The desire for greater security and performance, along with a skills gap in many cloud deployments, is creating new opportunities for cloud providers to more deeply integrate with their customers, according to a new report from 451 Research Inc.

The report, Voice of the Enterprise: Hosting and Cloud Managed Services – Organizational Dynamics, found that the perceived cost savings are one of the main temptations drawing businesses into the cloud. However, some 75 percent of organizations said they’re willing to pay a premium to cloud providers who can guarantee security and improved performance.

Of that 75 percent, just under half said they’d be willing to pay a higher price for security guarantees. An additional 43 percent of those respondents indicated they’d pay extra for improved performance, though just 28 percent said they’d be willing to pay more for their cloud provider to take on more of the operational burden.

451 Research also said that while cost savings are often seen as a benefit of the cloud, that isn’t true for all hosted infrastructure and applications.

“We frequently talk about pricing competition in cloud infrastructure and applications, which leaves many service providers wondering how they can differentiate themselves,” Liam Eagle, research manager at 451 Research, said in a statement. “The good news is that many customers tell us they’re evaluating vendors on value, rather than cost. That value can reside in services like guaranteed levels of performance, security and support.”

The challenge for cloud customers is to take advantage of the value their providers offer. 451 Research found that many customers suffer from the so-called “skills gap” problem, wherein they lack the staff to properly manage their cloud deployments. Some 41 percent of businesses reported a skills gap relative to their cloud deployments, the research found.

451 Research says this is becoming more pressing as businesses move past entry-level cloud deployments towards more complex environments. What this means is that cloud providers have a great opportunity to provide more value by showing them the way forward.

“We have found that customers still see shortcomings when it comes to service providers helping them strategize and execute around hosting and cloud,” Eagle added. “Service providers focused on adding value should regard these gaps as opportunities they can capture by improving the quality of their own service in specific areas.”

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