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EMC Perspective: What Customers Seek from Cloud Services Providers
1. WHAT CUSTOMERS SEEK FROM
CLOUD SERVICES PROVIDERS
Service providers have enormous opportunity to capitalize on the fast-growing
cloud services market—if they are attuned and responsive to customers' goals,
concerns, and performance and support requirements. New research from EMC
shows how.
EMC PERSPECTIVE
2. Businesses need agile IT services to enable growth and keep pace with marketplace
and regulatory change. They also need to capitalize on the explosive growth of
available data without driving up costs and overwhelming their IT infrastructure.
Cloud services can help meet both objectives. Migrating workloads to the cloud,
including high-volume services, can reduce cost, improve performance, ensure
scalability, and provide access to new and innovative technologies.
That spells opportunity for cloud service providers. EMC®
commissioned independent
market research with Technology Business Research (TBR) to clarify how and why
business and government organizations purchase cloud-based services from cloud
service providers (CSPs). We found that to expand their cloud services business, CSPs
must connect with their customers in specific ways, including clearly indicating cost
benefits, and offering flexible pricing options and support channels. They must also
address the two biggest barriers to cloud services adoption: customers’ concerns
about data protection and security, and their migration challenges, starting with
overcoming lock-in to embedded business processes.
This Perspective is addressed primarily to CSPs to help them better understand their
customers, position their cloud offerings, and capture and retain business. Each
section of the document ends with sets of recommended go-to-market actions for
CSPs. We hope that this discussion also proves valuable to end-user organizations as
they consider cloud services, hone their evaluation criteria, and select and work with
their providers.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss these opportunities and challenges with you
and help you thrive in and capitalize on the fast-growing cloud services market.
ABOUT THE RESEARCH
The multi-faceted research conducted for EMC by TBR included a survey of 253
organizations, in-depth interviews with 20 executives, and secondary research and
industry analysis.
We surveyed organizations ranging from $250M to $100B in annual revenue or
budget and focused on four bellwether industries: financial services, healthcare,
government, and media & entertainment.
Among individual respondents, 86% are from IT organizations; 37% are IT Directors,
36% are IT VPs, and 27% are CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CIOs or CTOs. Nearly two-thirds
identified themselves as the sole or final decision maker when purchasing IaaS
(Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service) from CSPs. Fifty
surveys were from Canadian organizations, the rest from the U.S.
3. 3
TRUST IN THE CLOUD
It’s no surprise that trust is the #1 concern of customers and a barrier to adoption of
cloud services. That includes the security of data, software, and other assets, and
especially the protection of private or otherwise sensitive data. Recent research by TBR
found data privacy and security among the most frequently perceived risks by cloud
services adopters and non-adopters alike, especially when considering deployment to
the public cloud (source: TBR, Winter 2011 Cloud Computing Adoption Study). Security
was also a recurring theme in our executive interviews.
A Director of Technology and Applications in financial services put security concerns in
a nutshell: “Being a financial institution, protection of our customer data is an absolute
priority, and the service provider should be knowledgeable about compliance issues.”
However, the cloud security scene is complex. At the same time that customers are
reluctant to deploy mission-critical applications and sensitive data to the cloud, they
are increasingly adopting cloud-based security services. These are services that
augment an organization’s existing network security, remote access, intrusion
prevention, and data loss protection capabilities. As cloud services, they can reduce
costs and improve visibility, manageability, and auditability—while increasing security.
Our survey shows that not everyone turns to CSPs for these services, but those who do
are highly satisfied with them.
A VP of IT in financial services articulated the value proposition of security services:
“We would move security and compliance services and network security applications to
a cloud. We have strong internal security policies, and that leads to investment in
software and other related management costs. Moving to cloud would mean fewer
concerns and lower costs.”
To lower the barrier of concern over security, CSPs need a three-prong approach:
• Address security concerns head-on and up-front. Demonstrate and document
capabilities, including emphasizing the reliable performance of security services.
Customers who have clear security service level agreements from the start have
the highest satisfaction with their cloud services.
• Build security into cloud services, which should reduce the cost and management
burden for customers. Provide customers with plenty of visibility into security,
accessibility, and performance—the elements especially important for mission-
critical applications.
• Offer flexible deployment options, especially hybrid cloud, where customers can
control their sensitive assets on-premise, yet capitalize on the scalability and
functional resources of off-premise cloud services.
An IT Director in media & entertainment favors hybrid deployment: “A hybrid on-
premise deployment with off-premise bursting capability offers us more data scalability
and gives us more control of the data.”
4. 4
Companies increasingly prefer hybrid cloud deployment, with elements of the solution
both on and off premise, for the whole range of workloads. The exception is in
healthcare, where information privacy is paramount, and nearly half of our respondents
prefer an on-premise private cloud solution managed by the CSP. Very few companies
are interested in off-premise services accessed via the public Internet, where the
monitoring and management tools for enterprise-level workloads are still lacking. In
short, customers are gaining confidence in trusted “off prem” cloud over secure
connection and looking to get “the best of both worlds”.
GO-TO-MARKET ACTIONS FOR CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDERS
• Develop a range of trusted profiles for class of application workloads or reference
model of your security and compliance capabilities. Pair it with assessment tools
that enable customers to discover not only how their security requirements can be
met, but also how private and hybrid cloud deployment can surpass the security
provided by conventional in-house methods.
• Security is often a general concern. Make the case for cloud services more tangible
and trustworthy by taking specific customer use cases and showing how their
security requirements can be met between the network and infrastructure options.
• Security and compliance services are popular, but they tend to require extra skill
and customization. If these are in your services set, build the skills and emphasize
your ability to help customers manage and mitigate business risks.
• Offer multiple deployment options, including managing both hybrid and on-premise
private clouds. If customers are still uncomfortable with off-premise cloud services,
partner with them to build and extend their private cloud foundation.
• Sharpen your messaging to help customers understand the benefits of a CSP cloud
as the next step beyond the virtualization they’ve already done.
• Security requirements vary across industries. Communicate your ability to meet
industry compliance standards such as HIPAA, PCI/PII data loss prevention, and
legal and archiving requirements for email applications. Even if your offerings are
generic, articulate how they meet the specific needs of your target markets.
• Develop a “Trust Dashboard” associated with a class of applications/workload that
will provide the responsible parties with audits logs, Access Authorization
Authentication (AAA), reports and alerts on unauthorized access, and the ability to
define and manage compliance policies.
How important is it to
respondents to control where
their data resides? Very. On a
7-point scale, respondents from
all industries rated the
importance over 6.
Why do respondents want
control over data location? Legal
compliance was most important
to financial services. Availability
and portability were most
important to media &
entertainment.
5. 5
WORKLOADS INTO THE CLOUD
Security is a concern, but customers are eager to move many workloads into the
trusted “off prem” cloud. Two-thirds of surveyed companies have already purchased
IaaS or PaaS offerings from CSPs, and virtually all of the rest have purchased other IT
services. However, customers need help prioritizing workloads and migrating them
smoothly to realize the anticipated financial return.
And financial return is the name of the game. Eighty percent of companies surveyed
are driven by the opportunity to lower immediate costs, long-term total cost of
ownership, or the burden of aging infrastructure. Our executive interviewees are well
aware of the agility, scalability, and performance benefits of cloud services, and they
value CSP expertise and domain knowledge. However, cost remains the primary driver
of adoption.
A Chief Technology Architect in government listed key drivers of cloud adoption:
“Reducing costs and operational budgets was the key driver to purchase from a service
provider. Service providers had the domain knowledge and expertise that we needed.
We were also looking at ease of deployment.”
What workloads are moving to the cloud? Backup and recovery are the most common
as both services already purchased and services under consideration for future
purchase. Other common offerings include data archiving, data protection and security
services, cloud storage, email, and a variety of SaaS (Software as a Service)
applications, including ERP. The next big wave of cloud services may be for analytics—
both organizing Big Data and running analytical models with results fed to business
applications and management reporting systems.
How quickly do respondents
expect to be able to access new
cloud services purchased from
an SP? Forty-seven percent
said they wanted it within 45
minutes and an additional 17%
want it within 60 minutes.
How quickly do respondents
expect to be able to change or
reconfigure their services? One-
third of respondents expect to
be able to do so within 30
minutes. Thirty-one percent
said within 60 minutes.
6. 6
Customers are clearly interested in the whole range of cloud services—IaaS, PaaS,
SaaS. However, they are moving compute- and storage- heavy applications first on the
IT side such as backup/recovery, storage archival, and security. Mission-critical
applications are on hold until customers are thoroughly confident about security in the
cloud. Those are the trends, but CSPs must look beneath them and recognize
variations in customer preference and intent by industry. For example, healthcare
companies place heavy focus on storage and security services.
A healthcare IT Director explained workload priorities: “We would prefer back up,
archiving, and storage on a service provider cloud. This combination will lead to low
maintenance costs. We do not want to have any other applications on the service
provider cloud until we are completely convinced regarding the security.”
The next graphic captures today’s situation and tomorrow’s opportunity. First-wave
cloud-based applications are well established. Second-wave cloud-based applications
are common, but many customers still want to keep business applications and sensitive
data close to home. As CSPs build track records, especially in security, more mission-
critical applications will move to the cloud.
7. 7
GO-TO-MARKET ACTIONS FOR CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDERS
• Help customers make the business case for cloud services and prioritize workloads
with predictable cost models and cost savings analyses. With 68% expecting ROI
in three years and 33% expecting it in 12 to18 months, deploying a “TCO
calculator” to help them find all cost benefits and accelerate the timing of savings
would be advantageous.
• Demonstrate deep expertise in workload migrations, processes, and tools and
automate migration to minimize disruption and risk.
• Educate customers on the opportunities to improve performance while lowering
operating and management costs by pursuing an alternative path for technology
refresh.
• Develop a strategic view of workload storage requirements, incorporating capacity,
performance, and cost-based evaluations of on- and off-premise solutions.
Workloads to focus on include digital asset management, email storage, archiving,
and data protection, as well as more reliable and scalable backup and recovery.
These are common and commodity workloads, but demand for them continues to
grow.
• Ride the analytics adoption trend by offering analytics platforms, especially to
medium-size companies, and assistance managing Big Data, especially to large
companies.
• Business challenges vary across industries, so tailor both offerings and marketing
approaches to your target industries. Communicate your industry expertise. Even if
your offerings are generic, articulate how they meet the specific needs of your
target industries.
ENGAGING WITH CUSTOMERS
To engage effectively with customers and prospects, CSPs must understand the buying
process and customer expectations around pricing and support, then differentiate on
the basis of that understanding.
THE BUYING PROCESS
Customers use a variety of methods to learn about cloud offerings and providers,
including CSP websites and sales people, as well as independent websites. Customer
references naturally carry great influence.
A financial services Director of Technology Application outlined the buying process: “We
look at websites, customer references, and the information that we receive from the
sales teams at the service providers. Customer testimonials, case studies, and demos
are very useful to get a clear picture of what we see on websites.”
The decision to buy is often made by senior management, including CIOs and CFOs,
often based on service level agreement (SLAs), demonstration of the relevant
domain/industry expertise, management tools and on the recommendation of
evaluation committees and IT staff. When it comes to the purchasing action, most
customers (56%) prefer to work with a sales person, though some purchase through
the CSP website (25%) or customer service organization (22%). Direct contact with a
sales person makes sense, especially if the investment is significant, there is a need to
negotiate, or there is a desire to build trust. Conversely, market trends amongst
shadow IT buyers (e.g., marketing, business line and other non-IT buyers) show that
the majority are buying online with a swipe of their credit card and secondarily through
direct contact with a sales representative.
What CSP contract lengths do
customers prefer? Only
government respondents
preferred multi-year contracts,
and only media & entertainment
expressed much appetite for
shorter contracts.
8. 8
PRICING
Services pricing can be a sensitive issue. Pricing ranks high on the list of CSP
evaluation criteria, and comes in last when respondents rate their satisfaction with
elements of the purchasing and consumption experience. Although metered pricing is
one of the potential advantages of cloud-based services, most customers today prefer
flat-rate fees for a variety of reasons: knowing what’s being paid for, staying within
limited budgets and avoiding monthly budget variations, keeping things (including
payment processing) simple, keeping things predictable, and avoiding surcharges.
At the same time, roughly one-third of companies expect the option to unbundle and
pay separately for storage, servers, software, and bandwidth. We found that larger,
higher-usage customers including government organizations show greater preference
for the predictability of flat fees, while smaller customer organizations, especially in
healthcare, are more interested in usage-based fees.
Because customers resonate with both flexibility and simplicity, CSPs must offer a
variety of pricing options, yet keep things as simple as possible. The overhead of
complex pricing schemes can be high at both supplier and customer ends, and
providers can distinguish themselves by simplifying fee structures.
SUPPORT
Customers expect a variety of support mechanisms, especially the ability to call and
speak to a representative. Roughly half our respondents mentioned various forms of
online monitoring and support, but 78% listed the ability to speak directly to a
representative as important.
A Senior Director of IT in media & entertainment explained the desired support mix:
“We expect the service provider to maintain helpdesk support that allows us to speak
to a representative with expertise in our industry to resolve issues instantly. Having a
self-service portal is also important to be able to service ourselves instead of raising
tickets for each issue.”
9. 9
We found that customers are less satisfied with the support they receive, both online
and in person, than with the services themselves. Many find online support and
troubleshooting functions, in particular FAQs, to be cumbersome. However, customers
expect plenty of installation and onboarding assistance, including online and helpdesk
support and training. They also expect dashboards to help them measure, understand,
and manage usage of cloud services, including network and security performance.
The bottom line is that CSPs have enormous opportunity to differentiate through their
support channels and customer experience.
GO-TO-MARKET ACTIONS FOR CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDERS
• Deliver your cloud services story compellingly on your web site, including through
customer references. There is a potentially confusing array of information on cloud
services on the web, so keep independent web sites up to date on your offerings
and capabilities so they can represent you accurately and objectively. Poor
representation on the web can disqualify a provider upon first screening.
• Your sales people must understand the customer industry and buying process. Use
them to educate the customer, make the case for cloud services, and build trust in
your capabilities, especially around key elements like security.
• Develop tiered, flat-rate prices for higher-usage (especially high-bandwidth)
customers, and offer simpler pay-as-you-go bundles for lower and variable usage
customers. Behind the scenes, make sure you have both flexible pricing systems
and the cost structure to deliver controllable cost of service.
• Consider offering incentive price levels in the short term to gain share in the cloud
services market and gain longer-term contracts—which most customers still prefer.
• The customer chooses the service channel. For CSPs, the table stakes start with
providing 24x7 support both by phone and online, with seamless integration across
those channels. The rep must be up-to-date with online support actions, and vice
versa.
• Differentiate by providing dedicated support—what appears to the customer as a
dedicated team—during installation and, especially for large customers, thereafter.
The customer’s goal is that the CSP act as an extension of its own IT organization.
10. 10
SUMMARIZING THE SELECTION CRITERIA
In choosing a service provider, customers want it all—reliability, performance, support,
economic value, and protection of their digital assets. As you can see in the table,
security ranks as the top category in our survey, but the next nine categories are all in
a narrow band. That tells us that CSPs must be able to “hit on all cylinders,”
documenting a track record in all of the evaluation areas.
SERVICE PROVIDER EVALUATION CRITERIA
RANK CRITERION SCORE
(7-POINT SCALE)
1 TRUST 6.43
2 NETWORK AVAILABILITY 6.13
3 PRICING 6.11
4 SUPPORT 6.10
5 COMPLIANCE 6.04
6 LOWER COST OF OPERATION 6.02
7 BANDWIDTH 5.92
8 SERVICE OFFERINGS 5.91
9 SPEED OF VIRTUAL MACHINES 5.86
10 SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS 5.83
11 SOFTWARE SELECTION 5.56
12 EXISTING RELATIONSHIP 5.21
11. 11
With the scores across the criteria closely aligned, it’s essential to note which industries
place special importance on each. In financial services, security scored nearly a half
point higher than the next category. Healthcare continues to place high importance on
compliance. Network availability is most important to government, and pricing carries
highest weight in media & entertainment.
A Chief Information Officer in government summarized evaluation criteria: “Security
was our key consideration in choosing the service provider—besides support, pricing,
and network availability—because we handle extremely sensitive information.”
We also found that a majority of surveyed organizations prefer to work with multiple
providers for their cloud services, rather than just one. Many companies (with
government organizations the exception) want to spread their cloud services business
around and avoid the risks of over-reliance and lock-in by retaining the flexibility to
switch if a provider doesn’t perform to expectations. CSPs must position themselves to
gain as much business as possible without triggering that fear.
Is that bad news for CSPs? Not necessarily. We suspect that working with multiple
vendors may be as much common expectation as real preference. Enterprises are
accustomed to getting their network-related services from major telco CSPs and many
applications and other IT services elsewhere. For web and cloud-based services, there
are a wide variety of innovative providers, and customers tend to look for new things
from new players. The market is relatively young, it’s naturally a multi-player space,
and so existing relationships carry less weight.
However, our interviewees include many who prefer to work with a limited set of
suppliers, but they still invite bids from others, especially in search of industry
expertise. They also expressed strong preference for working with managed service
providers and avoid doing a lot of services integration and management on their own.
We conclude that there is still plenty of opportunity for major CSPs to offer more in the
way of full service, especially to government organizations and others who prefer to
consolidate their provider relationships.
At the same time, CSPs must be ready to work in multi-vendor combinations, and
perhaps take the lead in building the provider-partner ecosystem on the customers’
behalf.
How important are bandwidth
considerations when
evaluating CSPs?
Respondents rated four
considerations as important.