2^nd Watch is a great example of an IT services business created to solve a personal need. When its founders wanted to move pieces of IT infrastructure for their previous companies to Amazon Web Services (AWS), they couldn't find anyone experienced enough to pull off the migration. Their solution was to build those skills themselves.

Successful engagements may start with technical expertise, but they live and thrive according to very human factors.

When Explore Consulting first signed on as a NetSuite channel partner more than a decade ago, the groundbreaking cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform was still relatively immature – and that's putting it kindly.

But by continually investing in its NetSuite technical capabilities – even before the cloud developer started an official certification program – Bellevue, Wash.-based Explore has made quite a name for itself.

It's no secret that getting a head start selling bleeding-edge technology makes for a high-margin opportunity and helps establish a solution provider as a go-to expert.  For Cumulus Global CEO Allen Falcon, partnering with Google before there was even such a thing as a Google partner program has made all the difference.

Cloud integrator Appirio probably has more MongoDB database programmers and Apple iOS mobile application experts than any other technology solution provider in the world, but that doesn't mean they're all on the payroll.  
 
The company's not-so-secret weapon is the crowdsourcing community Topcoder, through which it gains access to more than 650,000 designers, developers and data scientists, who can complement the skills of Appirio's own 900-person workforce.