According to a Microsoft-commissioned IDC study partners who generate 50% of revenues from the cloud enjoy higher gross profit, more customers, increased revenues per employees and faster growth.
Specifically the study claims cloud-oriented partners see x2.4 faster growth, x2.4 higher new customer mix and generate 30% more revenue per employee compared with noncloud-oriented partners.
"Cloud alone hasn't caused these impressive numbers, though that is absolutely part of it; top-performing partners were visionaries that took on cloud technologies before their peers," IDC says. "We're at the point in the industry's overall cloud transition where partners that don't move some of their business to the cloud likely won't survive."
Further on the study says 63% of potential customers expect to have a single cloud service provider, 67% expect to purchase "a wide variety" of cloud services from a single vendor and 74% expect their cloud service provider to be able to move a cloud offering back on-premises if required.
A significant amount (84%) also demand an "established relationship" with a vendor before trusting them as a cloud service provider.