The Cloud is Not Do-it-Yourself
eFolder recently participated in the HTG Vendor Peer Group meeting in Cedar Rapids, IA, at the headquarters of Great America Financial. The highlight of the meeting was the partner panel, where we brought together a panel of three business principals from the local MSP and VAR community. The Vendor Peer Group itself is made up of about 20 IT vendor personnel.
In our recent panel, one partner made a very astute observation: “Cloud computing is not do-it-yourself computing.” The context for the quote was a conversation around Office 365 and client perceptions around ease of use and complexity of the cloud.
The largest IT vendors such as Microsoft and Google have successfully marketed the promise of the cloud to clients and users. These vendors have marketed the cloud as affordable, easy, and secure. The reality is far more complex. And this is good news for the IT channel.
In this week’s blog, I want to explore some myths around cloud computing and explain why, for most end-users, the cloud is not do-it-yourself. Now more than ever, businesses need the advice, counsel, and managed services of channel partners.
1. The cloud is affordable
Yes, the cloud enables the affordable delivery of IT services, but the cloud is not free. Virtualization technology and massive data center infrastructures have fundamentally changed the economics of computing, but free is a myth.
Freemium consumer-grade services, such as Dropbox, have shaped customer perceptions and increased the expectation that cloud services should be free. They are nothing but, especially for business users. Business-grade services often consume massive amounts of storage and bandwidth in the data center and require proper configuration, monitoring, and management to make these services as reliable as traditional on-premises applications and services.
Business customers can waste countless hours of time and frustration trying to correctly configure cloud services. If configured incorrectly, users may become frustrated, productivity can be impaired, or data loss may occur. In the case of cloud file sync services, true business-grade and secure alternatives are neither free nor merely do-it-yourself.
Partners can add tons of value in terms of proper consulting, configuration, deployment and management, while charging a premium.
At the end of the day, clients get what they pay for. And business-grade services should be managed by partners and clients should pay for reliable services that drive employee productivity and keep data secure.
2. The cloud is easy
Like with pricing models, the consumerisation of IT has reinforced the expectation that the cloud is easy and do-it-yourself. While using an iPhone or iPad to access Facebook is certainly do-it-yourself, when it comes to business-grade applications complexity mounts quickly. Office 365, Sharepoint, Salesforce and business file sync services such as Box.net, to name but a few, have complex configuration and security choices, which often trip up SMB clients in no time.
When clients go it alone, countless hours are lost on misconfigurations and rework. In other cases, users may suffer downtime and lost productivity when, for instance, team shares are incorrectly configured, files are lost or unavailable, or work cannot proceed. In the case of business-grade file sync services, the cloud enables file access anywhere, anytime, but the service must be correctly configured.
MSP partners should not shy away from pointing out these realities. Proactive advisors should highlight the complexities and challenges businesses will face when they go it alone. The good news is, with flexible, brandable, and channel friendly cloud services, such as Anchor from eFolder, partners can smoothly transition clients to the cloud without giving up control, reliability, and viable revenue streams.
3. The cloud is secure
Cloud services are only as secure as the intelligent admin at the other end of the wire. If businesses rely on consumer-grade cloud services, such as Dropbox basic, because it is “free and easy,” they will end up with data leaks, security risks, and compliance violations.
Businesses need trusted advisors to first select the right cloud services that feature the security and control features businesses have come to expect. And they need a trusted guide to migrate their existing content or files, configure and deploy the service, train users, and monitor the system for ongoing security improvement opportunities.
The cloud can be highly secure, but only if clients are using business-grade services such as Anchor from eFolder and they have an MSP, consultant, or VAR helping them correctly select and deploy the service.
Why your customers need your help on cloud
Cloud computing is certainly a revolution. It solves many historical IT challenges, but cloud computing is not do-it-yourself computing. The cloud needs the IT channel now more than ever.
Ted Hulsy is VP of Marketing at eFolder, a cloud-based file sharing company.
