The Payoffs Of Experience

Those same solution providers that take in most of their revenue from the cloud have twice the growth and one-and-a-half times the gross profit of those on the other side of the revenue median.

And longevity with cloud solutions can be an advantage. Solution providers who have at least three years of experience with cloud have grown their businesses about 18 percent, compared with 10 percent who have been with cloud for less than two years. The bottom lines are higher, too, for those who grasped cloud earlier, with 32 percent gross profit, compared with 27.5 percent.

“There is no real substitute for actual years of experience,” IDC said.

But, as financial investment advisers will always warn: Past performance is not guarantee of future success. “Do not rest on your past achievements,” IDC warns.