ICONZ-Webvisions: Cloud for the masses

UFB is levelling the playing field and boosting potential cloud uptake says Deidre Steyn, ICONZ-Webvisions general manager, managed hosting, ANZ.

Cloud uptake is expected to go through the roof with the availability of ultra fast broadband (UFB) on the rise.

UFB is in its third year of roll out and it’s estimated that half of all urban based businesses already have access to it.

Pre fibre rollout, connectivity speed (or rather lack thereof) has been the number one issue plaguing resellers who are pushing cloud solutions.

Faster, more reliable connection options were often unavailable or too expensive for the majority of SMBs. The UFB rollout is slowly but surely levelling the playing field.

At present, the majority of small to medium businesses using cloud servers are only just getting by on their ADSL connections – which doesn’t exactly ‘cut the mustard’.

However, by 2015 it’s predicted that 90% of urban based businesses will finally have access to UFB. This is great news for cloud vendors and resellers alike, as previous speed restrictions due to cost have been lifted.

For example, a small business using cloud services via ADSL now has the option to upgrade to a UFB connection at a similar cost to what they are currently paying.

They’ll get the connection speed needed to comfortably connect to their cloud server – without forking out for business grade fibre. This then makes the jump to cloud for many SMBs an extremely viable option.

Getting on board

A Gartner survey (March 2014) of APAC and Japan revealed that cloud was nominated as the top area for new technology spending by CIOs.

Mobile app development and device management came in second 'indicating significant investments in the drive for greater agility'.

All signs point to an ever increasing cloud uptake and now is the time to get on the bandwagon. The first step for a reseller to capitalise on the UFB rollout is understanding which customers are suitable for a cloud solution.

Once potential cloud customers are isolated, resellers can then identify those who are currently sitting in lit areas versus those who are in areas planned to be lit in the future.

Steps to achieving this would involve the reseller getting a complete database of their customers’ addresses and collaborating with a UFB provider to identify which customers have access to UFB.

Splitting your potential cloud customers into these two segments’ will channel your focus onto hot leads first, all the while keeping tabs on areas of future roll out.

At ICONZ-Webvisions we have helped other resellers break down the barriers to cloud sales using UFB as the enabler.

Isn’t it time to make the move?