The right people are key as the cloud rolls in

Having the right staff who have gained new skills will be key to success in the new environment. Divina Paredes reports

By Divina Paredes, Auckland | Wednesday, 11 August 2010
People issues, not technology, are often cited as the key things to prepare for in any project involving information and communications technology.

This is no different as channel partners prepare to add cloud services to their offerings.

At Microsoft’s recent Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington DC channel executives and analysts said the migration to cloud services also involves preparing staff as they introduce and implement the services with clients.

“Skills for partners will be the number-one issue as they begin to invest in building competencies around the cloud,” says Tiffani Bova, vice president, research indirect channel programs and sales strategies for Gartner. “With little real-life experience in building the market, those who have done private cloud and hybrid cloud implementations is limited.

“New skill sets are required to compete in cloud services. You have got to have people with multiple partner/vendor management skills.”

How many sales staff, she asks, are comfortable in saying to the customer, ‘I am not going to show you the device. Let me show you how you manage your warehouse’.

So how should channel providers prepare for this shift?

“Start from scratch,” recommends Bova. “Hire people from business schools rather than people who can sell technology.”

She believes the ideal recruit is someone who understands the business and can work with a systems engineer, when having a conversation with the CIO or business unit leader about opportunities in the cloud and the areas that are important to the business.

The transition to the cloud also covers assessing the customer base. “Think about where you are going to be in two years. Just because you want to move doesn’t mean your customers will go with you,” she says.

She recommends finding new customers and also letting go of some of the existing ones. “You may have to fire some of your customers if you want to grow your business around the cloud and your existing customers don’t want to go with you.”

She also recommends determining the customers’ interest level on the cloud services and to include the use of focus groups. These groups don’t necessarily comprise your best customers, but a sampling. Ask them what their intentions are in the cloud, their concerns and why they have not moved into the cloud.

If your sales reps are not willing to go with you, you have to get rid of them, too, she says.