PARTNERS ’ PERSPECTIVE and disruptive , adding further pain to the whole experience and potentially resulting in a customer ending up in the same place they started .
As well as junking the cloud , the customer is also likely to junk the partner that led them there . Such an outcome is hugely disappointing for all involved , especially as it undermines the case for cloud services and the incredibly powerful reasons for adoption .
Two recent examples showed organisations spending £ 600 per month for BIM workstation resources which would cost around £ 2,000 for a physical machine and another organisation spending £ 12,000 per month more than an industry-specific cloud solution and losing access to resources regularly due to overprovisioning . With such examples , it is no wonder that some sectors are reluctant to move to the cloud .
These kinds of decisions can be crippling , especially in today ’ s uncertain economy and with IT spending forecasts continuing to grow . Blind trust in big technology solutions and generalists is an attitude that can seriously undermine a business and relations with its reseller partners .
Instead , customers need to look to channel partners with wide industry-specific experience , who have undertaken the
The impact of unanticipated high costs , lower performance and downtime is a recipe for disaster , with the result often requiring migration to another solution .
relevant research and have a genuine array of options for which they can provide the information necessary to forecast spending and guarantee performance levels .
That is not to say there is no room for the public cloud in any given situation . There are many cases where it may be the right solution , or at least , an aspect of a wider strategy – such as lower-priced cool storage for data-heavy organisations with a lot of archive material . It should not be the default solution , as – when it is inappropriately sold – it undermines relationships and the actual benefits of VDI , virtualisation and cloud computing .
There is an increasing variety of solutions out there for private cloud , self-hosting in data centres and hybrid models that
offer small technology innovation , better performance , better pricing , actual human support and sector-informed design . Much of the promise of cloud computing can be realised ; often it is simply a matter of finding the right partner and the right solution . Continued research and market review is critical in keeping abreast of options and opportunities . Solutions must be tried and tested by peers to provide the relevant assurance and plentiful , industry-backed evidence , to protect both customer and channel partner . It is also healthy to encourage competition and support innovation : such an approach will benefit channel partners much more in the long run . •
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS 25