6 Ways to Capitalize on Cloud Computing You May Not Have Considered

Organizations continue to adopt cloud computing at a record pace. In a new report, the Cloud Security Alliance notes that more than half of organizations now run 41% or more of their workloads in the public cloud. That compares to 25% of organizations doing the same in 2019.

This accelerated shift to such digital transformation, of course, remains fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the reliance on remote work. Cloud Security Alliance analysts say adoption will just keep growing. So will the diversity of production workloads and use of different brands. To that latter point, the Cloud Security Alliance said 62% of respondents in its March 2021 study, “State of Cloud Security Concerns, Challenges, and Incidents,” have multiple clouds. The most popular one? It’s not a huge shocker: Amazon Web Services, at 67%. Microsoft Azure closely trails AWS at 65%, while Google Cloud Platform stays in third place, at 37%.

All that likely comes as little surprise to experts within the indirect channel. But what might turn heads is the Cloud Security Alliance’s finding that, by the end of this year, most organizations expect to have 41%-100% of workloads in the cloud. Chances are, they won’t get there easily on their own. Amid a well-publicized IT skills shortage, they need help. Managed service providers, system integrators, VARs, consultants and other channel partners have the education, tools and people to guide customers. In doing so, there’s the straightforward deployment approach — pick a platform, pick a workload, make sure it’s all secure, and off you go.

Yet, channel partners looking to cement their value and expand their revenue potential will want to do more. With that in mind, Channel Futures polled some cloud vendors. We wanted to know: What aspects of cloud computing should partners consider offering or doing that perhaps they haven’t? The slideshow above gives you their answers.