ChannelVision Magazine

at your service: Xaas Despite high satisfaction rates, investment and adoption in desktop virtualization (VDI) is relatively low compared to other technologies, said Tom Dunlap, director of research at Irvine, Calif.-based Com- puter Economics. One possible reason for the low adoption could be the growth of SaaS and cloud. Desktop virtualization involves hosting the desktop experience in a cen- tral computing environment. Essentially, SasS does the same thing, except that, rather than hosting the entire desktop experience, the application is hosted. “SaaS is one of the fastest-grow- ing technologies in our survey, and it appears that rapid uptake of SaaS may be taking some of the steam out of VDI adoption, said Dunlap.” The current disparity between off- premises computing for large versus small companies almost disappears during the next two years as large organizations look to move more of their IT assets off-site, show findings from 451 Research. “Cloud vendors stand to benefit greatly in the com- ing year as 36 percent of very large enterprises plan to increase spend- ing on cloud services (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), dedicated/managed hosting, IT outsourcing and managed ser- vices,” said the research firm. Survey: Cloud Services Deliver for the Channel A survey of U.S. channel organiza- tions conducted by StorageCraft helps quantify the business benefits for part- ners that expand into cloud services. The survey reveals increased per cus- tomer and quarterly revenue, expanded new customer acquisition and improved customer retention as a direct result of adding cloud services to their portfolios. In terms of the motivation behind adding cloud services, 37 percent of the channel organizations surveyed cited a desire to expand their portfolios, while 32 percent saw themselves at a competitive disadvantage without so- phisticated cloud services. Another 13 percent added cloud services to win new customers, and 10 percent did so to in- crease revenues per customer. It’s likely those respondents will be satisfied with the related business results.  When asked about customer revenue, wins and retention due to adding cloud services, two-thirds of respondent reported an increase in revenue per customer, while nearly two-thirds (63 percent), reported im- proved customer retention. About a quarter of channel organizations reported to have won a new customer as a direct result of entering the cloud. When asked to quantify the impact of cloud services on quarterly revenue, four in 10 reported increased quarterly revenues of between 6 percent and 10 percent, while 15 percent reported increased quarterly reve- nues of between 11 percent and 19 percent. Desktop Virtualization Satisfaction High, Adoption Slow Enterprise Spending Shifts Off-Premises IT Professionals in Nor Data Protection Regul Source: UBM; Erwin Source: Forrester; survey of 4,513 U.S. online adults “Which of the following live-assist channels have you used in the past 12 months?” Conversation with a customer service representative or agent via telephone Voice Digital Visual Click-to-call The response to an mail that I sent to customer service Instant messaging/online chat with a live person Contacting a company using Facebook or other social channels that don’t include twitter Contacting a company using Twitter Sending a mobile/SMS message to the company requesting assistance Using a mobile messaging app Screen sharing Online video chat with a live person Percentage of IT Assets Off-Premises Off Premises Spending Increases Source: 451 Research IT Pros’ Most Critical Hosted VoIP Features Source: CenturyLink and Spiceworks 59% 37% 54% 45% 33% 31% 31% 30% 32% 32% 57% 55% 54% 52% 50% Audio conferencing Video conferencing Web conferencing IP desk phones IP telephony/ IP conference phones 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1-249 employees 1-249 employees 250-999 employees 1,000-9,999 employees 10,000+ employees 250-999 employees 1,000-9,999 employees 10,000+ employees 34% 48% 21% 22% 27% 36% 22% 44% 20% 45% 17% 43% Current In Two Years % of respondents Beginning t Not at all prepared 11% Not req GDPR do aff Desktop Virtualization Adoption and Investment Rate Trend Source: Computer Economics, 2017 Source: 451 Rese rch What are the most important features for a conferencing and collaboration experience on a mobile device? (Ranked 1-7) Source: PGi; Mobile World Live 1,000-9,999 employees 10,000+ employees 1,000-9,999 employees 10,000+ employees 27% 36% 20% 45% 17% 43% 60% 40% 20% 0% 2014 2015 2016 2017 30% 21% 35% 14% 30% 21% 35% 20% Percent of Organizations Adoption Rate Investment Rate How frequently do you use your desk phone for conference calls? Source: PGi; Mobile World Live 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Over 75% of calls 50% to 75% of calls 25% to 50% of calls Less than 25% of calls 10% 20% 30% 40% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Usage of battery power Audio quality Ease of access to meeting/one touch Data plan usage Reliability Ease of scheduling meetings HD Audio with background noise supression (No mute required) Channel Vision | March - April, 2018 40