Beware the Cloud Service Provider Shell Game

Jerry Caron

Summary Bullets:

• Cloud services imply a new type of sales and support ecosystem that is still very complex and relatively unstable at the moment
• This should not put buyers off, and should be welcomed—but all customary, cautionary warnings apply

The dynamics of cloud services have caused a fair bit of healthy upheaval in the way technology and software suppliers deliver and support their goods. In fact, that would be an understatement. Beyond the obvious difference between a network-based infrastructure or a software service versus goods sold or licensed for installation on-premise, there is a fundamental shift in the go-to-market plan for suppliers that takes the notion of so-called co-opetition to an entirely different level.