ReliaCloud Launches Full-Service Program for Cloud Service Partners

By Doug Allen

ReliaCloud, a hosting and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider, has launched a full-service program for its channel partners to drive the marketing strategy for its enterprise-class cloud computing solutions. The move is well-timed, as it demonstrates the provider is responding to continued calls from its channel base for greater sales and marketing support specifically tailored for cloud services. Its a cry increasingly heard around the industry, as providers and VARs vie for cloud services revenues, projected to grow at an annual rate of 26 percent from 2009 through 2013, according to consultancy IDC.

The program aims to simplify the sales process through a suite of tools that supports VARs throughout the complicated sales cycle. Choosing from a series of program options designed to match ReliaClouds Cloud Storage and Cloud Servers solutions to specific customer profiles, partners have full access to best-in-class sales and marketing support, which includes marketing and promotional materials, video tutorials and cooperative marketing funds.

Other providers offer similar levels of support, but ReliaCloud is differentiating itself by ensuring its partners dont get lost in the shuffle. Instead, ReliaCloud is assigning a channel manager to each VAR, establishing a single point of contact between provider and reseller for faster responsiveness, greater cooperation, and more direct, interactive communication to better exchange ideas and dialogue on how to improve business processes.

The program is structured to address the different marketing needs of four major classes of the providers partners, comprised of Affiliate Partners (who pull in a one-time $25 fee for recommending customers to ReliaCloud, which then assumes ownership of the customer); VAR Partners; Private Label Partners (resellers that integrate ReliaCloud services with their own solutions under their own brand name) and Marketplace Partners (companies that co-develop solutions or share technology with ReliaCloud but maintain their own branding).