Four reasons why you should sell IBM SoftLayer cloud

Public cloud spending is expected to grow to USD127.5 billion 2018 from USD56.6 billion in 2014, according to the latest IDC figures.

Will you be able to capture a share of that spend with your current cloud offerings?

If you can’t unequivocally answer yes to that question and you’re looking for cloud services offerings that can help you build your cloud client list, I have some great news for you: four reasons why you should be working with IBM and selling IBM SoftLayer:

1. IBM offers a choice of open cloud infrastructure services for IT operations, with its lead IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) offerings based on SoftLayer global cloud infrastructure.

• With different machine virtualization services that run both advanced operating systems and analytics software, plus cloud storage solutions that encompass object storage, network storage and mass storage servers, SoftLayer provides the highest performing cloud infrastructure available.

2. When you sell SoftLayer cloud services, you could:

• Provide your customers with infrastructure on demand in data centers around the world
• Provide your customers with a pay-as-you-go model where they only pay for what they use
• Easily integrate SoftLayer into your offerings courtesy of an automated platform
• Differentiate your services and solutions while meeting the unique needs of your enterprise clients’ hybrid cloud environments

3. SoftLayer channel programs provide a variety of benefits, including:

• Top performing partners have access to SoftLayer/IBM Global Technology Services (GTS) Channel Account Managers for business development, enablement, and provisioning
• Preferential delivery on limited, overstock, and promotional inventory
• Multiple partnership options available to meet a number of business models
• Dedicated channel sales resources
• Volume pricing discounts

4. We caught up with six IBM Business Partners at InterConnect 2015 who are successfully selling IBM SoftLayer solutions, and asked them to tell us what they’re doing. Here’s what they had to say:

Nathan Smith recounts Essextec’s (and IBM’s) transformational journey to cloud (watch the video).

Stephen Jones relates how TriDatum Solutions analyzes on-premise workloads and securely migrates relevant ones to the SoftLayer cloud (watch the video).

Shay David talks about their Open Video Platform solution and how the agility, transparency and control provided by SoftLayer are significant to the success of large scale enterprise deployments (watch the video).

John McCaffrey discusses how Virtustream moves mission-critical SAP applications to the IBM SoftLayer cloud (watch the video).

Mike Kochanik reviews how Flow Corporation’s cloud-based solution on SoftLayer connects users to information streams (watch the video).

CIMA Architects CEO John Alday discusses CIMA’s on-premises and off-premises infrastructure solutions in the SoftLayer cloud (watch the video).

Special thanks to John Alday, Mike Kochanik, John McCaffrey, Shay David, Stephen Jones and Nathan Smith for sharing their stories. If you’d like to join the IBM Business Partner team, contact me at @denysemackey on Twitter, via email at [email protected] or connect with me on LinkedIn.