'7 Minutes' with Green Cloud EVP of Sales and Marketing Charles Houser

**Editor’s Note: “7 Minutes” is a feature where we ask channel executives from startups – or companies that may be new to the Channel Partners audience – a series of quick questions about their businesses and channel programs.**

Green Cloud Technologies offers a full lineup of cloud, managed IT and telecom services sold in wholesale and white-label models exclusively through the channel. The provider’s IaaS, DRaaS, UCaaS, backups and desktops as a service, security and other offerings are powered by Cisco’s cloud and software from top MSP arms dealers like BroadSoft, VMware and NetApp. Green Cloud was named a Veeam platinum partner earlier this year.

Green Cloud’s Charles Houser

We asked Charles Houser, who co-founded Green Cloud in 2011, how its all-channel strategy is helping the provider compete not with just AWS, Azure and IBM, but CSPs including Expedient, Peak 10 + ViaWest and Rackspace. Houser cited over a century of combined telecom and communications experience on the leadership team and says Green Cloud came in at 649 in the 2017 Inc. 5000 ranking of the fastest-growing private companies.

Part of that growth came via a strategic acquisition of Cirrity and its Atlanta and Phoenix data centers earlier this year. Check out Houser’s prognostication on where big growth will be through 2020 — it’s not where you might expect.

Channel Partners: Tell us what customers love about your product or service. What’s the secret selling sauce?

Charles Houser: Green Cloud offers virtual servers, backup and recovery solutions, but we don’t want to be defined by Cisco IaaS. The cloud is simply a product, and that’s not who Green Cloud is. We don’t sell cloud as a commodity; we accelerate growth through better use of technology for MSPs and VARs (Green Cloud’s partners) and their customers. We’re a channel-only cloud service that channel partners can roll out to their customers, on their own brand, with the ability to control their own margin.

We are transforming the IT channel business by helping MSPs and VARs embrace the cloud so they can flourish and evolve their business.

CP: Describe your channel program — metal levels, heavy on certifications, open or selective, unique features?

CH: Green Cloud has three levels of partnership. Our pricing on underlying components decreases as our partner commits to more revenue. We are not heavy on certifications. We want partners who want to build a cloud practice. It’s that simple.

CP: Quick-hit answers: Percentage of sales through the channel, number of partners, average margin. Go.

CH: 100 percent, 535 partners, margin for our partners ranges from 25-75 percent based on market, size of customer and other factors.

CP: Who are your main competitors, and what makes your offering better? 

CH: Obvious answers might seem like Amazon, Microsoft or Google, but in reality, none of those is focused on SMB. We want to make cloud technology accessible to …

… everyone by recognizing many businesses won’t fit in a one-size-fits-all model. We take the time to help our partners build their cloud business and the intricacies of migration to cloud-based solutions. Networking, security and DR scenarios are all things many MSPs and VARs need help with doing. We help them with that — that is our special sauce.

CP: How do you think your technology portfolio will change in the next three years?

CH: Desktops as a service will proliferate. The pundits have been talking about it for years, but it is really starting to move. Security offerings will become much more robust. We will offer enterprise-grade security offerings at a price point consumable by SMBs. DR software will continue to improve and pricing will get more aggressive.

CP: How do you expect your channel strategy to evolve over that time frame?

CH: It will evolve because the market will begin to mature, but our strategy of selling 100-percent through the channel will not change. Today we have 535 partners who each have somewhere between 25 and 100 customers. We have only migrated a small fraction of their end users to our cloud. In three years, I expect to have 1,000+ partners with a substantial percentage of their customers using our service. We are still in the first inning of a nine-inning game.

CP: What didn’t we ask that partners should know?

CH: If you have not started moving your customers’ server infrastructure to the cloud, you are behind. If you can move your infrastructure to the cloud and build a monthly recurring model with 25-75 percent gross margins, your business will be much more valuable than it is today. Everything we do is to help our partners be successful in the cloud. From custom technology solutions and professional technical services, to sales and marketing support, to targeted vertical-market solutions, we’re channel-only, and we are here for you.