SherWeb
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Name: Jason Brown
Title: Director, Product Management
RCP: What do you call your program?
Brown: Partners First. Because we put partners first in everything we do.
What do you call the CSP resellers in your program?
We prefer to use the word "partner" instead of "reseller." SherWeb gets involved and deeply cares for the success of every one of its partners. We believe in developing a relationship based on trust so we can be successful together. We offer three partner models to better suit their business model:
- White-Label Partners: Bill and support the customers directly and SherWeb supports them.
- Co-Branded Partners: Bill the customer and SherWeb takes care of the support.
- Advisor Partners: Refer customers to SherWeb directly and get a commission.
What requirements does a partner need to meet to be a reseller for you?
None. We believe in our partners' potential and, contrary to other classic distributors, we work closely with them every step of the way, no matter how big their organization is.
Is there a cost involved?
No. Partners can join SherWeb's partner program for free.
One of the attractions of the CSP program is that Microsoft does not own the customer billing. But has a reseller substituted Microsoft owning the customer billing for you, the CSP distribution partner, owning the customer billing?
SherWeb is all about the "Power of Choice" for its partners. They have the choice to own the client and handle the billing and support or defer this to SherWeb on a per-customer basis.
What protections or assurances have you put in place to reassure the reseller that they own the customer relationship?
We've been working with white-label partners for years with other cloud services like hosted Exchange, Performance Cloud, online backup and e-mail security. We've never had an issue and it is clear the partner owns the customer relationship within our white-label program. Office 365 is no different. Our goal is to build a trusted relationship with our partners based on transparency.
Do you offer a white-label billing option or white-label support options? Is there a fee or different participation requirements for partners to use a white-label version?
Yes we have a white-label billing option and it's free. Using our white-label partner portal, partners can easily manage their clients' cloud services. The direct API integration with Office 365 enables automated provisioning and billing. Partners can easily bundle Office 365 with their services and even other SherWeb cloud solutions. The partner sets the customer's price and billing details.
Co-branded partners can also decide if they want to support the customer or pass this on to SherWeb.
In addition to distributing Microsoft cloud keys and billing, what benefits are you providing to the resellers that they can, in turn, offer to their customers?
SherWeb is a true one-stop shop for cloud services. We don't work with keys, we work with services. And we strive to provide our partners with the best tools. Through our unique partner portal, our partners can activate dozens of cloud services from Office 365, to hosted exchange, to cloud servers and e-mail security.
We also provide free support and migration to all our partners. It's a clear example of how partners are using SherWeb's all-inclusive services to save time and generate short-term profits.
What differentiates your CSP distribution offering from the other CSP indirect partners?
Our mission is to simplify the cloud. And our offer for Office 365 is no exception. A partner can be up and running to sell Office 365 in less than 10 minutes!
Here are examples of what SherWeb is committed to offer each of its partners to assure their success in the cloud:
- All-Inclusive Customer Migration with No Downtime: It's a true hands-on migration service. Our partners don't need to have any technical expertise. They can easily sell Office 365 to their clients from any platform and know it's going to be taken care of. They can also leverage that service to generate short-term profits.
- All-Inclusive Premium Support and Extensive Knowledgebase: SherWeb's support and responsiveness goes way beyond the standard support offered by Microsoft. We support all issues with no restrictions and it's completely free. Our average response time for telephone support is 40 seconds. We have consistently exceeded customer satisfaction standards for the industry.
- Pre-Sales Support and Solutions Architecture: A cloud solutions architect is available when you need one. These experts can overcome major technical barriers and accelerate the sales cycle, as well as suggest cross-selling scenarios to partners.
- Partner Toolbox: SherWeb's partners have access to an intuitive toolbox full of valuable documents like an ROI calculator, battle cards, product fact sheets and more. We also put a lot of effort in delivering all customer-facing material in a white-label, easily editable format (like PowerPoint vs. PDF).
- Flexible Partner Programs: We have three different programs to better fit our partners' business models. The opportunity to opt for a different program on a per-customer basis is a major advantage for our partners.
- White-Label Partner Portal: Our intuitive portal allows our partners to integrate, provision and bundle their services.
- One-Stop-Shop Experience: Our partners have access to a wide variety of cloud services to deliver a one-stop-shop experience to their clients. This includes IaaS (cloud servers, cloud databases), e-mail security (protection, continuity, encryption, archiving), online backup (PCs, Macs, VMs), hosted Exchange, SharePoint and more.
- Account Rep: Access to a dedicated account rep to help you and your team with any opportunities.
- Training: Access to training materials and programs to bring you up to speed with the latest in cloud services.
How much demand are you seeing from resellers?
We currently have more than 4,000 partners in our program.
How many resellers have you signed up so far for your CSP program (United States and worldwide)?
We've signed up hundreds of new partners in Canada alone to resell Office 365. Our recent authorization for 2-Tier in the U.S. will accelerate this rate even further.
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