Zoho Responds to Google Apps Reseller Program

When Google launched the Google Apps Reseller Program this week, the effort sounded strangely familiar to The VAR Guy. The reason: Zoho, a nimble Google Apps rival, has a similar effort called the Zoho Alliance & Partner Program. The VAR Guy reached out to Raju Vegesna, a Zoho evangelist, for some perspective. Here’s what Vegesna had to say about resellers promoting cloud-based applications.

The VAR Guy: Um, the Google Apps Reseller sounds familiar. Don’t you have a similar partner program?

Vegesna: We do have a program in place for resellers. Our partner program is called ZAPP (Zoho Alliance & Partner Program). We have seen interest from multiple resellers around the globe. Our existing reseller list is available here: http://www.zoho.com/partners-resellers.html.

The VAR Guy: Why did Zoho launch the partner program? Why not just sell direct to end-customers?

Vegesna: Launching a Reseller program is expected and is a common way to expand the reach. Cloud Apps are reaching a stage where it is hard to penetrate beyond a certain point. A local hardware store owner is not going to Google for a solution he might need. He may not even know that a such a solution exists in the first place. So he relies on local expert/reseller who might know more. Whatever the reseller recommends, they just go and implement it. To reach such audiences, resellers are important.

The VAR Guy: So how far along are we in this reseller shift toward resellers promoting clooud applications?

Vegesna: Reselling cloud apps is different than reselling software. We are still in the early stages of this. It’ll be interesting to see how it evolves.

Translation: Zoho launched its reseller program before Google. But even with that early entry Zoho concedes it’s too soon to say how the Cloud-based reseller industry is going to evolve.

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