Humans are reactive, not proactive, except in terms of the next event. After each of these disasters, there was certainly a heightened awareness and some action taken by companies, but it’s safe to say that fewer companies took the lessons of disaster preparedness to heart and actually implemented credible DR plans.

Part of the reason is that credible disaster recovery planning has historically been expensive and complex. Starting with offsite vaulting of backup tapes and evolving through disk backup, deduplication and WAN-optimized replication, up until recently DR solutions have remained beyond the means of most SMBs. Now, however, technology may have come to the rescue. The cloud and widespread server virtualization have created a real DR solution that most companies can afford.

Hybrid cloud backup combines cloud backup with an onsite appliance that takes backups from local servers and then facilitates their transfer to the cloud. When this appliance is designed to take backed-up virtual machine images and even perform physical-to-virtual conversion when backing up standalone servers, a real recovery capability is born. Downtime is reduced to almost zero since these VM images can then be restarted on the backup device. When the appliance synchronizes itself with the cloud, where a compute platform is available from which to start and run those VMs, it becomes a real DR solution.

This “hybrid cloud DR” is being offered by many of the same companies that provided hybrid cloud backup and is becoming a part of more and more storage appliance offerings, as an optional service. This means good things for SMBs since it promises to bring costs down further, although hybrid cloud DR is already in a separate class from “traditional” DR solutions, from a cost and complexity perspective. It’s also good news for VARs, especially those that can offer the cloud service as well.

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Fifteen years ago, workers started replacing desktops with laptops and used VPNs to log in to the corporate network when away from the office. The concept of the remote worker was born, and corporate IT had to adapt. Now workers are using smaller notebook computers and tablets and may not even have a regular desk in “the office” at all. Also, increasing numbers are using smartphones to do real work (sometimes behind the wheel). This kind of mobility has created a need for “anywhere, anytime” data access.

While corporate IT is struggling to adapt, users are often taking matters into their own hands. Commercial file-sharing services like DropBox, SugarSync, Box, etc., are providing a way for users to get the access they need by creating a copy in the cloud and synchronizing the users’ multiple devices to that copy. But what may be a solution for users is a problem for IT departments. And, for readers familiar with this blog, problems for IT can mean opportunity for VARs.

Problem: How to provide safe file access

IT is losing control over corporate data as employees use commercial cloud-based file-sharing applications, sometimes from multiple vendors as they reach capacity limits of these free services. The solution for many companies will be to set up a private cloud that provides a similar experience for users as these commercial offerings. In the midmarket space, private clouds aren’t an option, so these companies will look at one of the file sync and sharing solutions available that offer endpoint data security and the control corporate IT requires. But if the problem is file access, another company asks the question, “Why create a copy in the cloud?” Indeed.

Solution: Don’t create cloud copies

TappIn is a service that uses the cloud to enable the sharing of file access, not the physical files themselves. Data stays on the devices where it was created and isn’t duplicated in the cloud. Instead, the cloud is used to facilitate movement between that device and the others from which the user needs access. Aside from the capacity they consume, another issue with file sync and sharing applications is the bandwidth consumed by constantly updating every other device when a file is modified on one of them. TappIn instead updates a file on a particular device only when it’s accessed.

The result is a cloud-enabled file-sharing solution that doesn’t consume cloud capacity or bandwidth, allowing companies to use existing storage assets and save money. TappIn supports Windows, Mac and Linux and has mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows 7 devices. It also has a range of partner programs so VARs and MSPs can participate in a way that fits their business models. TappIn’s shared access provides a cost-competitive solution to go up against the traditional cloud file sync and sharing vendors.

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Customers still want the channel because they need someone they can trust, someone who will bring in new technologies and do the “nonrecurring engineering” required to implement them. They also need someone to whom they represent a larger piece of business, someone who will go above and beyond the usual and who can represent their interests more effectively to the big vendors they buy from.

Customers aren’t thinking, “This cloud thing may be the way to finally get rid of that damn VAR, once and for all.” They’re really thinking, “I like this cloud idea–I just hope that when we move some of our business into cloud products we can still buy them through our VAR.” Customers still want to buy from VARs, and the cloud represents an excellent opportunity, but don’t expect vendors to show you how to make money.

Services are more lasting than stuff

The cloud is a service, not hardware and software. Establishing your value selling services focuses you on the details of how your customers are using those services, not what infrastructure to choose or how to set it up. This is the selling benefits focus we’ve talked about in previous posts. It’s also a value proposition that’s less likely to erode. When features become more common, users expect to pay less for them. When infrastructure becomes less complex, they’re less likely to pay for its implementation. This is what happened to VARs selling technologies like backup and traditional disk arrays.

Opex, not Capex

Cloud services represent an operating expense, not a capital expenditure. Opex is a revenue stream, not a onetime event that has to be re-created (at least not as often). While the immediate gross profit (GP) opportunities are lower, there’s a certain magic in the recurring revenue stream, not dissimilar from what Einstein meant when he referred to compound interest as the eighth wonder of the world.

Value-add consulting

Cloud can let you move up the stack from infrastructure to application modernization and new features, including upgrading applications to better run in the cloud. These kinds of activities are the Holy Grail for VARs who can always find something that needs to be fixed or upgraded once they get into the data center.

Change can help margins

Every time there’s a technology shift, it’s an opportunity to reset your offerings and restore some of the margins you’ve lost to “genericization” of your products. Every VAR has used change to help restore margins, whether it’s a vendor’s price increase, a consolidation of part numbers or just employee turnover within their clients’ companies. The cloud is another opportunity to rework what you’re selling and put some of the profitability back into it.

Get trained, hire the right people and stay on top of what the cloud has to offer. Don’t assume you can simply run cloud services through your sales process and still make good margins. The cloud is an opportunity but one you have to invest in to benefit from.

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Showing customers how related products can improve their existing systems is probably a mainstay of your go-to-market strategy. It can get you a meeting at an account that doesn’t buy anything from you and give you a chance to demonstrate your value to a new potential customer.

But most of these related-products scenarios involve traditional IT infrastructure such as storage, servers and networking. What about cloud-based solutions: How do you add value to a cloud service that a customer has started using?

Companies are turning to more cloud-based services from companies like Salesforce.com, ADP, Oracle and Microsoft. And, users are signing up for more and more cloud-based applications on their own, things like GoogleApps, DropBox, WebEx, etc. Unfortunately for IT departments, each of these services can require a separate setup process, a separate security configuration and ongoing management. Fortunately for VARs, there’s a solution that can bring relief to these IT managers and get you into their offices.

Okta provides a cloud-based single-sign-on service for users, so they can maintain access to multiple cloud services (currently more than 1,000 applications) with one login and password. But it’s an even bigger help to IT. The service enables administrators to control access to all cloud services, maintaining security and corporate compliance. It also makes adding new users easy and automates the removal of users when they leave the company.

With an administrative home page, admins can manage configurations, view activity logs and generate reports. When a new service is rolled out, Okta can import an entire list of designated users, eliminating a separate sign-up process for each person. It’s also fully integrated with Active Directory.

Completing the solution by showing customers associated products is an essential part of most VARs’ value proposition. It’s also a great way to get started in a new account. For cloud services, Okta can be that add-on product that gets you in the door.

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