Why Hybrid is the Next Dominating Trend

It seems like everyone has jumped on the cloud bandwagon, including enterprises that have introduced mandates to adopt the cloud. As a VAR and/or integrator, it has become a requirement to provide your customers with cloud solution options, preferably ones that minimize the impact on your traditional storage and infrastructure business. Instead of just jumping in headfirst to latch onto this trend, I suggest you consider one very important data point. According to a recent survey from Enterprise Strategy Group, 97% of businesses that adopted the cloud are now looking for a hybrid approach to access and store their files on-premises and in the cloud. This survey illustrates that the next big trend is already here, and it's called Hybrid. Here are the top reasons why hybrid is the ideal cloud storage offering for customers and resellers.

# 1 - Choice - Everybody wants flexibility! The ability to decide where data resides is a huge advantage over offering a cloud-only solution. You're allowing your customers to take control of their data by giving them the option to store and access it in the cloud, on-prem or both. They aren't stuck with one single solution that forces them to adapt to its limitations. This approach also enables you to continue selling traditional storage devices and, at the same time, cloud-enable your customers' businesses, adding new recurring revenue opportunities — a win-win situation.

#2 - Security - Companies are concerned with where their data is stored and who can access it due to compliance needs and threats of data breaches. Offering the cloud for sharing and storing non-sensitive files is great, but a hybrid solution provides customers with a way to keep sensitive data on-prem behind a firewall to maintain enterprise-class security and protect privacy. This same solution should also have strong administrative controls for IT to manage who can access which files and when. Nothing gives IT Leaders more peace of mind than knowing their data is secure, and offering the best solution — one that combines flexible file- sharing and synchronization options and top-notch security — deepens your credibility as a trusted advisor.

#3 - Collaboration — Since employees are on-the-go more than ever before, providing seamless collaboration is key to keeping your customers productive and their data available wherever work may take them. A hybrid approach offers a unique proposition by allowing users to work off of local storage devices to eliminate bandwidth issues when sharing large files, and it keeps productivity high, even when the Internet connection goes MIA, something a cloud-only solution can't provide. Hybrid storage also enables customers to collaborate across multiple offices by syncing files through the cloud, keeping all files up-to-date and providing access to anyone across the company that needs to access them.

A solution with options and scalability is the best bet for you and your customers' future. Being able to supply them with a secure solution that is equipped to handle current and potential risk will enable you to provide the right tools for all of your customers' unique needs. The Hybrid trend his here, so keep your business and your customers ahead of the curve by providing them with BOTH the cloud and access to their traditional on-prem storage.

Jeff Nollette (VP of Channels at Egnyte) is responsible for building the channel and brings 25+ years of sales and channel development experience to Egnyte. Jeff's leadership helped blaze the trail to early channel success at NetApp (from 23M to 160M in 3 years), Isilon (from 40M to 157M in 3 years), and most recently at EMC as the Senior Director, National Partner Program, where his team grew that business from $750M to $1.1B over a 2 year period. His long track record of success and program creativity bodes well for the future of Egnyte and its partners as the company evolves into a more channel-centric organization. Jeff has a BS and an MBA from San Jose State University.