Q & A
EDITOR ’ S
GEOFF GREENLAW , VP OF CHANNEL FOR EMEA , LATAM AT PURE STORAGE
STaaS is a service focused consumption model for storage procurement that allows organisations to provision the capacity and performance they need on-premises , in the cloud , or any other combination , and pay for it on an as-aservice basis . STaaS is a great option for enterprises that need infrastructure to
Not all STaaS offerings are created equal and partners need to look for a true valueadded service , as some vendors simply offer OpEx billing disguised as a service .
accommodate different workloads for short and longer-term projects without operational or cost penalties , so long as effective SLAs are put into place .
It removes much of the complexity and risk associated with data storage and reduces friction , costs and complications associated with sharing data across the enterprise . Crucially , STaaS does
not require the CapEx outlay of traditional IT infrastructure .
Not all STaaS offerings are created equal and partners need to look to for a true value-added service , as some vendors simply offer OpEx billing disguised as a service . This would be more like a lease , where products are deployed on a multi-year cycle and upgraded at the end as part of forklift upgrades . For channel partners to succeed they should offer solutions with guaranteed service levels and automated upgrades to meet performance and capacity guarantees at no additional cost .
Partners should also check if the STaaS provider is able to provide file and block access storage as well as fast file and object storage on the same hardware . Monitoring software is another plus as it gives customers an overview of the capacity utilisation and performance of the storage infrastructure on-premises and in the cloud .
Some partners that do not have a wealth of experience selling as-a-service solutions may see challenges in shifting from a CapEx orientation to selling service subscriptions . Such challenges might include a lengthier revenue collection timeframe , adapting quoting , invoicing systems , processes to subscription-oriented transactions , and adjusting the compensation models of their internal sales teams .
Partners also face the challenge of ensuring internal sales teams are trained to sell as-a-service , subscription , consumptionoriented solutions , a skillset that can be different from selling hardware , software , maintenance packages . Partners that want to participate in the growing as-aservice market should establish a formal transformation program to analyse and adopt the changes needed to internal skills , processes and technology .
Even partners that do not have aspirations to layer in a higher-level service wrapper will find that STaaS sales will drive more frequent contact with the customer and greater insight into customer challenges and opportunities to address them . The as-a-service model generates much higher frequency contact with the customer than would a traditional CapEx transaction . •
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS 53