UK software and services company Advanced says that the move to cloud has boosted its channel sales. It says that partner community revenues are estimated to now be excess of £35m – one year after the launch of its TruePartner partner programme.
Advanced’s Channel Sales Director, Dean McGlone, has said that the Cloud, and arrival of the Generation Z cohort in the workforce have helped drive its channel sales. He explained: “The Cloud has now reached a tipping point, with adoption of Cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and finance applications experiencing a significant growth period. What’s more, we have seen the Cloud push out older, more traditional technology formats as Generation Z workers enter employment.”
While licence and core on-premise applications currently account for over 50% of Advanced’s overall channel sales, this figure will decrease if the trend seen over the last 12 months continues, he says. In fact, Advanced predicts the Cloud will become the primary choice for new customers within two years.
“Workers who were born after the mid-1990s have been familiar with the internet and technology since a young age and have had social media available virtually all through their adolescence. As digital natives, they are tipped to be the innovators in the workplace, who have an emotional connection to adopting innovation, a technical first mindset and prepared to challenge the technical status quo. They will expect modern technology, flexible working and a digital environment which employers are already now forced to accommodate. Our channel partners are therefore tapping into this opportunity.”
Kamarin Computers is one partner that has been seizing the opportunity. It is seeing more of its customers, which are predominantly mid-size organisations, move to the Cloud with many reporting that their Generation Z employees are influencing procurement decisions.
“Cloud technology has been around for some time,” commented George Smith, Managing Director at Kamarin Computers. “However, it’s the more established organisations – which are used to on-premise solutions – that have been slower to adopt it compared to start-ups and younger companies that have been Cloud-first from day one.
“Now, as Generation Z enters the workforce, we are seeing these established organisations ask questions around the Cloud because their employees expect them to be using it across all functions. These younger workers are starting to become part of management teams or play an important role in the IT decision making process.”
