Negotiating Cloud Agreements in the Broker Space - The Role of the Cloud Service Distributor

Richard English, In-House Counsel, Ingram Micro Inc.

Prior to 2000 most enterprises purchased, housed and maintained a variety of costly on-premise hardware, software and personnel required to run many of the essential elements of their business (e.g., finance, human resources and sales). The cloud model dispenses with much of this traditional high-cost model and replaces it with one that is based on a lower cost subscription and web-based model. Though it’s unclear which high profile enterprise was first to pivot in a meaningful way from the traditional on-premise model to the cloud model, there is scant argument that the modern cloud model is here to stay.