Each cloud is different. What may have worked for a business partner or CEO’s previous organisation may not necessarily work for your client’s current business environment. You can help your clients select the best cloud by first identifying their needs and expectations and what is most important to them (e.g. data speed or cost?).

What are their IT infrastructure needs and application demands? What do they need in terms of flexibility, scalability or compliance considerations? These questions are all conversation openers when discussing differences between various providers’ offerings and how they align with their established needs, expectations and priorities.

Moving to the cloud is no picnic, even for the most efficient companies. It is extremely important to ask the right questions in order to identify crucial areas that need to be mapped prior to the migration start.

For example… Which workloads are to be moved to the cloud? Is transferring certain legacy applications feasible and worth the cost and effort involved? How long will the migration process take, what are the stages, have relevant people and resources been identified, informed and made responsible? None of these questions are easy, however asking them up front may alleviate a lot of headaches, costs and time further down the track.

It’s vital your clients assess how their apps and processes will perform in the cloud. Will they be able to access the server, storage, memory, following the migration? Will existing applications function effectively in the cloud? Again, important questions which need to be asked, and answered, in advance.

Some tweaks in the apps may be necessary to make up for sharing computing resources with other apps hosted on the same servers. Your clients may be able to customise or fine-tune existing application to the new environment or if not, find the right replacement ahead of time. The importance of testing application functionality and troubleshooting before the migration cannot be stressed enough.

Your clients don’t need to move their whole company to the cloud in one go. A phased approach is nearly always recommended as it allows to identify hidden migration challenges while moving the “low hanging fruit” and addressing any issues which may arise before business-critical applications and processes are moved.

The journey to the cloud could begin with moving just a few applications. You could start by helping your client identify which ones should make the first move. Non-critical apps, low impact web apps, collaborative tools, applications that don’t process sensitive data, analytics platforms or batch processing systems are all good choices.

While adjusting is necessary, it may also bring resellers considerable possibilities to increase their overall profits – even if the latter will be coming at a different pace than before. With Cloud solutions expanding constantly, the initial sale is just the beginning of a journey, as Cloud sales opportunities are constantly growing and are expected to vastly increase with every year.

What happens after a successful migration? Cloud needs to be managed and requires dedicated human resources. Some cloud partner programs come with a dedicated account manager or solutions architect, or sometimes both, who serve as an extension of your client’s IT team. They will provide valuable technical support and guidance but will not replace your client’s own team.

The IT staff will still have to set up backups, configure networks, lock down critical data and perform other tasks. Make sure your client is aware of this and plans accordingly beforehand.

Have you come across other cloud myths that need debunking? Let’s talk about how you can effectively talk with your clients about cloud migration and maximise your possibilities with the Tech Data Cloud Partner Program.