2011-06-20
Intermedia, a global leader in cloud services and the largest Microsoft Exchange hosting provider, today announced the launch of the Intermedia Advisor Program. A re-brand and enhancement to the company’s previous “affiliate” program, the Intermedia Advisor Program allows partners to build on the credibility of the recognized Intermedia brand and earn referral commissions on sales of Intermedia services such as hosted Exchange, hosted PBX, encryption, backup and more. Unlike traditional affiliate and simple referral programs, Intermedia’s Advisor Program includes expanded access to the Intermedia advisor team for on-demand, tailored sales assistance. It also includes an upgraded control panel for members to access sales and marketing tools and manage commissions.
Intermedia continues to offer and heavily invest in its private label partner program – a program that enables member partners to own the customer relationship, including billing and support. In contrast, the Intermedia Advisor Program is designed specifically for IT consulting groups and VARs looking to expand their cloud services portfolio without taking on responsibility for 24x7 support and billing. Advisors focus their resources on consulting with the customer and operating as trusted advisors that identify the right technology to address business needs. Intermedia delivers and manages the services, providing 24x7 support, and billing the customer. Commissions are paid by Intermedia to advisors on a one-time or recurring monthly basis dependent on the advisor’s preference.
“Critical Business Systems is a consulting firm,” says Jay Street, president, Critical Business Systems. “Being an Intermedia Advisor means I can recommend services I believe in and that make sense for my customers. Intermedia manages the service and support, while I keep my core focus on rapidly responding to my customer’s big-picture and on-site technology needs. Critical Business Systems is the trusted advisor our customers depend on for their business communications, collaboration, and content tools.”
Intermedia Advisor Program highlights:
- Intermedia owns the customer billing and support, so there is no need to setup subscription billing or a 24x7 support desk that can be time consuming.
- Access to the highly skilled Intermedia advisor team to assist with creating proposals and address pricing, technical, and migration questions. Upon request, the advisor team will join conference calls with prospective customers to help close business.
- Upgraded advisor control panel including premium sales collateral to assist in sales efforts, a pricing guide and commission reports, and immediate access to Intermedia advisor sales experts via a “Request Sales Assistance” button.
“There is a good deal of healthy discussion over channel programs in the cloud services industry and whether or not customer ownership is a vital component,” says Manlio Carrelli, CMO, Intermedia. “We believe it’s critical to trust this decision to partners – they know their business and their customers best. The Intermedia Private Label Program provides the partner with complete customer ownership, including billing – a critical capability for MSPs, VARs and other IT providers that bundle our services, set their own prices, and desire the close relationships that comes with providing first-line support. The Intermedia Advisor Program ensures partners can refer their customers to our enterprise-grade services, earn commissions, and remain focused on their core business – which is often operating as a virtual CIO or other trusted advisor. Intermedia partners can thrive in the channel model that is best suited for their needs. They make the choice that’s right for them and their customers.”
“I choose Intermedia’s Private Label Partner Program because a big part of our business is maintaining a personal relationship and developing custom bundles for our customers, as well as providing on-site support,” says Ettore Dragone, president, Micro Technology Group. “We design these bundles to address specific vertical market or custom needs, combining Intermedia services with our own proprietary Managed Services tools and professional expertise – it allows us to strengthen our relationships with both new and existing customers. It all goes on one bill and under our own brand, deepening our relationship with the customer while enabling us to better address all of their IT requirements. We learned that by partnering with an enterprise-class cloud company such as Intermedia, we are able to deliver enterprise-class services to our small- to mid-size customers and maintain tight customer relationships.”
To learn more about becoming an Intermedia partner, visit www.intermedia.net/resellers, or call 1-800-379-7729, option 6.