The document summarizes findings from CompTIA's 4th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing report. It finds that the majority of IT channel firms see their cloud offerings having a positive revenue impact. Most channel partners expect their cloud revenue to grow over the next 12 months. Medium-sized channel firms are most likely to consider cloud activities like integration, provisioning and support as strategic. The top challenges for channel firms in adopting cloud are deciding on vendors and balancing needs of legacy businesses. Customer demand is driving channel partners' recommendations of cloud over on-premise solutions.

1. 4th Annual Trends
in Cloud Computing:
IT Channel Impact

2. IT Channel Firms See Positive Revenue
Impact from Cloud Offerings
Cloud vs. Established
Products/Services Revenue Growth
22%
26%
50%
Established growing fasterGrowing at same rateCloud growing faster
Source: CompTIA’s 4th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing
Base: 400 channel firms with cloud offerings
Cloud vs. Established
Products/Services Profit Margins
30%
21%
49%
Established higherRoughly the same Cloud…

3. Channel Partner Cloud Growth Expectations
24%
35%
29%
12%
<25%
25% - 49%
50% - 75%
>75%
4%
56%
26%
Flat, no
change
Grow
modestly
Grow
significantly
(15%+)
Percentage of revenue from
cloud sales in last 12 months
among channel partners
Cloud revenue growth
expectations among channel
partners over next 12 months
Source: CompTIA’s 4th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing
Base: 400 U.S. IT channel firms with cloud offerings

4. Challenges Channel Faced in Adopting Cloud
14%
14%
12%
12%
12%
12%
11%
43%
42%
44%
43%
42%
39%
40%
43%
44%
44%
45%
46%
49%
50%
Deciding vendors to work with
Initial startup costs
Balancing needs of legacy business
Determining business model
Cash flow/financial considerations
Optimizing cloud marketing/sales messaging
Developing cloud tech/sales expertise
Very
Significan
t
Somewhat
Significant
Not
Significant
Source: CompTIA’s 4th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing
Base: 400 U.S. IT channel firms with cloud offerings

5. Build
Provide /
Provision
Enable /
Integrate
Manage /
Support
IaaS | PaaS | SaaS
Public | Private | Hybrid Clouds
Cloud Aggregation | Brokerage Services
Procure HW +
SW; add
expertise to
build cloud
Resell
White-label
Hosting / Direct
to customer
Deployment
Consulting | Advising | IT Solutions
Integration
Break/Fix
Managed Services
Customization /
Development
Architecture /
Design
Cloud Business Models Framework for the Channel
BUILD: Typically procuring vendor-
based hardware and software products
to construct private and/or hybrid
clouds for customers. Also, services
such as
consulting, architecture, configuration
and related.
PROVIDE/PROVISION: Typically
reselling and provisioning IaaS offerings
such as storage and compute capacity
from Amazon Web Services or SaaS
offerings such as Google Apps.
Evaluating and aggregating various
cloud services for customers.
ENABLE/INTEGRATE: Typically
providing integration and
implementation services that may
include tying a customer’s on-premises
IT solutions to its cloud-based solutions
or, customizing cloud-based solutions
to fit a particular business need or
vertical.
MANAGE/SUPPORT: Typically
providing the ongoing management
and support of cloud-based services as
project work or in a
contractual, recurring revenue model.
Adding , scaling or troubleshooting
cloud services as needed.

6. 48% 49% 51%
61%
32% 34% 35%
27%
Cloud Business Models Mature
Build Provide/
Provision
Manage/
Support
46%
54%
Mature
Somewhat
Mature /
Not That
Mature
Cloud Business Model
Maturity Self-Assessment
Cloud Business Model Involvement
among Channel Partners
29% of channel partners report
being “born in the cloud”
Enable/Int
egrate
Currently
provide
Plan to
provide

7. Strategic to
Business
Small
(1-99 employees)
Medium
(100-499)
Large
(500+)
Build 40% 56% 49%
Provide/Provision 44% 58% 50%
Enable/Integrate 49% 66% 50%
Manage Support 55% 67% 55%
Medium-Sized Channel Firms Most Likely to Consider
Cloud Activities Across all Models Strategic
Source: CompTIA’s 4th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing
Base: 400 U.S. IT channel firms with cloud offerings
8 in 10 medium-
size channel firms
are involved with
Enable/Integrate
activities compared
with just more than
half of their smaller
cohorts.

8. Of firms
providing... 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Build 71% 15% 5% 9%
Provide/Provision 30% 35% 29% 7%
Enable/Integrate 32% 32% 25% 10%
Manage Support 29% 34% 17% 20%
Rank Order in Which Channel Firms Adopted One or
More of the Various Cloud Business Models
Source: CompTIA’s 4th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing
Base: 400 U.S. IT channel firms with cloud offerings
Among those channel firms providing services in all four cloud areas today, 64%
started their cloud practice in a Build mode. But while Build is the most common
starting point for cloud adoption, the Manage/Support bucket is the most
prevalent among firms today.

9. 37
%
41
%
22
%
Customer Demand for Cloud Solutions
Customer Demand for Cloud Solutions
 Customer desire to reduce complexity
 Customer desire to increase
mobile/remote access to company
data
 Customer eyeing cost reductions or
they are price sensitive
 Customer has business objectives best
me with cloud solutions
 Ability to on-ramp and scale new
features/services faster
 Customer has no in-house IT
management
Main Reasons to Recommend
Cloud over On-premise Solutions
Source: CompTIA’s 4th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing
Base: 400 U.S. IT channel firms with cloud offerings
Very High
Demand
High
Demand
63% NET
High
Demand
Somewhat
High or Low
Demand
Rating of Demand from
Channel Partner Perspective
Channel partners
with a cloud build
practice or a
provide/provision
practice are most
bullish on customer
demand for cloud
solutions.

10. Cloud and the Customer Relationship
How Cloud has
Impacted Customer Ties
Customer demand outstripped
capacity to deliver cloud solutions
1
2
3
Lost cloud sale to vendor, disty or
other non-solution provider
Lost a sale because customer
asked for solution we don’t offer
Negative Sales Outcomes
with Customers
15%
26%
59%
Generally
weakened
No change
Generally
strengthened
Source: CompTIA’s 4th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing
Base: 400 U.S. IT channel firms with cloud offerings
Channel companies with a high degree of cloud
maturity and involvement are more likely to
report some type of negative customer outcome
than channel partners with lower levels of cloud
maturity.

11. Factors at Play in Choosing Cloud Vendor Partners
9%
11%
11%
11%
13%
11%
47%
44%
44%
42%
37%
39%
44%
46%
47%
48%
50%
52%
Revenue/comp model provided
Commitment to cloud
Supports all four cloud busines models
Vendor brand reputation
Type/variety of cloud services offered
Customer preference/demand
Very
Significan
t
Somewhat
Significant
Not
Significant
Source: CompTIA’s 4th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing
Base: 400 U.S. IT channel firms with cloud offerings
From perspective of channel partners with a cloud practice

12. Cloud Impact on Distribution
Channel Firm Expectations for Distributor
Relationship over Next 2 Years
Distributors are serving as an
aggregator of cloud services that
solution provider can then resell
1
2
3
4
Distributors still figuring out where
they fit in the cloud world
Distributors playing a hosting role
for cloud services in their data
centers
Distributors are competing against
solution providers with their cloud
offerings
Channel Partner Perceptions of Role of
Distributors in a Cloud World
5%
7%
37%
52%
Don't know
Expect decreasing
involvement
No change
Expect increasing
involvement with
distributors
Source: CompTIA’s 4th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing
Base: 400 U.S. IT channel firms with cloud offerings

13. comptia.org
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