Ron Dupler, CEO of Kittery, Maine-based GreenPages, has attended all four of the Best of Breed Conferences. He said that the big difference he sees between the first event and the one held this week is that there is a lot more clarity around the changing industry. In 2011, people were still trying to understand the cloud and deciding if they wanted to make the investment. Today, that isn't a question anymore, he said.

"When we looked at things back in [2011], people were trying to understand, well, what does the cloud transformation mean? Is cloud real? Should we be investing and moving forward? I think today there's much more clarity. I think the theme this year is aftershock, and I think that's good because it's clear that the world's changed significantly and now it's a matter of how do we win and succeed as a solution provider community in this new world," Dupler said.

Dupler said GreenPages was going through that transformation itself four years ago, with dissent among the team on whether cloud was the best investment. However, that's not the case today, he said, as GreenPages pushes forward in hybrid cloud, virtualization, software defined data centers and other cutting edge technologies.

"I think, again like the industry at the BoB conference, we're moving forward today with a lot of clarity and it's pretty evident that second wave virtualization and hybrid cloud is a real phenomenon with big opportunity for us. I don’t think at this point in time there's much self-doubt around that," Dupler said.

David Powell, vice president of managed and cloud services at TekLinks, said he has seen a similar transformation in his own business. Over the past four years, TekLinks has seen explosive growth in its recurring revenue and managed services business. Powell said that the Birmingham, Ala.-based company has grown from $300,000 a month in recurring revenue five years ago to more than $2.2 million a month this year.

"There's always change in our industry and in our space. That's something that creates a lot of job security for us, for one, and two, a lot of opportunity. The pace of change now – people use the word unprecedented in a cavalier way and throw it around a lot, but I really do think this is somewhat unprecedented, the pace of change we've got now," Powell said.

Powell said that the key to success for TekLinks has been focus. Comparing it to a game of baseball, Powell said that it is better to play one position well rather than try to play all the positions.

"At the first BoB, we were deciding to play first base and focus on that, and now we've seen the results of that," he said.

While there has been significant progress in the industry, all solution providers agreed that the opportunity still ahead is immense.

"I think we've made significant progression in terms of clarity in the last four years, certainly," Dupler said. "But I think we're still scratching the surface. The best is yet to come. I think the whole industry and the solution provider channel has been in a period of a trough between waves – the first wave of virtualization and this new wave of what's coming up. I think the opportunity moving ahead is huge."