ICT research and consulting company Techaisle now says it knows exactly what makes a channel partner succeed in selling cloud solutions. And in a press release this week, the company gave just enough detail to whet our appetites -- and promises the real answers -- for a fee.
The strategy reminds us of all the infomercials and books by Kevin Trudeau who wrote such best sellers as Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About and The Weight Loss Cure “They” Don’t Want You to Know About where the real info came through a premium service.
So what do we know? We know the report is for sale, but no prices are published. We know the company interviewed some number of channel partners, but don’t know how many.
We do know that there are 15 secrets to success in selling cloud to SMBs, but these 15 secrets are as often obscure as they are instructive. At least that’s this reporter’s take.
I’ll let you decide.
image via shutterstock
Here is the core of the research. “The study finds that there are quantitative, meaningful and actionable differences between channel partners who are successful in the business of selling cloud and those that have not developed successful cloud practices. Channel management can use these findings to build the practices necessary for cloud success,” the company said.
The first category focuses on priorities and allocations. Here are the four “keys”:
1. “There is no organizational recipe for cloud success
2. Familiarity breeds success
3. The “why” behind the cloud initiative often helps explain success
4. Recurring revenue is not the sole indicator of cloud business success”
This may inspire some great thinking amongst channel partners, but if I was in that business I would know what to make of it all.
Second up is technology and how you define your offerings. Here are five “keys”:
5. “Cloud rewards suppliers that focus on providing best-of-breed
6. Branded solutions are a key element of channel cloud success
7. Industry expertise is a more important differentiator than technical prowess
8. Cloud portfolios need to extend beyond basic IaaS, SaaS to also encompass verticals
9. Data integration linking on-premise and cloud environments is non-optional
10. The future is hybrid, not private”
These give a lot more to chew on. Branding is critical, best-of-breed denotes quality, expertise is the key to building client trust, and experts see the move to hybrid cloud as one the most significant factors going forward.
Finally, Techaisle tackled sales and marketing, and this to my view was the meatiest section. The five “keys” are:
11. “The nature of sales relationship is a critical determinant of cloud success
12. Profit is driven by product/service balance
13. Partner-to-partner relationships are important to cloud business success
14. A distinctive approach to budget and resource allocation creates differentiation
15. Creating a cost-effective, scalable approach to lead generation is imperative”
Channel partners do need to focus on services, and a proper approach to lead generation is critical to ongoing business success.
Edited by
Ryan Sartor
