GreenPages CEO Dupler: Cloud Computing Race Hits Record Speed With Some Set To Crash

GreenPages CEO Ron Dupler told 113 IT executives Monday that the high-stakes cloud computing race has kicked into high gear, comparing it to a field of race cars going into a banked turn with some companies destined to crash into the wall.

"We are feeling G-forces and getting pushed back in our seat," said Dupler, kicking off the company's CloudScape 2015 under the banner "Dare To Disrupt." "We don’t want to hit the wall and crash and burn."

Dupler took the race car analogy to the finish line with a slide of a NASCAR crash, followed by a NASCAR driver holding up a trophy. "We are in a high-stakes period of change in the industry, and those who live to figure it out are going to live to see some great days -- and those who don't are going to bump their heads a bit," said Dupler.

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GreenPages, the $130 million national cloud superstar, is riding into that high-velocity turn with its Transformation Services Unit, which was launched in April with a $1 million investment to provide customers with the revolutionary technology along with the "people and processes" to completely transform their businesses. The Transformation Services Unit is layered on top of GreenPages' existing elite technology team.

"I told our team internally -- 'We are lucky!' " said Dupler. "We are hitting this turn now, but we have seen it coming and have been prepping for it. Some people in the solution provider community haven't. Those people are feeling a lot of pressure right now."

The pressure on traditional IT infrastructure vendors and solutions has hit a fever pitch this year, sparking a rapid downturn in traditional IT infrastructure spending and a record pace of mergers and acquisition in the solution provider marketplace, said Dupler.

"Companies are trying to buy their way into where they need to be, and others are bailing because they don't see how they can get through the turn," said Dupler. "That is driving a lot of the consolidation we are seeing."

The traditional infrastructure solution provider that does not step up to help companies transform is destined to hit the wall, said Dupler. "The traditional infrastructure business -- what was paying the bills -- is shrinking and going away," he said.

Charles Araujo, founder and CEO of the IT Transformation Institute, Bridgewater, N.J., applauded GreenPages for stepping up aggressively to address the midmarket IT transformation challenge.

"There are not a lot of solution providers driving a practice like the GreenPages Transformational Services Unit," he said. "Kudos to them. They are approaching this in the right way, addressing it holistically, not from a strictly technology perspective."

GreenPages is hitting the transformation services sweet spot, said Araujo, focusing largely on customers in the midmarket, with sales from $1 billion to $10 billion. Those midmarket companies are going to be able to transform at a faster clip than Fortune 1000 companies struggling to catch the cloud wave.

Araujo compared the challenge facing those Fortune 1000 companies to turning the Titanic: "It is really slow, no matter what they do," he said.

Dupler, for his part, said GreenPages is moving fast and finding an insatiable appetite for its transformational unit's services among its customers. "The demand for these services is off the charts," he said. "I am thrilled and shocked. Customers are looking for a true agnostic consulting organization to work with to transform."

Customers are "confused and are looking for a partner with clarity and confidence to help sift through it all, and create a plan that gives them that confidence and clarity so they can get a tangible rapid return on their IT investment,’ said Dupler.

Dupler called on IT leaders to "seize the day" and embrace the revolutionary digital transformation that has led to the likes of new world companies like Uber, which is disrupting the traditional taxi industry, and Airbnb, which is wreaking havoc on the the hotel industry. "The change is painful," he said, "but those who change will win."

PUBLISHED AUG. 3, 2015