There is no denying that businesses are moving their workflows to the cloud. International Data Corporation (IDC) forecasts that spending on public cloud services and infrastructure will climb to $210 billion in 2019, up 23.8 percent over the previous year. IDC also expects public cloud services spending to grow at a five-year CAGR of 22.5 percent to reach $370 billion in 2002. IDC points out that Software as a Service (SaaS) has captured the largest share of spending, accounting for more than half in 2019.
This paints an optimistic picture for SaaS companies’ sales teams. Markets, especially professional services, manufacturing, banking, and retail, are buying. Selling cloud solutions should be easy — but sales reps still encounter objections.
Vincent Lam, Head of Cloud at Talend, offers advice for overcoming these five common objections by helping your prospects understand how cloud works — and the advantages it can provide to their businesses.
- Cost
When a company first considers cloud computing, they may fixate on the costs, including using the SaaS application, cloud hosting, and data storage. Lam points out, however, that cloud is often less expensive than on-premises solutions. “Cloud services include things like upgrades, maintenance, data backups, electricity, security, and hardware,” he explains. “Infrastructure, staff, software and hardware costs add up to quite a bit.”
Invest some time in working through the numbers with your prospects to show them what they pay now for computing on-premises vs. what the cost of cloud computing would be.
Lam adds that costs are also favorable for other cloud solutions, such as managed cloud integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS).
- Control
Prospects — and even current cloud users — may be concerned that they’re giving up control of their applications and data when they’re used or stored in the cloud. Lam says to assure your prospects that “users have full control of their applications and data in the cloud. They are free to move it, update it, use it, or delete it at will. This is reflected in the licensing and usage agreements from most cloud providers.”
Explain the terms of the agreement your prospects will have with your company and assure them they retain power over data access and decision-making. This strategy may also help you sell deeper into customers who haven’t moved certain workflows to the cloud due to concerns over control.
- Security
Your prospects may be concerned about the security of their data in the cloud, assuming that an on-premises solution is more easily secured. Lam comments, however, “Public cloud is more secure.”
To overcome this objection as you’re selling cloud solutions, it’s vital to demonstrate that cloud providers make security a top priority. Lam says to provide details on certifications, data protection measures, physical security and other precautions and defenses in place to keep their infrastructure — and your prospect’s data — safe.
- Compliance
If a prospect is required to comply with laws, regulations, industry or client standards, they may hesitate to make changes to a compliant, on-premises system. Lam says to be ready to provide certifications, documentation detailing compliance and audit reports such as SOC2 compliance.
Besides, it’s possible that with this documentation, compliance may be easier. The cloud provider can manage data, keep security solutions up to date, document access, and provide reports the end user needs to prove compliance.
- Disruption to Work during the Transition
Your prospect may be convinced that cloud would benefit their business — but then the process of transitioning workflows to the cloud may seem like a hurdle they can’t afford to cross.
Lam says to remind your prospects, “Transitioning to the cloud is a one-time event. Compare that to an on-premises solution where you need to maintain and upgrade software constantly.” He adds that transitioning to the cloud is also an investment that will continue to pay off in the future, such as when the business needs to scale up or down.
“Cloud gives you all these benefits that you can’t get with on-premises platforms,” he concludes. 
