As the economy continues to be turbulent and somewhat challenging for businesses of all sizes today, IT infrastructure is forging to an even more important business consideration and strategy. Critical back up and recovery processes, compliance, security and overall optimization of business applications systems is in the forefront of all C-Level executives in today's business market.

While businesses realize that they need to look at more options to optimize business capital cash flow and IT strategies, they still hesitate to completely 'let go'of their infrastructure. There is more and more buzz about a Hybrid model for businesses today.. a mix of systems in their own data centers on site and in the 'cloud' or in a hosted data center. This model in my opinion relieves some of the fear today's businesses have on letting go of their IT infrastructure and putting it in the 'cloud.' The trending clearly states that this model will forge ahead in the coming months, and businesses will realize that hosting in the cloud is not a complication but a total compliment to their current and fore casted IT investments.

GOIWX, Inc. - Business Development Manager, Molly Burgess, SIP Global Markets Microsoft Partners

Labels: Cloud, Hosting, hybrid cloud computing, it strategy

"The most aggressive SaaS adopters are small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs)." - Saugatuck Technology, market strategy consultancy

"Saas has an element of being recession proof." - Forrester Research

As we bring on new partners, many of their sales staff are finding that with a new offering there are differences in selling a Hosted version of an ERP or CRM product. Not because of software application product value proposition, but learning to introduce the concept of hosting. Having deep knowledge and confidence can be a challenge without having the practical experience. Often these folks are a bit unfamiliar with the off-premise or "In-the-Cloud" options concerning deployment or even presenting Hosting. Hopefully the following perspectives may help you overcome breeching the conversation.

You can introduce Hosting into your business conversations quite easily. Start by using these points when talking to your clients or prospects:

- "What is your IT strategy over the next 3-5 years?" "90% of companies are planning to maintain or increase their investment in SaaS." -Gartner

- "What are your IT Priorities & Initiatives?" By leveraging hosting you can help them meet their goals which are typically "lower our hardware investment" or "get more for less IT dollars" and "lower Cap-Ex investments."

- "Have you considered a pure or hybrid Hosted model to leverage your existing IT?" When utilizing a Hosted solution, IT staff are often concerned about the security of their role within the company. Actually with hosting comes opportunity for IT. A hosted software delivery model (or Hybrid Cloud Computing) allows them to focus on the actual use of the software, user community training and support, and helping the organization actually get more return on software investment.

Remember, as a GoIWx Partner, you can call on us to act as your firms Sales Engineer and help address questions or concerns in a non-competitive way. We are Partners in the truest sense of the word, we don't provide Professional Services and with a SaaS offering, we all win. You get your Professional Services revenue, our shared customer gets more IT for less, and we can focus on providing the best Hosting experience possible!

Labels: CRM, data center, ERP, Hosting, saas, selling