Service provider differentiation
The current economic climate has forced service providers to take a hard look at their business models and how they differentiate themselves from their competitors. The old business model was about cost-per-bit, but in the new paradigm, service providers realize they have to focus on what makes them stand out.
Delivering cloud-based consumer and business-critical applications with solid service-level agreements (SLAs) will not only allow service providers to differentiate themselves but will maximize the value of the network while promoting a new business model.
Moving to a cloud-based platform poses challenges and concerns for service providers. Dealing with standards, security, performance, data compliance aligned with procedures and operations, and availability issues are just a few of the organizational and technical challenges they'll have to address to make cloud computing a true value proposition.
Service providers can leverage their reputations and solid performances to offer reliable, comprehensive and secure cloud services. Most importantly, service providers can show value by strongly emphasizing that cloud computing allows enterprises to focus on other aspects of their businesses without having to concentrate resources on IT, server updates, and maintenance issues -- a win-win service offering for both service providers and their customers.
And last but certainly not least, by ensuring the value of services delivered via cloud computing, service providers not only deliver business value to their users but increase and extend their sustainability.
Ray Mota, managing partner at ACG Research
This article originally appeared on SearchTelecom.com