Cloud Brokerages:
A Growing Trend
With the advent of cloud technology, cloud brokerages are on the rise.
But what exactly is a cloud brokerage?
And why are they becoming so popular?
Tristan Penver investigates…
T
he rise of new technology usually gives birth to new
ways and means of consuming it, as well as finding
new business models where the opportunity exists.
So it is with cloud service brokerages (CSBs).
CSBs, put simply, operate in a layer between cloud vendors
(eg. Microsoft, Google, Dropbox, etc.) and private enterprises, integrating various cloud services on one platform
and making it easier for businesses to administer, navigate,
integrate & consume cloud services whilst reducing cost
and risk at the same time. With so many services now available in the cloud, businesses can face serious complexity in
trying to manage all their services and accounts, particularly
if each service has its own separate account. CSBs add
value in simplifying this by offering a single sign-on point,
and usually a simple and logical dashboard of all current
services utilised by the organisation.
This in turn allows organisations to reduce their own investment in time and IT resources in managing the complexity.
It stands to reason that an organisation which spends less
time and effort on trivial administration is able to better
focus on other more profitable areas of the business.
Enterprises also benefit from the economies of scale
which CSBs can provide. Due to spanning a wide variety
of services from a multitude of providers, CSBs can often
offer better cloud usage rates than if individual enterprises
signed up for cloud services individually.
This ties into the core element of what CSBs can offer,
namely value. Whether it be simplicity, cost benefits, enhanced security or, as is often the case, all of the above, the
CSB needs to add value to the original cloud services being
offered in order to make a valid business case for itself.
Businesses it seems, are indeed seeing the value. Although
still in an infancy stage in general IT terms, CSBs are on the
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rise. Industry research giant Gartner predicts that 20% of
all cloud services will be sold via brokerages by 2015, and
that annual IT spend on CSB services will top $100 billion
next year.
CSB benefits are not the sole preserve of organisations either, but can extend to the providers too. By being bundled
in with a portfolio of services, providers potentially gain
exposure to a greater audience and have an increased
opportunity for cross-sell, something which CSBs take
advantage of in negotiating better pricing deals for their
customers.