Early adopters of cloud computing are among the “best performing” partners, according to findings from a Microsoft commissioned study.

Conducted by IDC, the report is based on in-depth executive interviews with Microsoft partners during 2013, focusing on key performance indicators, profit drivers, challenges and best practices.

“Cloud services represent a growing opportunity for partners of all types in a wide array of activities across resale, services, and development,” the report says.

“However, it’s of key importance that partners have an understanding of the what, where, how, and why of cloud services prior to embarking on wholesale business strategy change.”

Developed through conversations with leading Microsoft cloud partners and backed by supportive survey data, the report provides a profile of the potential upside of integrating cloud to a partner’s mix of solution offerings.

Key findings of the report include:

Top partners take a hybrid approach to success:

Cloud growth is 5x that of the IT industry overall but according to the findings, the reality is that customers will continue to have on-premise technologies for a long time to come.

Cloud partners are the best performing partners:

In multiple surveys, cloud-oriented partners significantly outperformed their peers: Higher Revenue/Employee, Higher Gross Profit, Higher Customer Acquisition, and Faster Growth.

Top partners tend to embrace cloud trends early:

While cloud contributes to these metrics, the study says it’s clear that top-performing partners have taken on cloud first, incorporating cloud as part of their overall successful business model.

Cloud can improve partner business models:

Top partners agree that cloud helps open new doors, upsell other software and services, and generally grow revenue. The study claims gross profit has improved for many partners, as they learn how to offer fixed fee engagements with optimised delivery.

Risks and obstacles along the journey:

Cloud partners have had to manage cash flow issues, replace old streams of revenue with new ones, and manage often longer sales cycles with Microsoft quick to downplay the notion that you can sell one cloud offering and prosper.

To read the full report click here