Blue Ridge InternetWorks’ decision to partner with Intermedia was based upon our unparalleled reputation in the marketplace. With more than 10,000 partners and 450,000 premium hosted Exchange mailboxes under management, Intermedia is the world’s largest provider in the industry and has the most experience and expertise with resellers and managed service providers (MSP) such as Blue Ridge InternetWorks. By teaming with Intermedia, Blue Ridge InternetWorks was able to transform the way they conduct business.
BACKGROUND
Since its inception in 2000 by Jeff Cornejo and Baylor Fooks, Blue Ridge InternetWorks (BRI) has been regarded as one of the most successful IT solution providers in Virginia, with extensive experience in working with businesses of all sizes. BRI is a Cisco Premier Certified Partner as well as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and Authorized Application Service Provider and offers clients fast and easy setup for domain and web hosting; virtual and complex server hosting; and Internet access.
THE CHALLENGE
A large percentage of BRI’s customer base falls within the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) sector, yet all of them demand Enterprise-grade business email and collaboration software, such as Microsoft Exchange and Outlook. BRI found that it can provide its customers the robust tools and reliability they require, without having to incur significant costs through building or managing an infrastructure, by using a hosted Microsoft Exchange service.
For several years this approach enabled Jeff and the BRI team to consistently grow their business and earn healthy margins on the offering. In 2008 however, service quality and reliability began to suffer. In addition, customers’ email requirements were becoming increasingly complex and BRI felt ill equipped to address emerging needs such as mobile connectivity, archiving and other advanced configurations. After a few extended email outages threatened relationships with key clients, Jeff decided it was time to search for a new Exchange hosting partner who could demonstrate its expertise and guarantee always-available-service for their customers.
THE SOLUTION
After an extensive search, Jeff and the BRI team selected Intermedia as their new Exchange hosting provider. With an infrastructure based entirely on premium Dell servers, EMC SANS and Cisco networking gear and housed in four, world-class datacenters, Jeff was confident that Intermedia could deliver the reliability required to appropriately support BRI customers. In addition, Intermedia’s 99.999 percent financially-backed uptime SLA and SAS 70 Type II audit provided sufficient assurances that Intermedia’s commitment to premium service was unparalleled in the industry.
Intermedia’s Private Label Partner Program lets BRI offer Intermedia’s hosted Exchange service entirely under the BRI brand, while Intermedia maintains, monitors and upgrades the hardware and software. Intermedia’s highly customizable web-based partner control panel gives BRI far more control over their customers’ email configuration than other providers’ control panels. With Intermedia’s Partner Control Panel, BRI can manage the most basic and advanced settings – such as adding BlackBerry services - for their customers in real-time, without ever having to engage Intermedia’s technical support team. “This is a tremendous value-add,” says Jeff. “The control panel enables us to respond and address our customers’ needs immediately, which in turn reinforces our position as the single solution provider to our customers’ technology challenges.”
THE RESULTS
- BRI has leveraged Intermedia's expansive breadth of products and solutions to expand their scope of services.
- The company has experienced higher profits by tying in their own professional services with Intermedia’s hosted Exchange and premium cloud services.
- BRI's base of customers continues to grow each quarter
- BRI's customers enjoy a higher level of satisfaction with the support, premium service and guaranteed uptime provided through Intermedia's hosted Exchange solution.