With cloud services showing increased demand among India small and medium businesses (SMBs, companies with up to 999 employees) there has been a healthy growth in the number of channel partners offering cloud solutions as part of their product/services portfolio.

The total number of India SMB channel partners has increased by nearly 10 percent in the past year, whereas the number of cloud channel partners has increased by approximately 35 percent, according to a study conducted by AMI-Partners.

“There are three distinct forms of cloud solutions offered by channel partners in India. They are public, private and hybrid,” said Arnab Bhar, Analyst at AMI-India. “Financial and professional business services are the top industries currently served by these partners and these businesses typically prefer a private solution as they are subject to strict regulations,” Bhar added.

Remotely managed IT services (RMITS) is the most common cloud service offered, as it requires less investment for partners, followed by software-as-a-service (SaaS). Other cloud services include infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and cloud consulting services.

While a typical India SMB-focused cloud channel partner has been in business for around 10 years, they have only added cloud solution offerings in the last two to three years. AMI’s recently released India Channel Partner study reveals that channel partners offering cloud solutions tend to be optimistic. They are expecting strong revenue growth driven by customer demand for hosted applications and vendor investments in this area. Quality of solutions and post-sales service are the major drivers to accelerate cloud adoption among SMB customers in India.

“Many cloud channel partners have said that a major hindrance to the adoption of cloud based solutions in the India SMB sector is the lack of understanding surrounding these applications and the inherent value they have to offer,” said Bhar.

AMI said that in order to maintain a healthy growth rate in the number of partners offering cloud solutions, cloud vendors need to increase their marketing initiatives and effectively help these partners educate India SMBs on the value of adopting cloud solutions.

For a vendor to be successful in offering cloud services in the India market, it is necessary for them to meet the expectations of their partners, said AMI. When surveyed India cloud channel partners responded that access to 24/7 customer support, training of sales people, and lead generation/referrals are among the service and support features that they require the most from cloud vendors.