SMBs Want More Cloud Services, But Feel Overwhelmed

Sixty-one percent of the SMBs surveyed would like to scale their use of cloud services, while only 20 percent believe they're already using all the cloud software they need, AppDirect found.

But even more of the 500 respondents — nearly three-quarters of those polled — said the overwhelming number of choices on the market is holding them back, and they need help selecting vendors.

"They can adopt one or two solutions from a vendor directly, or from a mass distributor like a telco, but beyond that horizontal, they don’t know what they need," AppDirect's Saks said.

That's where channel partners can play a vital role as trusted advisors, and drive profits, he added. Otherwise, SMBs are slow to buy.

"We see it all the time; businesses of all sizes trying to navigate the number of SaaS options. Part of the value of having a partner is having a trusted advisor that sees across all their customers the SaaS applications that work and don't work," said Aric Bandy, president of Agosto, a Google Premier partner based in Minneapolis. "Companies look to partners to help them figure out which services they need."