceptance, we are seeing many positive effects on internal IT–specifically, new roles for IT that are created with this shift. Internal IT experts are increasingly acting as service brokers who are expert troubleshooters in determining when it’s time to move to the cloud, best practices for moving workloads and how to move them. We also anticipate internal IT taking a more consultative or “adviser” approach. These individuals must become more cloud knowledgeable and help their departments understand what workloads and applications are cloud ready and which cloud provider to choose.

So, which one of these must-read topics will be a game-changer for your organization? We’d love to hear your thoughts. To learn more about VMware’s cloud provider ecosystem, please refer to the vCloud Air Network Overview page for case studies, a brief video and even free trials of provider cloud services.

Jay Workman is Director, vCloud Air Network Program Marketing, at VMware. Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of MSPmentor’s annual platinum sponsorship.