Don't be a Wanna-Be Cloud Player!

Do you have a genuine cloud application/solution? Or, are you a ‘me too’ cloud vendor offering our previous solutions as a SaaS?

If you are a ‘me too’ joiner and simply offering your current apps/solutions as a SaaS – the market verdict is currently showing you the door. But yeah, you might still be successful if you innovatively offer your applications via the cloud. Because the SMB market which might have been eyeing your applications for a long time but could not afford them earlier might go via the cloud as it is cost effective. That’s it! That would be the limit of your success.

So be a cloud mover! Offer solutions that are genuine cloud specific. That success of salesforce, as opposed to many of their wanna-be competitors, is mainly due to their cloud focus strategy. And it is not hard to find out the real cloud players and ‘me too’ ones. After all, it is not difficult to differentiate the genuine one from the wanna-be.

So become a genuine cloud player to make a profound impact on the Clould Market-place!

Cloud Reseller--Offer Value or Fade Away

Are you a Cloud re-seller or a channel partner to a Cloud provider? Well then, it is time for you to move your focus from simple reselling of cloud products and services—to providing value added services to the customers. Many of the resellers have indeed moved their focus and are providing a value---but they are very few. The clear message that is bound to hit you with a bang in 2012 -- You are of no use to the Cloud customers!

The Cloud customers can directly engage with the cloud providers, and start using the products and services directly. Remember that customers will use the internet to gain access to cloud solutions, and that make you negligible.

But resellers can definitely still add value if they can provide benefits and advantages that is usually not found in-house. So Resellers pull up of your socks, learn extensively about the cloud and move away from the comfort zone of being the go-between the providers and the direct customers. The market of Cloud 2012 will see what benefit you offer, or you will end up folding your business.

So your mantra and big question in the Cloud era should be – What value can you offer?

2012-- Hail the mighty Cloud

2012 will definitely be the year of the Cloud. The 'lets-watch and see' wagons are expected to join the Cloud caravan as they have now see organizations  benefiting from the cloud and security fears also have been taken care of to a large extent. Here's my prediction for Cloud 2012:

1. Hybrid cloud would become more popular among the organizations who want to contol their business critical applications but is open to go to the Cloud for the less critical solutions.
2. Large enetrpises will still focus on private Clouds as they still crave for the control of their aplications and solutions.
3. SMB will go to Public Cloud in large numbers as it offers them cost effective access to the technically advanced products which were earlier out of their reach.
4. Cloud will kill the piracy industry to a large extent.
5. Instead of standalone cloud poviders, those providing cloud based applications & solutions along with the service will rule the roost. 
6. 2012 will see a large scale adoption of Cloud, and will become the most sought after technology.