Cloud Computing as a Means to an End

One of the problems with IT becoming a service in the age of the cloud is that services, like products, are subject to the laws of diminishing returns.

As cloud computing evolves it’s becoming apparent that just about every element of IT is being turned into some form of a service. The theory, of course, is that by making IT available as a service more customers will consume it. That means we’re essentially betting that demand will increase enough to outweigh the inevitable price wars that will ensue when it turns out that everybody is offering a variation of the same undifferentiated service.

In fact, that simple fact is about to become a whole lot more apparent to customers with the advent of uptimeCloud, a new software-as-a-service (SaaS) application that allows customers to track the pricing of cloud computing services in real time. With tools like uptimeCloud readily available, a spot market for cloud computing services is right around the next corner.

The probability of winning that particular bet is directly ties to how well your organization can scale the delivery of those services at the lowest cost possible. As it’s unlikely that more than 80 percent of the companies delivering cloud computing services can be among the lowest cost, most profitable providers, chances are high that cloud computing by itself is not going to be the path to profitability for the channel.

Ultimately, cloud computing is a means to an end for the channel. The cloud computing value proposition for the channel is going to be the ability to deliver IT services with little to no friction that can change the way a business operates. That change may come in the form of a custom application or simply just the business consulting skills needed to make it happen. In either form, it’s the solution provider that makes that change happen that will ultimately win the day. Cloud computing is a key enabling technology in terms of making that happen, but in no way should cloud computing be thought of as an end in of itself.