Advice for MSP: Embrace the Future -
Len Srinivasan is a vice president at Vembu Technologies Inc. in Addison, Texas. Vembu is a cloud solution provider managed to SMEs. 4,000+ partners of the company worldwide manage, protect and manage over 25bp critical business data for their clients. Srinivasan recently spoke with Michael Siggins, The Channel Network editor, opportunities for channel partners to migrate their customers to the cloud and layer on value-added services to build their business model.
Channelpro-SMB: Tell us about the basic offer of Vembu.
Len Srinivasan: We are a product of software development [company]. We offer technologies for backup, disaster recovery, file sharing, CRM and help desk. Then we find a partner that can wrap around a solution to the above products we offer.
Channelpro-SMB: How do you use feedback from customers and partners in the development process to strengthen and improve your products?
Srinivasan: Perfection is something that you develop iteratively over time. One of [our] main differences is that we try to make the product at low cost, so that it becomes easier for anyone and everyone to use. Then you start to evaluate. We have an open forum and a dedicated support line [for] partners. [They tell us] some of the things that do not work in improving the product or application.
[We then] priority [the] comments and we started working on this first ... and we develop iteratively. The key is to make short, quick releases on the market and get people to use it and to gather feedback and begin to implement. It is a very aggressive way of marketing products and product development
Channelpro-SMB :. Your tool is a way for partners to get in the door, they can then layer on services?
Srinivasan: Correct. One thing that is happening in the market is cloud itself becomes a commodity. Differentiation is what other value-added services offer you above the clouds. We [provide] these tools as backup and recovery, which become a major disaster for daily use companies. So [the tools] help [manage] customer data. The data for this customer is the real value, not the cloud itself. Once you have customer data, then you can think about doing a lot of value added services, [and] now becomes sticky.
Let's say customers have a petabyte of data in your data center. The [incentive] for them to switch to another supplier is low, so they do not make this switch, often because they have a huge amount of data in your data center. You make a good business model and can then think about doing a lot of value added services to customers, while not sharing backup and file. We basically [provide] tools onboard your customer data to your data center. It's more like a strategy for migrating to the cloud for partners.
Channelpro-SMB: Tell me about this strategy.
Srinivasan: We give them this backup and disaster recovery for SMEs and they have options: One is [their customers] can be used on site save locally. These companies are not yet ready for the cloud. They want their critical data to remain in their local offices. [Another option is a] business wants to complete cloud, so we also offer cloud services.
if [customers are] not comfortable with the cloud, you try a hybrid environment. Isolating data between critical and non critical data. Let's say you have important financial accounts information you want to keep in the house. But you can move email to the cloud. So now you have a hybrid environment. Once trust is established, then you can slowly start migrating your [customers’] data to the cloud. You just have to be adaptable and flexible to use different hybrid environments, on site, all the clouds, and we offer all three.
Channelpro-SMB: What advice would you give to MSP and IT?
Srinivasan: Plan your business on the basis of the future. If the future is in the cloud and virtualization, the MSP must take action today and they must adopt new technologies, even in terms of marketing. There are still many MSPs based on traditional marketing such as newsletters information it work, but they also have to adapt in social media, trying to build a brand. And their brand is the trusted advisor for small businesses. They need to be the leader of thought in the industry trying to help companies and see what the future is and advise their clients. Here's my advice to MSPs. Embrace cloud and embrace the future
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