Refining Expectations

As the channel gains more experience with the cloud, it has begun to see problem areas and reset expectations around ROI, cost and skills needs, CompTIA's channel study found. Cloud solution providers are now in what CompTIA calls the "refinement" process.

Part of that is driven by a shift in how business customers view the cloud. "Rather than taking a broad view that all offsite IT is cloud-based, companies are demonstrating an appreciation for the characteristics of true cloud systems," CompTIA said in the "Trends" report.

Michael Stolarczyk, vice president of sales and business development at VeriStor, based in Duluth, Ga., calls the "refinement" assessment accurate. Discussions with customers are more detailed than they were two years ago, and "there are much deeper, longer gestation periods" around cloud, he said.