







With the gaudy images from TV series “my big fat gypsy wedding” still flashing bright in our minds there is another big marriage on the horizon; cloud computing and mobility! Mobile devices will become the primary means of accessing a company’s cloud applications – just as they’ve now become the the most common means of accessing the internet. Mobile internet usage is undergoing one of the fastest technology adoption curves in history. Now add in the rapid adoption of other devices such as Amazon’s Kindle and the iPad, and this rate is even more impressive. It is widely assumed there will be more mobile internet users than desktop users by 2014. That means mobile devices could soon be the primary means of consuming cloud services in businesses, which has huge implications for how applications are built and provides another area of expertise for the channel to get engaged with…

With the growth curve for cloud computing practically vertical and set to remain so in 2011, what will happen to the traditional channel sales model?
There are significant channel players who fear they will lose out from the growing demand for cloud solutions. However, the reverse may be true, despite the disappearance of the traditional supply chain. The fact is that cloud computing will create new service-led opportunities for the channel to generate income and help retain their existing customer base. However, change will be necessary and vendors will have to help their partners migrate to a new business model. They’ll need to provide cross-selling and up-selling education and collateral.
Services-to-product-resale revenue ratios for partners will go up in line with the increasing number of cloud computing solutions on offer as partners become less involved in architectural design and implementation and more with managed services consultancy and support contracts.
In this unfamiliar world, channel partners will require new tools and certification programs. Vendor cloud objectives will need to be translated into profitable and relevant propositions on which they can thrive. They’re going to need a lot of reassurance. Are you ready to help them?
Darren and Lisa are our latest experts to express their point of view – and it just so happens they’re on opposing sides of the aisle. Darren believes that ideas are everything, Lisa believes it’s all in the data.
Watch Darren and Lisa go head to head as they discuss the relative merits of creativity and science. Then cast your vote in our online poll and join the debate.