The cloud computing market has more room to grow. Businesses will add a much wider variety of cloud solutions moving forward and more virtualization technologies overall. To best serve and understand their customers in this still-evolving market, telecom and IT agents representing cloud providers should look ahead to the future of the industry.
For most businesses, public cloud is the future
Even while public and hybrid clouds have picked up market share, the primary mode of cloud computing has been private cloud. That is, single-tenant systems that operate out of the company’s data center, providing the agile integration and deployment of applications and other basic benefits of cloud.
As cloud solutions mature, businesses are waking up to the fact that public cloud offers even more speed, flexibility, and cost-saving benefits. Looking forward, all parties should expect to turn their heads toward public cloud as the likely best option for most businesses.
Decision-makers and telecom agents must recognize that small and medium businesses, in particular, can save more money and better leverage cloud capabilities when migrating to public cloud. Sharing more resources increases efficiency and eases the burden on in-house IT, while security has improved in leaps and bounds.
Shopping for cloud online
Many telecom and IT agents have not yet completed their transition to the new cloud-based services market. People look to the Internet first when buying virtually anything, whether it’s a pair of jeans or a new operating system for their company.
The web presence of too many agents still consists of a boilerplate website without specifics on products and services. If agents are not connecting with customers online, they soon won’t be connecting with customers at all.
With customers expecting to fully vet cloud solutions through online research and even begin trials on Software-as-a-Service with a single click, those selling cloud solutions need to play ball. Agents’ websites should offer enough information to help those conducting research find the services they need, entirely online.
LOB leaders are the new cloud customers
As technology aligns more closely with line-of-business (LOB) strategy, business leaders gain more control of IT spending. For cloud providers and agents, this means that education and selling must be geared more toward business leaders instead of just IT executives.
Websites for agents and cloud providers need to make sense and demonstrate value to business leaders — without losing sight of the value proposition for IT departments.
Business will move at the speed of migration & deployment
To the extent that computing moves to the cloud, the agility and productivity of a business will be tied to how efficiently it can integrate and implement. In addition to virtualizing infrastructure and software, businesses are adding on migration services to optimize more efficiently and pivot with more agility.
By using services like Docker, which provide virtual machine containers that expedite everything for internal IT staff, companies can realize the greatest benefits of scalability and rapid deployment. Greater efficiency in cloud migration and app deployment further increases the desirability of moving to the cloud.
Cloud computing will continue to be a catalyst for change in the marketplace. Moving the needle will be telecom and IT agents learning to better connect with and meet the needs of their customers. And businesses will become more experienced with cloud and begin to explore new options. The industry already has a strong foothold in the many businesses embracing and realizing greater efficiency with cloud. The demand is sure to grow stronger.