Crossing the Chasm is a book released in 1991 and now common marketing phrase that refers to the gap of time or vision that exists between a newly released high technology product’s positive reception by a limited number of people (early adopters) and acceptance by a broader range of people (early majority). In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore finds that success comes from understanding how to position a product for those that want their expectations to be fulfilled is very different from those that gravitate towards the promise of new high tech products. In applying the term to revenue generated by sales of cloud applications, the visionaries are those who believe in the promise of the cloud and the pragmatists are those hesitant to fully embrace a new cloud computing business strategy.

Partners are expressing both real and imagined concerns about how to build successful cloud businesses and it would be wrong to state that only the visionaries are correct and will succeed. Both groups will succeed or fail based upon their choice of strategies and more importantly, their ability to execute. However, the revenue chasm between low monthly recurring fees and much needed higher monthly payments must include two elements: Product Bundling and Professional Services.

Product Bundling is fairly well understood by most suppliers and there are many good examples. However, Professional Services is viewed as the domain of larger Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) or specialized partner. Moreover, they are considered outside the expertise or delivery capabilities of the average partner. This is the chasm that must be crossed. Partners must find ways to provide the Professional Services that 45% of the market requires.

Most partners understand there are significant benefits for customers transitioning their current technology infrastructures to the cloud. However, to achieve these benefits requires a migration of IT services, processes and practices that can often be daunting. In fact, 50% of companies are considering migrating to the cloud but nearly 45% view such a migration as an obstacle to the effort. Partners that provide professional migration services not only shorten sales cycles and increase their sales/revenue, they, also, dramatically reduce the concern of customers who want to adopt cloud solutions.

CloudRoute and a few other CSPs are offering partners both the ability to sell exciting cloud solutions and deliver much needed professional services. Partners without the internal resources to plan and execute cloud migrations should select CSPs that have professional service programs.

CloudRoute has identified four selling principles partners should follow or expect of their selected CSP:

• Business value not technology should drive customer discussions
• Applications should be bundled to increase business value
• Offer Professional Services
  • Migration from current to cloud-based infrastructure
  • Integration into existing systems (hybrid cloud environment)
  • Custom development or implementation services
• Application bundles and Professional Services should be packaged to increase business value and average revenue per user (ARPU)