Technology Reseller - v14 2018

01732 759725 30 VOX POP One of the surprise findings of the 2018 CONTEXT ChannelWatch report was that 55% of resellers surveyed had not sold any cloud services in the previous six months – a higher percentage than in 2017. Moreover, across Europe, resellers see more growth opportunities in traditional services than cloud services, with maintenance and support (49%) and installation/ technical assistance (39%) identified as having more revenue potential than SaaS (23%), Desktop as a Service (20%) and Workspace as a Service (27%). With this in mind, Technology Reseller asked UK resellers about their experience of selling cloud services. Selling cloud services: why aren’t people doing it better? Dean McGlone, Director, Advanced , the UK’s third largest provider of software and services . “Fear of change is often the biggest challenge for sellers, vendors and resellers on their journey to the cloud. This includes a fear of change in the revenue model, such as subscription over perpetual, which holds us back from supporting and leading customers into the digital future. Selling a subscription vs. a perpetual licence will often mean a lower margin in year one, but a higher margin for every year thereafter, creating a stronger business for the reseller in the long run. “It’s that move away from big, up-front margins that is difficult for many resellers to adapt to. To be successful, resellers must consider their longer-term business plan and how they can manage the transition in the short-term to minimise risks, especially around cash flow.” Tim Mercer, CEO, Vapour Cloud , a cloud-first provider of secure network connectivity, voice communications and data storage. As well as selling directly to end user businesses, Vapour Cloud delivers solutions in partnership with channel organisations. “For me, growing cloud business is an education process, for clients and providers. As providers, we should be giving the correct advice, not the advice to get a sale. Unfortunately, there are some resellers who focus purely on targets, knowing they’re proposing something that might not be best for the client. For clients, cloud is one part of the digital transformation journey, and it’s important they look for a provider who can manage a full end-to-end solution. “There are two distinctions in cloud services – data and voice. Moving and storing data in the cloud has been possible for a lot longer and is more mainstream, although it is not without its issues. Much depends on the application being run and where that best fits the business using it. For example, if you are a housing developer/architect using large files, then having those in a cloud solution with limited bandwidth into the business is going to cause problems. This is a scenario where it may be better to sit on- premise with a back-up service in a cloud environment. “In other words, there isn’t a one size fits all. The whole solution must be considered, including internet bandwidth, the applications being delivered, the number of other applications being used and where they reside, the number of users and whether there is a back-up network service, if you are moving to the cloud. “On the cloud data side, business is growing steadily month on month. Our partners are looking for automation for simple services, whilst also seeking a full managed service in a hybrid model. A typical example is: how do we move these applications and services to the cloud while keeping these servers on site? Can you help lift and shift, and support all services? “Voice is a different animal: it is time sensitive and therefore the network, security policies, firewalls, back-up service and LAN environment have to be voice-ready. Otherwise, there are likely to be issues. What we do see is that if this service is implemented correctly there are many positives for customers, including mobile/home working, mobile app calling, resiliency and flexibility. Growing or reducing headcount is simple and the fixed/guaranteed charge to the business (which runs the cost as an Opex) is a help to most. “Our cloud voice business has exploded over the last 12 months. Manufacturers have all moved to a cloud- only model and providers with experience are being sought – clients don’t want to take a punt. We’ve been cloud-first since we were founded in 2013. It was a little too early then, but it’s paying dividends now.” What difficulties did you encounter/are you encountering in selling cloud services and growing your cloud business? Dean McGlone Tim Mercer