There’s some new research out from Gartner, however, that reinforces that shift. Here’s the high-level finding: by 2017, approximately one-quarter of all businesses will run some sort of internal app store for managing corporate-sanctioned software.

The main reason this is happening? It’s another outcome of the bring your own device (BYOD) and the related bring your own application (BYOA) phenomenon. By controlling the apps that employees can download to their personal smartphones and tablet computers, companies are hoping to exercise more control over security and software expenditures, according to Gartner.

It’s not just about mobile apps, either. These stores could provide better control over desktop and cloud application provisioning. Or, at the very least, better insight into how is downloading what and who should pay for it.

“Bring your own application (BYOA) has become as important as BYOD in the development of a comprehensive mobile strategy, and the trend toward BYOA has begun to affect desktop and Web applications as well,” said Ian Finley, research vice president at Gartner. “Enterprise app stores promise at least a partial solution, but only if IT security, application, procurement and sourcing professionals can work together to successfully apply the app store concept to their enterprises.”

Technology solution providers definitely have a role to play in helping organize these marketplaces, potentially through deployments of mobile device management software. They also could have a role in defining the broader access control policies that extend the store concept beyond the mobile platform to other corporate software assets.

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Cloud Nation is the latest venture from Harry Brelsford, the founder of the SMB Nation community for IT professionals, and his business partner Tom Poole, who is the CEO of the company.

The portal is being billed as an “all-in-one” cloud platform that VARs and MSPs can use to provision virtual desktops to small and midsize businesses (SMBs).

It includes tools, such as a unified billing system, that make it simpler for technology solution providers to recommend and provision these cloud services for their customers. Perhaps even more intriguing, the platform provides margins of 15 percent to 30 percent for members that use it. There are also training and support resources.

Noted Jay Weiss, CEO of Los Angeles-based VAR Computer HMO, who intends to use the Cloud Nation portal for his own cloud-services offering:

“The effort it would take to negotiate deals with top technology partners, develop a platform to deliver unified solutions and then create the support platform to service is mind-number. In this industry, the only constant is change. For us to develop and manage diverse products ourselves is just not in the cards. Cloud Nation has delivered a simple and elegant solution that unites the cloud ecosystem. I’m excited and glad I’ve gotten in on the ground floor.”

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Almost 200 million consumers will add cloud storage subscriptions this year, bringing the total number of subscribers up to about 500 million people worldwide, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.

That’s a lot of growth for one year.

While the forecast increase of 25% (reaching up to 625 million people) for 2012 is small in comparison, any high-tech channel services company that persists in believing that cloud storage won’t affect their practice related to on-premise storage solutions is woefully misguided.

The good news is that all this interest in cloud storage provides a super opening for managed service providers, VARs and other members of the high-tech channel, who can offer some all-important perspective on why a storage service developed with consumers in mind probably isn’t the best idea for a small or midsize business (SMB).

That’s not to say that SMB cloud storage is a bad idea, because it provides small companies supporting lots of remote workers with a great option for allowing them to access critical information and applications. But it is time for some real discussions about what is and is not possible in the cloud when it comes to security and, equally as important, with data management and backup.

Most SMBs looking at cloud storage, for example, probably don’t realize that once something is deleted, it’s probably gone forever. The concept of version control in the cloud is still very rudimentary. That alone could be a deal breaker, and it could give solution providers the opening they need to recommend a cloud storage service designed with businesses — not individuals — in mind.

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Managed service providers (MSPs) can take heart. One big driver of IT outsourcing contracts in North American is an interest in managed services relationships that help push out routine maintenance costs, according to the Gartner analysis. That focus will continue until probably 2016.

Here’s the requisite perspective as to why from Gregor Petri, a Gartner research director:

“Today, cloud compute services primarily provide automation of basic functions. As next-generation business applications come to market and existing applications are migrated to use automated operations and monitoring, increased value in terms of service consistency, agility and personnel reduction will be delivered. Continued privacy and compliance concerns may however negatively impact growth in some regions, especially if providers are slow in bringing localized solutions to market.”

Overall spending on IT outsourcing should increase about 2.1 percent this year compared with 2011, to reach $246.6 billion globally, Gartner predicts.

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Market research firm Strategy Analytics estimates that worldwide smartphone shipments grew by 32 percent to 146.1 million units in Q2 2012. That was the slowest growth rate since the third quarter of 2009.

Samsung grabbed 35 percent of marketshare during the quarter, shipping 50.5 million smartphones — more than any other vendor has managed to produce during a single quarter. At least so far.

Strategy Analytics credits Samsung’s broad product portfolio as one reason for its achievement, which spans from the mass market Galaxy Y to the high-end Galaxy Note.

Don’t feel too sorry for the No. 2 vendor, Apple, which claimed about 18 percent of the marketshare during the second quarter, shipping approximately 26 million units. Its growth for the quarter was about the same as what it posted one year ago.

“We believe Apple’s lackluster performance was driven by some Apple fans and operators holding off iPhone purchases in anticipation of a rumored new iPhone 5 model around September or October of this year,” said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics.

Samsung’s growth signals another advance by the Android operating system at the expense of the Apple iOS, which is something that solution providers developing smartphone business applications or managing mobile technology being brought into companies via BYOD programs should watch carefully.

Researcher IDC believes that Android’s smartphone marketshare should peak this year at 61 percent. It is calling for overall smartphone market growth of 4 percent in 2012.

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Part of the hype around social-this-and-that might just be the usual pre-chasm hype fuled by high-tech marketers. But could technology solution providers build new practices by developing skills, services or consulting storylines tied to social software recommendations?

It is pretty clear to me that the principles of social media and social collaboration will have a profound impact on customer service and on preferred methods of collaboration.

Consider new data released this week by IDC about so-called enterprise social software. The research firm reports that adoption of software from IBM and Jive Software, in particular, accelerated significantly between 2010 and 2011. In fact, both of them reporting more than 70 percent growth year-over-year. Yammer was the fastest growing vendor in the lot, growing its sales by more than 132 percent, according to IDC.

Said IDC analyst Michael Fauscette, group vice president of Software Business Solutions:

“Companies are turning to social software in increasing numbers as they look for ways to increase collaboration, improve both business and individual worker productivity, and efficiently manage a growing deluge of content and information. Compartmentalized and specific collaboration is still required by many organizations and traditional collaborative applications providing closed loop and B2B communications will retain their existence in organizations alongside more open social solutions.”

At the very least, technology solution providers should dedicate someone on their team to exploring scenarios in which the existing solutions for collaboration or workflow processes and customer services could be extended or usurped by some of these new social software approaches.

The momentum behind social networking and social media is very real, and people like you and me have become very used to using these tools for collaboration and communication in their personal lives. Increasingly, that interest is going to spill over into the business world and it is important for solution providers to be prepared for the potential impact.

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The reason? Windows 8 ability to help workers get a better grip on managing their information and accounts across multiple devices such as on a desktop or notebook as well as a tablet or smartphone.

The data, part of the Staples Small Business Index, suggests that about 70 percent of the small-business owners who have heard about Windows 8 (it doesn’t say how many of them DO know about it, BTW), already have upgrade plans. Of those with upgrade aspirations, approximately 28 percent focused on the operating system’s promised interoperability with tablet computing devices.

As you might expect, Staples has a position on this, which is something that solution providers should be prepared to address or combat.

Earlier this month, Staples started selling a Worry-Free PC Promise that will make it more attractive and easy for small-business owners to update to Windows 8 when it hits general availability. Staples is attaching this service to certain Windows 7 systems: for $14.99, buyers of those PCs will get an update to Windows 8 Pro.

The Staples data reflects the sentiments of approximately 500 small-business owners or executives from companies with no more than 20 employees.

If your company is still trying to get customers updated to Windows 7, the Windows 8 release cycle will definitely be top-of-mind for those clients. So, offering them a way to make the switch to new systems now, without it costing a bundle for them to get over to Windows 8 when it emerges, is a smart strategy.

There’s no official word yet on Windows 8 will ship, but pundits are suggesting that an October 2012 timeframe is likely.

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Specifically, the data from TechValidate shows that 66 percent of enterprise IT departments are considering cloud backup as they mull plans to update their current backup systems over the next 18 months, Asigra reports. Expanding volumes of data is one of the most common motivators prompting enterprises to reconsider their overall strategy vis a vis backup, the data shows.

According to the TechValidate data, the three most common top priorities of IT professionals who are considering new backup solutions are:

• Recovery time
• Secure data protection
• Affordability and reliability

VARs and MSPs can help potential customers evaluate existing and potential backup options with these factors in mind. ”Companies need to do an internal assessment and determine what their recovery time objectives are for their data — what data needs to be restored immediately and what data can be restored later without causing too much disruption,” said Eran Farajun, Asigra’s executive vice president, in a statement. “They also need to determine what the cost is for recovering both young and old data.”

Benefits of cloud backup include risk mitigation (especially if a company doesn’t have ANYTHING else) and the ability to spread costs out over time (minimal capital investments).

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What’s more, annual tablet computer shipments should surpass those of notebook computers by 2016, the researcher suggests in its latest Tablet Quarterly report.

Over the next five years, DisplaySearch predicts that devices using the Apple iOS operating system will lose market share to tablets running various versions of Android and MIcrosoft Windows RT. By 2017, the Apple iOS platform should account for about 50.9 percent market share, compared with 40.5 percent for Android and 7.5 percent for Windows, the researcher writes.

One key factor will continue to be the Amazon Kindle Fire, which carries a lower price that is in part subsidized by content purchases.

DisplaySearch’s tablet OS forecast between now and 2017 is below:

Source: Q1 2012 NPD DisplaySearch Tablet Quarterly report

The takeaway for me is that any technology solution provider hoping to incorporate tablet computers into its solution mix will be dealing with the Apple iOS for some time to come. Things won’t seriously turn around until about five years from now.

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The IT professional social network’s State of SMB IT survey reflects the opinions of close to 1,500 IT professionals, 60 percent of whom work for companies with 20 to 249 employees. Spiceworks conducts its survey two times per year.

In the second half of 2011, the average annual SMB IT budget was $143,000; during the first half it was $132,000, according to the Spiceworks survey data.

According to the latest survey conducted during the first quarter of 2012, the biggest chunk of spending will go towards new hardware, approximately 40 percent of the total. New desktops and laptops were the most commonly planned hardware purchases, the survey showed. IT services will account for approximately 26 percent of total spending, with the block of that money going to Web hosting and Internet service provider fees.

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