Solution providers and managed services providers who are helping bring clients to the cloud but not adding connectivity to their solutions are leaving money on the table and risking losing their relationship with clients to carriers and other large services providers.

Anyone delivering cloud solutions to their clients need to also look at clients' on-premises needs as well said Mike Saxby, vice president of Advantage Communications Group, a Roslyn Heights, N.Y.-based broker of telecom services.

Saxby, addressing an audience of solution providers and MSPs on Tuesday at the 2015 XChange Solution Provider, held this week in Dallas, said customers want integrated solutions.

[Related: Amazon To Break Out AWS Financials Starting In 2015]

"(They're saying) I don't care how it works. I just want it to work," he said.

The vendor landscape is changing quickly with companies building cloud models with which solution providers can engage with such activities as bundling voice and data, Saxby said. However, he said, those vendors are just as likely to go direct with clients.

"I will tell you as an IT organization, your biggest competitor today is ATT if you are selling cloud services," he said.

Offering connectivity services with cloud services provides good recurring revenue for solution providers, but this is still a fairly new opportunity with only about 10 percent of clients' telecom services so far coming from channel partners, Saxby said.

Partners who invest in bringing connectivity solutions to cloud clients will be addressing real customer needs, gaining additional revenue, enjoy end-to-end management opportunities, and gain account control that will help lessen the risk of another services provider moving in on their customer base, Saxby said.

Solution providers looking to take advantage of the market can start small, such as adding disaster recovery-as-a-services to unified communications clients, he said.

There are several ways for solution providers to engage vendors of connectivity solutions, Saxby said. They can work directly with vendors and carriers on a wholesaler, agency, or referral basis, or via distributors or master agents.

However, solution providers must be wary when bringing vendors or carriers into a client's solution, Saxby said. He cited the example of one IT partner who brought Level 3 MPLS network with carrier services and was enjoying a high recurring revenue. However, that partner had also brought the carrier into the customer site.

NEXT: Understanding The Opportunities, Risks