Once you have decided to implement a cloud service model, there are several steps that you can take to help prepare your current environment to sell cloud resources. Creating a clear process that is well communicated to your internal staff can significantly impact your team in a positive manner and speed to streamline the implementation process of your new equipment. These three implementation tips can help you as your work toward establishing your cloud service model internally.

You’ve obtained your cloud service model and you’re ready to begin selling to realize a return on your investment. Or are you? Maybe you have the infrastructure and necessary software in place, but is it ready for your customers? Optimizing your cloud service model can help you be certain you are selling the absolute best cloud environment to your customers that you can possibly offer, and drives a better quality end user experience. By taking time now to ensure your cloud is fully optimized, you can deliver a better environment for your customers and nurture customer loyalty.

Many cloud providers get hung up on highlighting the bells and whistles of their infrastructure and overlook the benefits their cloud service models can offer to their potential customers. In many cases, potential customers know that they need a cloud solution, but don’t know why or how to best utilize it for their unique business needs. Paying attention to your customers’ pain points and addressing those in your sales pitch is the easiest way to help them visualize how cloud infrastructure can augment their current business practices.

A marketing plan outlines how your corporate team will position and present its cloud offering. Its main components are: creating buyer personas, drafting a benefit statement, outlining your approach and measuring your results. Keeping these elements in mind, you can create an effective marketing plan for your whole team.

Launching a new product is a big undertaking, to say the least. It can come with stress and confusion, but it doesn’t have to. With careful planning and communication, you can smoothly and effectively lead your team to a successful new product implementation. This post is specifically for management personnel preparing their team to sell cloud resources to their customers, and discusses the importance of leadership commitment to your team throughout the new product implementation process. 

Taking into account each of these facets is important to attain an accurate calculation. In my research, I found three articles that outline how to calculate ROI for cloud environments. These act as a good starting point for you when determining the best way to fully calculate your ROI for your cloud. This three-step process walks you through the basics of setting up your process for determining ROI.

The decision to purchase a cloud environment is exciting and new. Previous blog posts this month have provided guidelines for how to use the cloud environment, choosing the correct cloud and how to secure your resources. You’ve chosen a vendor and are ready to implement, but there are always those lingering questions. What if the deployment doesn’t go smoothly? What if your applications aren’t executed correctly? This article gives you five easy ways to begin preparing for your cloud environment before you implement.

A national tragedy, such as the devastating tornado in Oklahoma, helps us bond as citizens and as a country. It makes us realize the importance of life, how short it can be and that anything can change in an instant. While it’s not always possible to avert a crisis, we can do our best to prepare for them and plan ahead for how to handle what comes our way. Developing a business continuity and disaster recovery plan is the first step toward preparing your business for any type of crisis.

You may have read last week’s blog post, How to use the Cloud: Which Type is Right for You? to gain further insight into the type of cloud environment that will best suit your needs. Now that you have a better understanding of which type of cloud is right for you, where do you begin investing? It's one thing to understand that you should invest in cloud and quite another to know how to get the most out of your cloud environment. These four tips can help you decide how to invest in cloud resources to get the most out of your purchase.

Finding the cloud environment that suits your needs can be difficult. Each company has its own set of requirements and expectations for how to use the cloud environment. When considering implementation of your own environment, you should consider several factors including: