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about the potential disruptive effects of natural disasters, sell the cloud
as a system that practically guarantees continuity of service. Finally, sell
those concerned about dependence on a particular platform such as Apple
or Microsoft on the ability to use any platform at any time, a step on the
way to full virtualization (McCall 2012).
Other cloud sites offer advice on how to market to speciic constituen-
cies. One describes how the marketing pitches to chief information oficers
(CIOs) should differ from those directed at chief inancial oficers (CFOs).
The former are primarily concerned with security, followed by the ability
to scale cloud resources, and then with the availability of applications.
Along the way, the posting identiies the correct answers to the kinds
of questions that CIOs typically ask. By deinition, CFOs are concerned
about costs, speciically with how much the company will save by moving
to the cloud. But they are also worried about regulatory issues and the
overall impact of shifting to the cloud on the company's business model.
Given potential clashes between the interests of CIOs and CFOs, the
piece concludes that inding common ground is critical to making both
feel comfortable with the transition (Ko 2012).
Still other sites concentrate on how to sell speciic kinds of cloud-
computing services. For example, Gigaom offers suggestions to both
sellers and buyers on how to market IaaS, which, as described in Chapter
2, is a form of cloud service where the cloud provider manages servers
that customers use to store and process their data. For sellers, the site
recommends eliminating the its and starts that often come with human
contact by “ensuring a seamless and human-free process to try your ser-
vice.” Moreover, because selling IaaS or any cloud service involves a big
inancial commitment from more than one executive at the client company,
“Don't expect that a self-service trial process alone leads to sales.” Finally,
it recommends that cloud sellers bring in a team of specialists in areas like
systems integration and telecommunications, even if that means partnering
with other companies. As for buyers, the guide recommends choosing
applications that minimize dependencies, something that is dificult to
do when a client is purchasing a cloud service that requires using a cloud
provider's proprietary software and applications. It also recommends that
buyers actively convince others in their organizations that the IaaS solution
is best because it is sometimes necessary to take small steps, if these can
be advanced as exemplars of success. Lastly, buyers need to demonstrate
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