How To Compete with the Big Players in the Cloud Computing Space

Box, Dropbox and Mozy are just a few of the many large players in the enterprise cloud computing space competing for your clients’ attention. While these companies undoubtedly have the advantage when it comes to brand-name recognition, they cannot match your local, trusted presence as an MSP. Here are three ways in which you, as your clients’ trusted IT partner, can stand out in the crowded cloud computing space and successfully compete against the big players.

1. Brand your IT services under your own name

If you’re merely reselling the offerings of corporate giants, such as Box or Carbonite, you’re likely taking the wrong approach to maximizing your revenue and profits. Most large brands force their brand on your clients, limit customization options and cap the margin opportunity for their channel partners. Consequently, by just reselling these brand-name cloud products and services, you’ll get squeezed by low margins–probably not the business model you want to pursue.

Instead of bundling and reselling IT services from large, difficult-to-deal-with companies, a smarter approach is to provide offerings such as backup and file sync that you can offer under your own brand name. By doing so, your clients will look at the features and capabilities you offer, rather than at the commoditized prices of larger vendors.                                   

2. Emphasize that small is beautiful–as is excellent service

While you and other MSPs may lack the massive reach and recognition of a company like Microsoft or Box, one thing you certainly offer in spades is excellent customer service. Your existing clients know that you offer superior customer care; rather than browsing through endless FAQs or digging through phone trees, they can simply give you a call or shoot you an email and enjoy prompt and friendly service.

This is one of the primary advantages you should highlight in all of your marketing materials. By positioning yourself as a friendly, local service provider instead of simply a reseller for a faceless corporation, you can ensure that potential clients seek you out first.

3. Provide a comprehensive suite of IT services

Since many VARs merely resell various offerings from larger companies, which have much larger budgets and a greater marketing reach, clients often question why they should bother buying from an MSP. “Why don’t I just go to Microsoft, Cisco or Box?” they may ask. Of course, you know the answer: Dealing with many different vendors is a huge pain and often results in a very poor customer service experience.                                                      

In order to substantiate to your clients the value of partnering with you, you should brand yourself as a “one-stop shop” for small- and medium-sized businesses that need a variety of IT services. By fulfilling many consumer needs in one place, you can prevent potential clients from trying to shop around. This will inspire confidence in your brand, since you will be seen as the premier destination for a number of IT services, and will also benefit your bottom line.

eFolder provides an award-winning suite of data protection and business continuity services sold through the IT channel and branded by our partners. eFolder services–which include enterprise-grade backup, BDR and file sync–allow partners to enjoy high margins and recurring revenue streams. Find out more about eFolder and what we have to offer at www.efolder.net.

Neeraj Periwal is Marketing Coordinator, eFolder. Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of MSPmentor’s Cloud-based File Syncing and Sharing Infocenter.