Channel Focus

Cloud service providers that choose to embrace the channel are having an easier time competing with the large players in the cloud market, including Amazon Web Services, executives at the roundtable said. That's because many businesses want to work with their trusted solution providers for a more "hands on" approach to the cloud, they said.

Today, Wayne, Pa.-based Evolve IP does 65 percent of its business through the channel. St. Louis-based TierPoint did about 23 percent of its bookings through partners in 2016 and hopes to grow that percentage by one-third over the next year. Green Cloud Technologies, based in Greenville, S.C., and Irvine, Calif.-based RapidScale have both chosen to go all in with the channel. Neither company has a direct sales force.