Many channel partners have made far more progress selling cloud solutions than they have actually implementing them for their own systems and data.

Nearly 95 percent of channel companies say the cloud solutions they currently offer clients are either mature or somewhat mature, according to CompTIA’s Fifth Annual Trends in Cloud Computing report. That’s a big change in just five years. In 2010, CompTIA found that only 1 in 10 channel firms had any involvement at all with selling or using cloud solutions.

Today, not being in the cloud is more than just embarrassing. It’s also a serious shortcoming for any channel provider. Attaining cloud expertise is hugely important. Guess what? There’s no better way to gain this expertise than by moving your own systems and apps to the cloud—and you can start today with the help of robust partner programs, such as the Microsoft Partner Network’s cloud offerings.

This matters for another reason, too: Offering cloud solutions is different than selling a PC or tablet. Selling the cloud requires channel partners to adopt new business models, ones based not on one-time hardware or software sales, but on monthly service and solution fees. It also means channel suppliers need to act differently. When moving customers to the cloud, you also need to assume the role of a true solutions and services provider.

How to get started? First, don’t move your most critical systems first. That’s asking for trouble. Instead, take the advice of the experts: Adopt the cloud in stages. Start with pure experiments, moving low-risk systems that either duplicate already-existing systems or give you a function that you could, if worst came to worst, live without.

Then, assuming all goes well, shift some noncritical application to the cloud. If it breaks, too bad, but you can still operate. And if it succeeds, you’re ready to move into full production — and another step closer to the long-term goal: your business in the cloud.

Which applications or systems to move? The list of possibilities is long. You might consider storage, secondary email accounts, business productivity, collaboration and virtual desktops. Further along in your cloud migration? Then consider HR, help desk, CRM and financial management.

Along the way, you’re likely to need to make other changes, too. “In our move to the cloud, the biggest challenge was picking the right tools and partners,” says Richard Cummins, president and CEO of ISOCNET, a Crestview Hills, Kentucky, provider of managed services, email, cloud hosting and design. “Plus, everything needed to be documented and processed. [The cloud] is not something you just jump into.”

There are plenty of steps you can take to mitigate the challenges of moving to the cloud. These include getting new training, which is often available from cloud supplier partners. Another option is partnering with others to combine skill sets. You might even hire some new, cloud-savvy sales reps.

The one thing you won’t want to do? Not make the move to the cloud.