Here is a quote to chew on, “Solution providers are terrible marketers. They don’t invest in marketing. They don’t frame their value propositions beyond their technical skill sets. And they have unrealistic expectations for the returns on their marketing investments.”  This is courtesy of Channelnomics post “VARs Must Market Up and Down the Channel.”

I have to say I don’t disagree having come from a VAR before joining Seagate 7 years ago.  Back then, when Market Development Funds (MDF) money flowed more freely, we constantly marketed ourselves to our vendor partners to embark on campaigns to small to medium business and government and education customers.

Today, let’s face it, with lower margins on hardware, and the movement to cloud and managed services, the MDF that once flowed freely from vendors to partners is much tighter and more stringent. If it exists at all. What vendors once invested downstream in partner marketing has shifted to vendors’ own marketing budgets in hopes of generating their own brand awareness and preference, and thus, leads.

Yet, for many vendors, lead generation is where the marketing metric stops.  Building a database of tens of thousands of customers isn’t worth much if those customers are buying your wares. Let’s face it, most vendors are not equipped to call on small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) directly.  Their sales force is either too small, or their direct customer support model is not scalable. This is where VARs tend to shine.  The high touch support and personal relationships they establish with customers, especially SMBs, is still needed even in the virtual IT world of cloud computing.

The problem: what VARs do vendors send their SMB leads to? Larry Walsh makes an excellent point in his Channelnomics post:

“To earn those opportunities, solution providers need to educate and continually reinforce their competencies, capabilities and capacities to their vendors. By providing vendor sales with a steady stream of information on certifications, qualifications, staffing, market reach and extended partnerships, a solution provider will differentiate themselves from their peers and remain top-of-mind when opportunities arise.”

Most, if not all, vendors have partner programs like Seagate’s SPP (Seagate Partner Program). And, I believe, many times these partner programs are not leveraged to the full extent.  VARs / solution providers should view their vendor partner programs as the key to marketing upstream in 2013.  Consider it your New Year’s Resolution to do the following:

• When vendors ask to update your partner profile – do it. Partner profiles are the means in which vendors segment partners by area of expertise, vertical markets served, geographic location, etc.
• Establish a personal relationship with your vendors’ partner program managers.  Really – there are real people behind these programs and they love talking to and engaging with partners.
• Get as many sales, marketing, and technical people at the company registered in vendors’ partner programs. This will ensure there is no gatekeeper to the information, or the relationship with partner program managers at vendors.
• Take interest in vendor marketing campaigns. Be involved and ask questions about your vendors’ marketing strategies especially to your customer base.  Look for ways to leverage such campaigns into your own sales and marketing efforts, and make a direct connection between vendor lead generation and your company.
• Provide results.  Vendors love metrics and success stories.  The easiest way for you to get up on a vendor’s webpage is to co-develop a compelling success story or case study on how you used the vendor’s product to solve a problem. At the same time, metrics are key.  Vendors marketing activities live and die on metrics.  If vendors can link marketing dollars spent directly to revenue, you’re golden.

The good thing is this doesn’t cost you any money…just time and dedication.  After all, all you are doing is what you do best with your customers – relationship building. This time, it’s upstream.

Here’s to a fresh start in 2013!

This post titled “How An SMB Cloud Provider Can Create ‘Swagger’ In A Competitive Market” on CRN by Antonio Piriano, CTO, ScienceLogic touches on that very point. Antonio makes the important point that “Competing in today’s industry can be challenging, and retaining “swagger” when competing with giants requires a shift in thinking. The winners will effectively launch differentiated services on top of reselling IaaS, such as AWS, or will need to gear up and elevate themselves to the professional leagues.”

Many hosting companies, as Antonio points out in his article, adopt an “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em strategy”  meaning, why compete with Amazon, Google, Rackspace, etc when you can simply resell their cloud capabilities?  This is not the only route to take. Small but hungry hosting providers can retain and grow their swagger and compete on the same stage as the big boys by adopting a ”monkey see, monkey do” strategy, and where to start is their infrastructure – both hardware and software. How?

1. Open Source:  Invest in capabilities that leverage the ever expanding open source software market.  Openstack is a logical choice, as they are building a huge community of developers. I recently attended Cloud Expo in Santa Clara, California earlier this month, and left with an invigorated  appreciation and interest in Openstack.  I blogged about Jonathan Bryce – Executive Director Openstack Foundation – Cloud Expo opening (no pun intended) keynote where when it comes to mass cloud innovation, adoption, and scale…Open is the answer.

Why?  Because it guards against one of the biggest risks of cloud: vendor lock-in. One of the most tweeted quotes, “There’s a difference between sticky and lock-in” referencing open source versus proprietary solutions.  The key to technology that is sticky (open) is that it enables users to “run it how you want, where you want, on the hardware you want, with the tools you want.”  Which brings us to our second point.

2. Open Systems:  The statement, “on the hardware you want”  brings this point home.  Increasingly, the larger cloud providers are moving away from proprietary OEM hardware and software to power their cloud data centers.  Instead, they are designing their own software stack in-house to manage the hardware in terms of performance, reliability, scalability, security, etc. What this means is that they don’t need all of the bells and whistles of a high end enterprise solution. They’re moving to custom systems built by local or regional system builders.

SMB hosting companies can do the same. Familiarizing yourself with open source software solutions, and then partnering with a local system builder to provide you the architecture is not only a formula for cost savings, it’s a formula that spurs innovation and differentiation in the services an SMB hosting provider can deliver.

Seagate saw this trend unfolding, which is why we launched our Cloud Builder Alliance program highlighting the best of the best system builders across the globe that are focused on cloud servers and storage.  Unfortunately the software side of things is up to you to navigate, but when it comes to the servers and storage hardware you want to run it on…look no further than Seagate Cloud Builder Alliance partners.

According to this post by Cloud Tweaks, “ A recent small business cloud computing survey from Microsoft found that a chief concern of potential SMB cloud customers is the security and privacy of their data. A full 70% of small businesses are concerned about where their data is stored. Just over half of all SMBs cite data privacy as a potential deal breaker for adopting cloud services. And only 36% of businesses think their data is as or more secure in the cloud than their current on premises solution.”

The answer is that there is no real answer. The threat of hackers will always be there, but SMBs can take the necessary steps to ensure their data is encrypted whether it’s in flight or stationary or retired.  Cloud Tweaks offers a great list of options to SMBs in the area of encryption and data security relative to cloud storage.

Sure, many SMBs are migrating to the cloud, especially startups, but there are many that choose to keep their data in house, and use the cloud for disaster recovery. For those businesses, network attach storage seems to be the route of choice when it comes to small business storage.  It’s relatively inexpensive, super simple to use, has cloud-like features built-in, and offers encryption.

Seagate’s BlackArmor line of small business storage is one example.  There are countless NAS boxes on the market fully populated with hard drives, and even empty systems that SMBs can choose to populate with drives themselves. This is becoming more and more common as small businesses look to purchase only what they need and expand their capacity by simply adding another hard drive. Most, if not all, have the same set of features listed above:

• Remote Access
• Data Encryption
• Hot-swappable hard drives
• Windows & Mac compatible

No doubt, as SMB’s data continues to grow, security remains a top concern, and the cloud becomes more of the go-to option, the NAS market is going to need to evolve to offer even more. More capacity, greater security, better cloud integration…all great features, but what else? Or, is this enough?

SMBs chime in…what is your must have feature for your storage needs?  Not today, tomorrow…where do you see your business heading? What storage pains are just starting to rear their head?

Related Posts:

NAS in Simple Terms

Protect, Store, and GET MORE…

Good Things Come in 3 TBs…

The same characteristics of the triangle offense may apply to business when it comes to ISVs, VARs, and the Cloud.

• ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) must adapt to a changing world from on-premise to off-premise hosting of their applications, how they redesign, revitalize, and redeploy their technology is a concern highlighted in this great read on Cloud Computing Journal by Jiten Paitil.
• VARs (Value Add Resellers) must adapt to the same on-premise to off-premise model as their SMB customers increasingly move their compute and storage workloads from servers in their offices to servers in the cloud.
• The Cloud is an ideal path for ISVs to develop, deliver, and manage their applications, and Cloud Service Providers especially smaller niche players are looking to tap an already existing VAR community to expand their offering, and grow their business.

Image by virtualphotographystudio.com

I swear, if you looked at 10 technology ads aimed at small business, 9 of them would have the word “simple” in them.

But, according to a recent ECSB survey ”66% of small business owners feel excited about investing in technology to manage their business. Conversely, 73% of marketers think owners would feel stressed over such a task.”

Holy disconnect!

The survey polled small business owners in North America, when it comes to technology milestones, small business owners cited milestones like:

• when we moved to all digital files
• when we re-launched our website
• when we made all our systems mobile
• when we got VoIP

In fact, small business owners are increasingly more likely to use the technology they have deployed as a feature of their business. This makes sense considering small businesses are competing more and more with medium and large enterprise businesses and sometimes suppliers don’t give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the technology they deploy just because they are “small.”

So, here’s a thought…marketing 101.

When marketing or selling to small business, don’t lead with simplicity, or ease of use.  Lead with what the technology does for their business, for their marketability and competitiveness.  How does the technology you provide translate into customer value?  The fact that it’s simple to use, cost effective, flexible….those are given…they are no longer the differentiators. Instead, answer: what does your technology or solution mean to my customers?

Seems obvious, just not evident.

What’s your next small business milestone and how are you using technology to make it happen?

Related Posts:

3 Rules for small business marketing…

Hey vendors, make me smarter

Marketing that works for small business resellers

• The largest channel pub CRN says the cloud is ripe to explode – especially among SMBs – the IT Channel’s  primary audience.
• At least half of the respondents cited show improvements in security, data access, ROI, customer satisfaction, productivity – sounds like all of the buzzwords we have been using for traditional IT over the past 3 decades….could it be even that much better?

But, there are some naysayers, and the largest impediment to cloud adoption (aside from, ironically, security – which appeared as both a benefit, and an obstacle) seems to be awareness and education. Channel resellers and VARs have a great opportunity in front of them to be the trusted advisors SMBs need in navigating the cloud. With all of the talk in the IT circles around cloud, still, 71% never heard of it, nor knew anything about it. This says that the numbers relative to the benefits of the cloud are derived from 29% of those polled. Here is a talking point to kick off your cloud customer discussions, and education.

“Did you know that of the ~30% of SMBs that are aware of the cloud and have implemented cloud computing in some way are experiencing lower costs, higher customer satisfaction, greater agility? That means that your competition, that has adopted the cloud, may be ahead of you in terms of growth. It’s time to take a closer look at the cloud, and what it has to offer your business.”

Not a bad intro.

What’s your cloud conversation starter?

 Related Posts:

SMB cloud benefits? There’s an IBM app for that too…

[Infographic] SMB’s migration to the cloud

Want to go back to college? Check out CloudU

Solution Providers (Cloud) Optimistic for 2011

That’s the question Symantec aimed to find the answer for in their latest global 2012 Disaster Preparedness Survey.

Symantec looked at probably the three biggest mega trends in IT today – Virtualization, Cloud, and Mobility – and how Small to Medium Sized Businesses (SMB) disaster preparedness is affected after adopting these technologies.  The survey included 2,053 business and IT executives at companies with employee counts between 5 and 250 from 30 countries.

Summary of the findings:

1. Adoption of mega trends:

• 35% use mobile devices to access business information.
• 34 % plan or have deployed server virtualization.
• 43% use private clouds
• 40% use public clouds

2. Disaster Preparedness had a moderate to large impact on their decisions to adopt a mega trend:

• 30% for mobility
• 34% for server virtualization
• 30% for private clouds
• 34% for public clouds

3. Impact on disaster preparedness

• 36% experienced improved preparedness with mobility
• 71% experienced improved preparedness with virtualization
• 43% experienced improved preparedness with private clouds
• 41% experienced improved preparedness with public clouds

What is interesting about surveys like this is to flip the numbers around.  Granted, we don’t know what the answer options were for each question, but let’s assume it’s a combination of the opposite or “I don’t know”. Consider this…

65% of SMBs don’t use mobile devices to access business information, or don’t know. 66% have no plans to deploy server virtualization, or don’t know.  57% don’t use private clouds, or don’t know, and 60% don’t use public clouds, or don’t know.

I am surprised by the mobile device numbers especially given the growth of mobile and the whole consumerization of IT phenomenon. The server virtualization I can see, it’s still a growth area in SMB.  But, when it comes to the cloud…I find this one a bit surprising – especially the public cloud number. I thought the number would be much lower. Maybe it’s all in the definition of a public cloud or lack thereof that may steer the numbers in one direction or another.

When it comes to the impact on disaster preparedness, with the exception of server virtualization, a majority of SMBs surveyed experienced little or no improvement – or didn’t know.

I like to take these surveys with a little grain of salt.  No doubt the information is helpful, but it’s best to go off and triangulate, validate, substantiate, etc with other 3rd party research, or better yet, ask your own customers, peers, or partners you work with.  There’s nothing like first hand knowledge.

Are you disaster-ready?

Image by IBM

What better way to help educate small to medium sized businesses (SMB) on the cloud than an app?

At least that is what IBM has done.

In a post on Smarter Technology (sponsored by IBM), Rebecca Kutzer-Rice describes an new app for the iPad that aims to help SMBs understand if the cloud is right for them.  It’s called the IBM Cloud for Midsize Businesses by Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Inc.

No doubt the sheer number of articles and whitepapers in the social sphere on the cloud can be daunting for any SMB owner or IT manager (they could be one in the same) to sift through.  IBM put together a simple app for the iPad that hopes to help ease the learning curve and aims SMBs in the right direction.

From what I have read, the SMB market is one that many cloud providers are aiming for, and though many SMB’s have already opted for the cloud in one way shape or form, still two-thirds of them are hesitant about the technology with security cited as the most pressing concern.

According to the Smarter Technology post, this IBM iPad app is packed with easy to navigate definitions, charts, graphs, interviews, and even case studies that mimic real-world scenarios where the cloud may be beneficial.

Kudos to IBM for recognizing and appreciating the fact that the cloud is a bit of the wild wild west right now, and for SMB’s to adopt it in droves, we need to start with some fundamental education and enlightenment. Who among us couldn’t use more of that?

SMB owners: What’s your top concern when it comes to adopting the cloud?

Related Posts:

[Infographic] SMB’s migration to the cloud

Want to go back to college? Check out CloudU

Jansen has a wealth of knowledge and has covered the storage industry for the past ten years, and the NAND and SSD markets for the past five. So we spent a few minutes with Jansen to ask him about his latest take on the technology.

Seagate: Solid State Hybrid Drives like Momentus XT promise performance near that of SSDs but with the capacity of an HDD, all at an affordable price. Were you skeptical about SSHD being able to deliver those benefits when Seagate first announced the Momentus XT?

Jansen: Seagate has been involved in SSHD technology for a long time, and has been able to make substantial improvements with each generation. The Momentus PSD released in October 2007 was disappointing, but the first generation Momentus XT released last year was a remarkable turnaround, offering much better performance than other proposed caching solutions.

The latest generation Momentus XT has definitely closed the gap with SSDs, building on the strengths of traditional low-cost storage while mitigating most of its weaknesses.

Seagate: What advances impress you the most in this technology?

Jansen: The advances in the NAND flash controller and firmware made by Seagate are very impressive. This is an area that has posed significant challenges for SSD manufacturers, and Seagate has put a lot of engineering resources to ensure that doesn’t happen. Anybody can slap some NAND onto a hard drive and call it a hybrid, but it is the controller and firmware that is the secret sauce.

Seagate: What applications get the most benefit with SSHDs?

Jansen: Boot times are the metric that most consumers use to judge performance. SSHDs provide a significant and quantitative improvement in that regard. The firmware and caching scheme used by the 750GB Momentus XT will significantly speed up a user’s most commonly used applications.

Seagate: What do you see for the future of SSHDs?

Jansen: There are still significant improvements that can be made, but eventually SSHDs will enter the mainstream through OEM adoption, in the same way that 7200RPM HDDs are the standard. HDDs are the bottleneck in most systems; most components have access speeds of a few nanoseconds, while HDDs are still measured by milliseconds. SSHDs have the potential to transform the entire PC industry by significantly improving the user experience at an affordable cost.

Interested in more? The webcast is December 6, 2011 at 11 a.m. PST / 2:00 p.m. EST. (And remember to sign up to try to win the SSHD-powered high-performance laptop.)

What’s different is that the award comes from CRN giving a survey to actual solution providers. Check it out here and see the other winners – The significance of the award is not that we’re among the top 10 in the list of 25 (even though it’s a very cool accomplishment). It’s that the awards were determined by actual solution providers in the channel based on survey questions that revolved around customer demand, partner relevance, technology, and partnership.

Being selected as one of top 10 best companies to partner with in 2011 by our customers tells us we’re doing some things right in the channel. But wait! That’s not enough — we know there’s always room for improvement. What kind of ways can Seagate better serve you? Don’t think your comments will fall on deaf ears – we’ll share them with our internal channel team. Promise.