One of the biggest challenges facing partners in today’s highly aggressive business environment is churn and losing customers to the competition. Partners need to create added value within their client base in order to secure customer loyalty, maintain a competitive edge and support the delivery of a consistent, professional service to their customers.
The addition of hosted solutions to your portfolio means that you can offer customers the benefits of a full Microsoft business solution such as hosted Exchange, SharePoint, Dynamics CRM or hosted Mobility solutions, thereby adding new revenue streams and creating diversity. Your customers can benefit from the latest and most up-to-date software services without worrying about the upfront cost and investment of implementing an ‘on-premise’ solution – and simply pay an affordable monthly fee with no long term commitment or investment.
Choosing a partner to look after your customers’ hosted IT solutions and business critical information can be a daunting task and is a major business decision. Things to think about when choosing a hosting partner include aspects such as quality and reliability of service, credibility and reputation in delivering hosting solutions and demonstrating value to business users. You also want a partner that’s well connected, that you can enjoy a good working relationship with and that can help you develop and expand your business with ongoing training, sales and marketing support.
Outsourcery has put together its top 10 considerations when selecting a hosting partner.
TOP 10 CONSIDERATIONS
1. MAKE SURE YOUR PARTNER CAN OFFER ALL OF THE SERVICES YOU REQUIRE, NOT JUST NOW BUT IN THE FUTURE TOO
It’s important to think about the services that you want to offer your customers, and the services that your customers actually need now and in the future. Selecting a provider that can serve all of your current and future communications and hosted IT requirements means you won’t need to look around for other partners in the future and have the hassle of managing lots of business relationships.
2. CHOOSE A PARTNER WITH AN ESTABLISHED, PROVEN TRACK RECORD
It’s essential that you choose a hosting partner that is established and stable, so you can depend on them in the years to come. Find out how long they have been established, their scale and accessibility as an organisation and what experience they have in delivering the services that you want to sell. The last thing you want is your hosting partner going out of business, leaving you having to find a new partner and your customers without their critical business systems. It really isn’t worth it!
3. FIND OUT IF THEY OFFER ANY SERVICE LEVEL GUARANTEES FOR THEIR HOSTED SERVICES, GENERALLY IN THE FORM OF A SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT (SLA)
If you are going to be selling hosted IT services to your customers, you need to be sure that your hosting partner is reliable and will provide a professional business-class service. Your customers need to know that their email, document management and customer management systems will always be available as downtime can be extremely costly. Look for providers that offer guaranteed service levels. However, bear in mind that whilst a 99% availabilitySLAmay seem high, in reality it means that the service could be unavailable for as much as 7 hours per month. The higher theSLAguarantee, the less downtime you can expect.
4. MAKE SURE YOUR HOSTING PARTNER HAS FULL SECURITYPROCEDURES IN PLACETO PROTECT YOUR CUSTOMERS’ DATA
If you are going to put your customers’ data in the hands of a hosting partner, you need to know that it’s going to be secure. Therefore your potential partner should be able to provide you with full details about their data centre and network security procedures to give you peace of mind that information is always protected.
5. COMPARE PRICES ACROSS A RANGE OF HOSTED IT SERVICES AND PROVIDERS
Although your choice of hosting provider will not be solely based on price, it will no doubt have some bearing. After all, in the current economic climate, it’s important to get the best return for you and your customers wherever possible.
6. ENSURE YOU ARE CLEAR ON THE LEVEL OF TECHNICAL SUPPORT YOUR HOSTING PARTNER PROVIDES
Technical Support is vital should you or your customers have any issues with your hosted IT service. The level of support provided can vary quite considerably from one provider to another, so it’s important you are clear from the beginning what is included and what isn’t
7. FIND OUT IF YOUR HOSTING PARTNER PROVIDES PRE-SALES SUPPORT
Support isn’t just about providing technical support for services that have been setup for customers. Pre-sales support can help you win new customers and generate new business. It can be a valuable resource that can significantly increase your chances of winning new business
8. ENSURE YOU GET THE BEST TRAINING AND SUPPORT AVAILABLE
Without the necessary knowledge, expertise and ongoing support for hosted IT services, business growth and success could be limited. That’s why training, development and support are key factors in understanding the hosted IT market, learning how to identify customer requirements, being able to explain effectively and close sales opportunities, not to mention the ongoing operational support requirements
9. FIND OUT WHAT MARKETING SUPPORT YOUR HOSTING PARTNER CAN PROVIDE
Not all resellers have the marketing resource in-house to really promote their hosted IT services and secure new business. Some hosting partners may provide marketing support in relation to collateral, campaigns, imagery and maybe even more. This can provide real value to your business and ensure a successful launch of your new hosted IT services
10. CHOOSE A PARTNER THAT HAS A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH MICROSOFT
Choosing a hosting partner that is a member of the Microsoft Partner Programme means they are more likely to be experts in their particular area with access to specialist Microsoft resources and information. The better relationship your hosting partner has with Microsoft and the higher their level within the Microsoft Partner Programme, the more focused they are likely to be in delivering hosted IT solutions.
