A Contributed Prediction from John Zanni, Vice President, Service Provider Marketing and Alliances, Parallels

Cloud services by millions of the world's small and medium business (SMBs) is becoming the default method for consuming IT.  SMBs in 2012 will continue to embrace cloud at an accelerated pace - and in many geographies - faster than the enterprise adoption rate.  This is because SMBs have a diversity of needs as well as require easy access to enterprise level functionality, with a low cost of entry. That makes cloud a natural fit. SMBs continue to look to their trusted advisors to purchase cloud services.

In 2012, this means service providers need to either become trusted advisors or deliver these services through the trusted advisors.

Service providers need strong go-to-market intelligence and easy access to a breadth of technology and hosted applications to stay ahead of the SMB cloud services market to increase profitability, reduce churn and better compete.  At Parallels, our 2012 focus will remain on how so help these service providers grow and profit from the SMB cloud - complete with service delivery software, expertise, and our partner ecosystem.

Make 2012 the year you alter your perspective and seize the opportunity to profit from the cloud.

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