By Richard May, Managing Director of Virtual DCS
Before virtualisation technology entered the market, two of the most popular traditional I.T. opportunities were hardware based infrastructure upgrades, and tape based disaster recovery solutions. These solutions have now been replaced by ‘as a Service’ technologies, that hold additional benefits to the customer such as reduced downtime, a lower cost of ownership and a reduction in capital expenditure.
It is no surprise that as the demand for the Cloud soars; many I.T. resellers are rethinking their business strategy and the technology that they are offering to potential businesses. Now, many resellers are choosing to use their industry knowledge of both traditional and non-traditional methods in order to offer a range of solutions to their customers.
Cloud suppliers are not the only businesses that are in demand for partnerships, as resellers themselves play an essential part in the success of the providers. In light of this, more creative tactics are being used in an effort to provide the most attractive business solutions for resellers, and therefore the most attractive business solutions for their customers.
This blog will explore virtualDCS’s experiences when creating and retaining new Cloud reseller partnerships, highlighting important aspects that we believe should be within any partnership scheme.
Ideally, when selecting a new provider the majority of resellers appreciate a combination of a good support response, and a variety of solutions to choose from. One of the most important points that a Cloud provider could make is offering a strong service selection. For example, virtualDCS enables our partners to resell all of our headlining services, including, CloudCover™, our business continuity solution and our Software as a Service enablement package.
Should our resellers ever need it, we provide support and guidance on all of their proposals and solutions, in addition to simple reseller tools used to calculate and change pricing. We also offer our partners a simple referral scheme and a lead registration process to protect their leads. Partners that choose to log leads also receive an additional margin.
In addition to our core solutions, we offer a Virtual Service Provider (VSP) program that is completely tailored towards the needs of the reseller. This solution offers a simple business model, where the reseller has dedicated space on our platform. They can then use our Cloud interface to resell this space, adding unique software applications and resources for their customers. We don’t believe in ‘putting a square peg in a round hole’ which is why we work with our partners to create tailored solutions. Our partners agree that this is the most beneficial to both themselves and their customers.
As an extension of our support services, we offer free marketing material to help our resellers sell their solutions. This is another proven and successful tool used by many Cloud providers throughout the industry. In addition to images, booklets and templates, virtualDCS also creates custom branded material for our partners that choose to ‘white label’ our services, which few providers offer. Our partners believe that this helps them throughout the entire sales process.
We have also witnessed the need for a high level of administrative control. Any reseller, even if they provide a traditional, Cloud or hybrid solution, is a business. Therefore, throughout all of our reseller offerings we deliver administrative tools to make the sales process simple. For example, our VSP Cloud interface contains an advanced invoicing system and multi-currency support.
We believe that these points are vital to a successful reseller opportunity, especially for partners that are moving from a traditional I.T. solution.
For more information on our partner opportunities and our services, contact a Cloud expert on 08453 888 327 or email [email protected]
About virtualDCS
The founders of virtualDCS have pioneered the development of the Cloud Computing industry for over a decade. As one of the first companies dedicated to Cloud services in the world, customers are confident that they will only receive the finest solutions. Their approach is to work in partnership with clients to ensure that their infrastructure is ready to exceed the service levels demanded by their business.
Richard May, Managing Director, virtualDCS
In 2000 Richard May led the move towards Cloud Services, participating in Microsoft’s first Service Provider Licensing offering (SPLA). This was followed in 2005 by assisting with the Beta program which became VMware’s Service Provider Program (VSPP). Working closely with these organisations he created one of the first true Cloud platforms in existence, taking ICM NetServ Limited from a small start-up to become one of the UK’s fastest growing ISP hosting businesses.
In 2008 Richard formed a hosting company called virtualDCS (Virtual Data Centre Services), utilising his previous experience he was able to build an Enterprise Class VMware hosting platform, with the accolade of being the first “VMware Service Provider Enterprise partner”. Since its formation virtualDCS has focused on its key skills to provide hosting environments, offering hosting services around Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Recovery as a Service (RaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Together with his team of experts, they have all the skills necessary to assist you with your business problems.
You can also visit virtualDCS's sister-site at saasexperts.co.uk