https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Master Agents
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • MSSP Insider
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • Apply Now
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Channel Educational Series
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
    • Channel Convergence
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Content Resources
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2021 MSP 501
    • Circle of Excellence
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Master Agents
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • Diversity & Inclusion
  • MSSP Insider
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • Apply Now
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Channel Educational Series
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
    • Channel Convergence
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Content Resources
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2021 MSP 501
    • Circle of Excellence
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

From the Industry


Cloud Services Customer Point of View: Are You Easy?

  • Written by Acronis Guest Blog
  • March 31, 2016
In this month’s blog, we’ll be looking at how easy it is to be a customer of the cloud services you offer.

In this month’s blog, we’ll be looking at how easy it is to be a customer of the cloud services you offer. This the first of a three-part series on some of the key elements for being successful in the cloud services market. In part two, we will look at how to complete your offer with a close look at bundles, upselling and cross-selling. In part three, we will look at how secure your offer is with a discussion about encryption, compliance standards and SLAs. In short, your customers need to find you easy to do business with, get all of their needs met in one place, and feel secure in the data they are moving to the cloud.

So what does it mean to be easy? To be easy you need to be frictionless, instant and scalable with your end users. Cloud customers have dozens, if not hundreds, of potential partners to acquire their cloud services from. Those who offer the easiest ways to get started will have a significant advantage over those who throw up barriers in their potential customers’ way. In fact, the decision timeline in most cases can be measured in seconds, not hours or days. 

How easy are you to do business with?

Friction in the sales cycle and all of the unnecessary hoops that we make our customers jump through to start using our product can be very common. We will talk about instant access to service in a minute, but time delays are not the only sort of friction. Do you require a customer to talk to a salesperson before starting a buying process? Will customers be required to utilize professional services before they can begin using their services? Do you require customers to fill out a long form to access these services? Can a lay person with no technical background understand your offer, buy the service and then in turn consume them?

It is important that a customer can see and understand your cloud services in mere moments and make the decision to buy. To remove friction, you should have someone you trust and who is not involved with your business try to review and then buy the product from your company (perhaps your mom). These fresh eyes can often reveal how many road blocks you have thrown up in your own purchase process.

Additionally, you should consider how easy it is to use your products and services.  All cloud services rely on delighted customers to keep paying their bills on a regular basis. If your products cause them any trouble, they will likely quit on you.

Your service should also be instantly available. In the highest and best form, this means a seamless online order experience with little to no human interaction. The best way to achieve this result is to acquire online provisioning and billing systems. These are easily available and can be deployed with a minimum of effort. Areas to consider include fraud detection, merchant account services and chargeback procedures. 

In an ideal world, your customers make a purchase decision, order and then receive their cloud service in minutes. If you do have human interaction to soften the purchase process, your salespeople should be similarly enabled to delight the customer with an instant product activation. 

Finally, your systems need to be scalable. The thing customers love about cloud services is that they can order just what they need and when they need it. Customers should be able to order more of the service as they need it.

For our partners’ ease of use, we have integrated with all of the most popular service provider billing and provisioning systems, including those from Odin, WHMCS and HostBill.

To make sure your customers easily find our products, we have recently released Acronis Backup Cloud 5, which equips service providers and resellers to quickly solve customer data protection problems with a proven, comprehensive local and cloud backup and recovery service. Acronis Backup Cloud is part of the complete set of Acronis data protection solutions, which includes backup, cloud storage, disaster recovery, and file sync and share.

The new version 5 of Acronis Backup Cloud delivers the following benefits:

  • Easier for service providers, resellers and end users – features in-product “buy now” links, custom service offerings based on machine type, and integration with leading management platforms and third-party storage, including Odin Service Automation, WHMCS, HostBill, APS Standard, Flexiant, and Microsoft Windows Azure Pack.
  • Expands data protection coverage – supports the running of virtual machines from backup, including physical machines, and enables disaster recovery scenarios and large-scale recovery, providing additional service package offerings.
  • Provides advanced monitoring – includes automated self-service and monitoring for end users, and MSP monitoring tools for backup health and status.

At Acronis, we really believe in being as easy to do business with as possible. Our Cloud Partner Program is simple to understand and easy to join.  Learn more on the Acronis Partner Program here.

Once there, partners can use our signup form to become cloud resellers for Acronis; they will be  issued credentials for reselling the Acronis Cloud Services right away.

Join us!

Jon McCarrick is Acronis Partner Technology Evangelist. Jon is a veteran in the cloud service provider space, having worked for Parallels and Open-xchange prior to joining Acronis. Jon’s mission is to create an active community of service providers around the Acronis product line.  Expect to visit with Jon at your favorite trade show or find him on your favorite social media platform. 

Guest blogs such as this one are published monthly and are part of MSPmentor’s annual platinum sponsorship.
Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs From the Industry

Related


  • BCDR-TCO
    Why Every MSP Should Consider TCO When Selecting a BCDR Solution
    TCO directly impacts your ability to build a margin on your services. If your BCDR solution requires constant attention, you’ll chip away at that margin quickly.
  • 5G security challenges
    6 Ways to Ready Your Customers for 5G Security Challenges
    5G will transform the way we communicate, but 5G transformation brings with it 5G security challenges.
  • EDR work from home
    Endpoint Security Is Huge in the Merging New World of Work
    Companies use EDR to get a better understanding of their endpoints and swiftly respond when there has been a compromise.
  • Remote Workforce
    3 Vulnerabilities to Plug to Secure Your Customers’ Remote Workforce
    The new normal includes a regular remote workforce, which increases security challenges.

5 comments

  1. Avatar George Beutel January 17, 2017 @ 4:47 pm
    Reply

    Acronis has built a solid
    Acronis has built a solid product that really makes it easy for MSP to offer Backup as a Service to their clients.

  2. Avatar Benk January 27, 2017 @ 7:11 pm
    Reply

    Great product, easy to use
    Great product, easy to use and educate clients on. Acronis had made backup efficient and reliable.

  3. Avatar user-336872 February 3, 2017 @ 4:41 pm
    Reply

    What use to take me weeks,
    What use to take me weeks, now just takes me days if not hours. Thanks Acronis!

  4. Avatar user-335562 March 3, 2017 @ 3:00 pm
    Reply

    Acronis’ speed across all
    Acronis’ speed across all solutions has always been one their signature strengths. No different with Acronis Backup 5. Good work!

  5. Avatar T Nieves March 10, 2017 @ 12:08 am
    Reply

    Acronis is a well built
    Acronis is a well built product and comes in handy. The online training courses are also very easy to follow and understand.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • EDR: What It Is and Why You Need It
  • How Network Technology Shifts Are Changing the Way Things Are Done
  • 5 Things MSPs Should Consider When Evaluating EDR
  • 3 Ransomware Myths SMBs Unfortunately Believe

Galleries

View all

Biden Administration Issues Russian Sanctions in Response to SolarWinds Hack, Election Interference

April 16, 2021

Industry Perspectives

View all

SD-WAN Supports More Purposeful Shift to Cloud

April 16, 2021

How Tech Is Transforming Public Safety–and the Implications for Channel Partners

April 15, 2021

Exercising Your Organization’s Data Loss Recovery Abilities

April 13, 2021

Webinars

View all

What to Look For: 2021 Threat Report

April 22, 2021

Health Care and SD-WAN: A Seller’s Guide

April 27, 2021

How MSPs Can Leverage SOCaaS to Improve Security & Grow Revenue

May 4, 2021

White Papers

View all

Carbonite Data Protection and Cyber Resilience

April 15, 2021

Top Tips: How Resellers Can Leverage Rackspace to Enhance Customer’s Cyber Security Protection with Microsoft 365 Security

March 30, 2021

Top Tips: Optimize Your Microsoft 365 Investment with Rackspace Technology

March 30, 2021

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

November 1, 2021 - November 4, 2021

MSP Summit

November 1, 2021 - November 2, 2021

Channel Evolution Europe

November 30, 2021 - December 1, 2021

Videos and Fastchats

View all

5 Reasons Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Is Important

Five9 Shares Insights on Implementing a DE&I Strategy

April 13, 2021

FASTCHAT: How Fortinet Reduces Complexity Through Networking, Security

March 31, 2021

Strong Customer Experience Needs Strong Partner Experience

December 22, 2020

Twitter

ChannelFutures

If you needed any more reason to submit your @MSP_501 application, this promotional video will get you fired up!… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@FrontierCorp just weeks away from exiting #Chapter11bankruptcy. dlvr.it/RxqkK1 https://t.co/yxyChKL9Um

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

#SDWAN supports a more purposeful shift to the #cloud @ComcastBusiness #networksecurity #hybridwork #security #SaaS… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

RT @alysfitz: 67% of respondents reported burning out since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. We need to do better to support #WomenInTech, especi…

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

RT @AllianceofCW: #ACW members Mayka Rosales-Peterson and Raquel Wiley were elected to @ChannelFutures' #Diversity, #Equity, & #Inclusion B…

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@ZiplyFiber rolls out agent #partnerprogram. #networking dlvr.it/RxmM4K

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

New #Microsoft #SurfaceLaptop4 is an incremental update with an improved CPUs webcam, speakers and dual mics.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

April 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@okta hires @InsightEnt vet as global channel chief. #cybersecurity dlvr.it/RxmM20 https://t.co/ImWRZp2qHt

April 16, 2021

MSSP Insider

Business advice for MSSPs and news from the broader security channel.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X