The way that we all do business is constantly changing, from mass internet adoption 15 years ago to the new wave of cloud services that are becoming available on the market. Cloud is opening the doors to a new flexible and scalable way of working for businesses and technology vendors alike.

However, all this talk of software, platform and infrastructure services misses the point, according to recent research conducted by Eclipse among their 20,000 Small and Medium sized business customers.

This is because there is a more fundamental change happening. Consumers no longer value the one-time transactions of the past, as illustrated with the demise of HMV and Blockbuster, instead choosing subscription based services such as Netflix, and opening up the way for a new type of relationship.

Now business owners are saying the same thing; why pay hundreds of pounds for software licenses or sign up to expensive long term contracts for switchboards and servers when in their personal life they simply subscribe to great services? More than that, these services are being constantly updated with new features and if needs change, they can be simply upgraded or cancelled.

That’s why Eclipse is taking a different approach and has embarked on a strategy to offer businesses services that do just that. Building on the successful launch of Eclipse Connect, a range of internet and connectivity services optimised for the delivery of cloud and other hosted services, they are now publishing the Eclipse Cloud and Eclipse Communicate roadmaps, a portfolio of subscription based ICT services to be launched over the next 12-months.

“Whenever someone asks the question ‘where do I start with cloud for my business?’ perhaps the best advice is this - Simply have a look around and ask a different question. ‘What expensive, underutilised IT asset that doesn’t work or obsolete software licence for an application I don’t understand do I have to replace now?’” comments Pete Tomlinson, Sales & Marketing Director at Eclipse. “It could be a telephony system, it could be your email security, it could be your servers, but whatever it is, that’s probably your answer”.

This Product and Proposition Strategy is now available on the Eclipse website and gives customers the opportunity to sign up to alerts whenever an update or comment is added. By communicating their development plans as and when they happen, Eclipse hopes to enable customers to build these new ways of working into their plans and enable their businesses to grow.

To see the Eclipse Product and Propositions Strategy, please visit; www.eclipse.net.uk/about-eclipse/product-strategy