Cloud Guide Book. Reaching the Cloud Summit and Seizing the Market Opportunity

Transcription

1 Cloud Guide Book Reaching the Cloud Summit and Seizing the Market Opportunity

2 PlumChoice Cloud Playbook 1 The cloud services opportunity. IDC is forecasting that the cloud market will reach $277 billion by The cloud has changed everything in terms of how we view software and solutions. Because of its flexibility and the cost-savings it can provide, businesses of any size can add pieces, create their own packages, and build platforms that promote simplicity. They can do this through the entire lifecycle and it can be done fast! End-customers can purchase cloud solutions fast and vendors can go to market fast. It all sounds easy, but there is a caveat.

3 The Cloud Services Opportunity 2 78% of small businesses plan to be fully cloud operational in just four years. The question is who is responsible for helping them do this? The small and mid-market business segments know they must also migrate to the cloud to save time and money, make their workforce more productive, and better preserve their data. The truth is, adopting cloud services is difficult because they do not have the time and resources to install and activate these new solutions and applications or get their employees trained to use them. According to Intuit s study, The Appification of Small Businesses, 78 percent of small businesses plan to be fully cloud operational in just four years. Even more telling for those developing and selling cloud solutions: According to a survey conducted by IDC and Microsoft, Successful Cloud Partners, 84 percent of customers want an established relationship with a vendor to trust as their cloud service provider. Translation: Businesses fully intend to move to the cloud and the majority of them are looking for a trusted advisor to help get them achieve their goals.

4 Following Through 3 The ecosystem is stacked with group members But many are not able to ascend to the top. $60B was to be spent on software-as-a-service (SaaS) in Though sales are taking place, the groups are not ensuring their customers are using, integrating, updating, embracing and renewing subscriptions. In fact, some users are not even activating cloud subscriptions. Without the right support for these customers, cloud ecosystem members not only miss out on activations, creating revenue recognitions issues, but they also lose seat volume. Data suggested that an estimated $60 billion was to be spent on Software-as-a-Service by The years to come might not be as hopeful if cloud enablement services don t become an integral part of the strategy.

5 Following Through 4 Back to that key question: Who is ultimately responsible for helping business owners and their employees adopt cloud apps and solutions? Is it the cloud developers who build them? Not likely, as it is not their core business and, in fact, they ve never really sold directly to the customer before. They do not own the customer, and given the increasing diversity of cloud sales channels, it s easy for the cloud developer to turn the responsibility for support to the channel. Interestingly, many cloud developers are already requiring that channel partners take ownership for support. As business spending on the cloud is expected to grow, it s the channel partners who are best positioned to seize this significant market opportunity. in time and resources to ramp up internally. Many of the organizations are not built culturally, organizationally, or technically to help customers fully adopt and integrate cloud services. Unfortunately, that s a mountain that the channel isn t prepared to conquer. Their crews are not hired with cloud enablement services in mind, and it would take significant investment

6 The Ecosystem: Challenges & Actions 5 Cloud developers greatest challenge: Ensuring that cloud solutions and applications are activated, used, and fully adopted by the end customer. Why is that so important? Without activation and ongoing usage, companies lose untapped revenue, market share and growth. In looking to achieve greater lifetime value and stickiness with the customer, cloud developers need to ensure the business customer goes beyond the purchase transaction and deployment of one or a few seats. The first point to reach (after the sale) is recognizing revenue, the second point is avoiding suspension by the customer, and the third point is maximizing lifetime value. The final step is straightforward, with cloud developers adjusting business models (as many are) to have the channel take the lead and ownership when it comes to support.

7 The Ecosystem: Challenges & Actions 6 The approach: Proceed with Caution! Cloud developers are struggling with market sales, activation and ongoing usage, but the field is wide open to: Leverage the assistant lead (or sell cloud services through a marketplace). You must seek help to sell and get the end-user to activate and use cloud applications and solutions. The help will make it easy for businesses to purchase, install and upgrade cloud solutions. It is a one-stop shop! Demand perfection from the field (or more from the channel partner when it comes to ongoing cloud enablement services). As many cloud developers are beginning to do, shift the technical service delivery responsibility to your channel partners to provide a comprehensive service wrapper to the end-customer that includes the support needed pre- and post-purchase.

8 The Ecosystem: Challenges & Actions 7 The channel: The team of trusted advisors. The channel recognizes and is indeed well down the field in pursuit of opportunities to expand their portfolios with cloud applications and solutions. They are pursuing packaged solutions that they can sell business customers. They also want the right to own the customer relationship and the ability to service the end-to-end customer lifecycle. This requires them to deliver sales, activation, migration, onboarding, and ongoing support a route many have not yet attempted and one, as previously mentioned, that reaches for the top!

9 The Channel: Trusted Team of Advisors 8 The channel s plan: Train endurance and reach for the top! To achieve product stickiness with businesses, as well as generate greater profitability and lifetime value for the end-user, winners in the cloud channel ecosystem wrap their cloud apps and solutions with cloud enablement services. Although many vendors in the ecosystem are not built to deliver this enablement wrapper, there are successful models at work today: Practice your ascent The most effective approach is a cloud enablement wrapper serving the business customer from hello to forever. That means purchase assistance, help to get up and running, training, migration, integration, and ongoing support. Hire the best guide To accomplish and implement the continuous services wrapper, channel partners can work with third-party enablers to bundle specialized support services and get you to market faster, drive adoption and engagement, and boost revenue and profitability. Decide what services you are good at and outsource the rest. Make sure you have the flexibility to outsource what you need for each end-user opportunity. Keep your eye on the peak Wrapping your cloud apps and solutions with enablement services creates a comprehensive engagement cycle leading to greater brand affinity that will increase lifetime value, drive profitability, and open the door to expand your playbook to sell more solutions.

10 Getting to the Summit 9 CSPs have one goal: Reach the cloud summit! They are built operationally, culturally, and technically to help ensure that businesses can confidently get up and running using cloud solutions. After all, both small and mid-market businesses have made it clear that they understand the benefits of the cloud and are willing to invest. According to Intuit s The Appification of Small Businesses, 85 percent of businesses said that they are willing to invest in cloud applications over the next five years to help save time and streamline business operations. 85% of businesses are willing to invest in cloud applications over the next five years.

11 Getting to the Summit 10 The plan for CSPs: Practice and prepare Round out your tools or services by collaborating with other brokers and enablers or organically broadening your portfolio to cover the hello to forever customer lifecycle. This means offering pre-sales guidance through ongoing cloud enablement services. Train Offer onboarding and activation to help customers fully roll out and adopt the cloud apps and solutions they purchase. Help businesses realize the benefits of cloud apps as soon as possible. For the cloud developers and channel, CSPs offering the basics play a key role in avoiding product abandonment. Find your trail Include migration in your enablement offers to ensure customers essential files and data are transferred and available. CSP s who offer migration services either directly or through partners can help themselves and their partners drive revenue and engagement. Don t quit halfway up CSPs that offer 24/7 support (either directly or through partnerships) take service to a new level for the channels they partner with. Round-the-clock support ensures customers who have questions have a trusted advisor ready to guide the trek. Head for the summit Make the most of your cloud portfolio by layering in managed services, which serve to increase greater lifetime value and deepen customer engagement. With managed services, you can enable business customers to spend more time on their core business, better serve their customers, and get to market faster with their own products and services.

12 The Final Drive: Winning the Cloud Game 11 Your cloud apps are essential for efficient and productive businesses. Your customers cannot effectively use them without a continuous service wrapper of cloud enablement services. With the right partnerships, you create a trusting and reliable rapport and enable business customers to realize the benefits of their cloud solutions. With purchase-through-usage services that surround not just each product, but your entire portfolio at each stage of the customer lifecycle, you are giving your business the best chance to reach the top of the mountain.

13 The Final Drive: Winning the Cloud Game 12 Key questions to ask your cloud service enabler: 1. Do you own the labor for the service that you provide? Many cloud service enablers use third-parties to outsource all of their labor. By doing such, you have minimal visibility of who is actually servicing your customers. 2. How long have you been delivering cloud services? New cloud service enablers are entering the market. Make sure the cloud service enablers that you evaluate have a demonstrated ability to service your customers. 3. Across the customer lifecycle, what are the customer touch points that you can provide? Having a go-to-market plan along the entire customer lifecycle is critical to maximizing customer revenue and profitability. Find a cloud service enabler that can help you in areas that are important to you. 4. What cloud monetization platforms can you work with? Companies use a variety of platforms, and some have built their own. Make sure that your cloud service enabler can work with the platform you ve selected. Also, ensure they can work with other platforms in case you decide to select a new one in the future. 5. What Microsoft products do you currently service? Which areas are you investing in and what certificates or competencies do you have? Make sure that your service provider can service the cloud solutions that you are going to market with. Is your cloud enabler continuing to invest in

14 The Final Drive: Winning the Cloud Game 13 new cloud categories to grow their operational readiness? Make sure that the cloud service enabler has demonstrated a proven ability to service by completing the relevant certificates and/or competencies. 6. What are your hours of operation? Can I get different working hours for different types of services? Make sure that your cloud services enabler can cover the specific hours of operation that you need to deliver within your strategy. 7. Can you scale as I grow my business (volume and cloud solutions) or as my customer demand for services spikes? Demand shifts based on growth and service spikes. Make sure that your cloud service enabler can quickly increase demand capacity. 8. Is a white-label relationship important to you? If so, can your cloud service enabler provide a white-label experience? Cloud service enablers can often provide a white-label or branded solution. Make sure that your cloud service enabler can provide the solution that is right for your business.

15 About PlumChoice 14 PlumChoice helps Cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) companies deploy and sell support services that drive adoption, resulting in greater market penetration. We work on behalf of major brands to help end-users install, configure, integrate, troubleshoot, and use brands products and software. In turn, PlumChoice s partners experience greater customer satisfaction and lifetime value, lower overhead, more profitability, and shorter time to market. Find out how we can help you support your customers: partners@plumchoice.com

16 PlumChoice, Inc., Cross Point, 900 Chelmsford Street, Lowell, MA t +1 (888) e Partners@PlumChoice.com About PlumChoice: PlumChoice, Inc., is the leader in providing specialized technical support, sales, and care services that span the entire buyer and customer lifecycle from pre-purchase through installation, activation, configuration, problem resolution, and ongoing usage. By delivering consistent, exceptional end-to-end customer experiences, PlumChoice enables partners to drive revenue and profitability, accelerate adoption and penetration, increase lifetime value, and shorten time to market PlumChoice, Inc. All rights reserved. PlumChoice is a registered trademark of PlumChoice, Inc., in the United States and other countries. All other product and company names and marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only