Cloud Service Brokers Emerge As Cloud Computing Skyrockets

By Author: Lauren Ellis
Total Articles: 35
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Cloud service brokers act as middlemen serving customers and cloud service providers. Cloud service brokers aggregate several cloud services, integrate them in a customized fashion within your applications in order to meet your desired needs and requirements. This marks a new era of information technology service providers evolving to meet the ever-changing needs of technology infused enterprises. According to Protograde Group market research analyst Steven Barberi, cloud service brokers are set to create a market that should exceed $100 billion by 2015.

Micheal Cohn, SVP Marketing at Cloud Sherpas, recommends that cloud service brokers are a recent advancement of information technology, as resellers and systems integrators fuse to provide more value to the customer. "The need for a channel has existed since the beginning of IT," Cohn states. "The role we play is changing as IT moves from on-premise and data centers to the cloud. What you are seeing is the rise of the cloud solutions providers—or the cloud service brokerage, if you want to use Gartner's parlance."

The business model of a Cloud Service Broker ...
... is indirect. For example, an enterprise is functional to protect the cloud, and provides a customized product per the customer’s needs and specifications. Consequently, a Cloud Service Broker integrates and incorporates several products to bolster a customers cloud protection. The value add of a broker is lower costs, quick deployment, and sector expertise.

Garrett Heath, research analyst at BDE Associates stated that, “Information technology professionals and chief information officers are increasingly discovering that modern organizations are employing a larger quantity of cloud based applications that are not specifically authorized by their information technology teams. Therefore, cloud service brokers help explain many issues regarding cloud services management. Furthermore, the rapid increase in cloud computing in general, will help cloud service brokers grow in adoption, as every cloud service, and user, requires cloud service brokerage. In the customer’s perspective, leveraging a middleman to gain intelligence for services discovery is a great value addition. Furthermore, the capability to ensure high service levels to increase channels and partnerships.

Furthermore, Daryl Plummer, Chief Gartner Fellow, believes that cloud service brokerage is "the single largest revenue growth opportunity in cloud computing, bar none." Plummer questions however, "We often talk about clouds, but how often do we talk about stitching it all together? There's really only one public cloud.... But cloud services certainly don't act like it.   They act like a bunch of different providers.  How do you make them all work together?”

Jonathan Hutchinson, a cloud analyst at the consulting firm Signal Partners, states “A broker has many parts to it beyond simple reselling. Brokers should also look into services such as software development, software architecture analysis, and support. A broker must provide indispensible service, so that engineering teams find direct development value in their services, which can then spur brand loyalty.”

In conclusion, cloud service brokers can prove to be very valuable to businesses worldwide. Cloud Service Broker provide a wealth of knowledge derived from experience, and help companies set up and implement cloud infrastructure and customized solutions efficiently.

Author :
Lauren Ellis is a research analyst covering the technology industry’s top trends & topics, focusing on Cloud Security, Cloud Service Broker, Data Loss Prevention etc.,