Resellers chase higher margins and easy renewals through
cloud and virtualisation service offerings
SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland, 20 November 2012 - According
to an Acronis survey* of more than 1,100 storage software resellers
across Europe, demand for cloud and virtualisation solutions is
encouraging a growing number of resellers to evolve into service
providers.
Close to half (43%) of the resellers surveyed claim that cloud
and virtualisation are the catalysts for changing their current
business model to become more of a service provider in the future.
Already, almost one in five (18%) resellers are offering white
label cloud services to their customers and the survey findings
suggest this number will rise.
Virtualisation has become ubiquitous with the vast majority
(90%) of resellers claiming to have virtualised some part of their
customer's infrastructure. Over a quarter (26%) of resellers
believe that services migrating customers from physical to virtual
to cloud environments deliver better margins.
According to nearly a third (30%) of those surveyed, the strong
attraction of cloud services lies in the fact that it represents a
great renewals business. Meanwhile, 36% are attributing the fact
that they're selling more licences and fewer boxes due to growing
demand for cloud and virtualisation solutions.
Alan Laing, VP EMEA, Acronis, said: "Wrapping services around
cloud and virtualisation is clearly an attractive proposition.
It's a business model that makes a great deal of sense for savvy
resellers who want to seize an opportunity to offer high margin
services and low-touch renewals fees. Cloud and virtualisation are
rapidly transforming the technology landscape, and resellers must
evolve if they want to remain competitive and stay ahead."
Chris Roche, Managing Director of ACUTEC Limited said: "The
economic downturn has increased pressure to cut costs and deliver
greater value from an IT investment. As a result, customers are
moving more quickly to embrace strategies that meet these
requirements. Cloud and virtualisation rank amongst the top
technologies to optimise almost any organisations server and
storage optimisation strategy, and we're evolving our business
model to capitalise on this revolution."
* The survey is an annual barometer of Acronis' partner's
perceptions and vision of market trends. Over 1,100 Acronis EMEA
partners across 10 European countries, including Germany, France,
UK, Italy, and Netherlands were surveyed in March 2012.
About Acronis:
Acronis is a leader in AI-native cyber protection, unifying data protection, cybersecurity, IT operations and hybrid infrastructure to deliver business continuity, security and compliance with less cost and complexity. More than 21,000 service providers trust Acronis to protect over 750,000 businesses in 150 countries. Acronis is headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. For more information, visit www.acronis.com.