Building Channel relationships that last a lifetime

Q Please can you provide some

background on NaviSite?

A NaviSite was founded in 1998 providing high level hosting and application support for the Enterprise market. The company has maintained this customer focus, with a high ratio of technical staff, both in presales, implementation and support. It is now a part of the $23 Bn, Time Warner Cable Company since April 2011.

NaviSite is a leading provider of enterprise-class Data Center enabled services by managing complex hybrid infrastructure (Physical and Cloud) and application environments and has 12 Data Centers across the United States and United Kingdom.

Q Who are the key personnel involved
in the company?

A Sumeet Sabharwal, General Manager, NaviSite is responsible for managing the overall performance of the NaviSite business and directing its long-term evolution. In addition, Sumeet also manages NaviSite’s international operations across UK and India.

Sean McAvan, Manager Director, NaviSite Europe is responsible for directing the growth of NaviSite Europe through active development of channel and partner programs and building the direct channel through targeted new business development and marketing activities.

Craig Sandman, Senior Director of NaviSite’s Indirect channels organization oversees the relationships and go-to-market strategy with NaviSite’s major technology and infrastructure partners.

Prior to running the channel team, he worked in a number of different capacities throughout the organization including sales leadership, business development and product/offer development.

Laurie Harvey, Director, Channel Marketing, NaviSite is responsible for creating and implementing all marketing activities and programs required to support NaviSite’s indirect channel partner program. Since joining the company in 2013, she formally launched NaviSite’s partner program and created sales tools and branding to raise awareness through key media outlets. She was named in CRN’s Women of the Channel list in 2014.

Mark Hart, Channel & Alliance Director, NaviSite Europe is responsible for growing NaviSite Europe’s indirect channel business through recruitment and management of channel partners and technology alliance partners.
Q NaviSite has a year-old Partner
Program, please can you outline, in
broad terms, what this offers the
Channel?

A NaviSite has been working with the Partner channel for three years, with a year old formalised Partner programme.
Through its Partner Program, NaviSite works closely with experienced resellers to extend the market reach for its industry-leading portfolio of enterprise-class, cloud-enabled services.

It focusses on maximizing reseller revenue by reselling NaviSite’s proven portfolio.
It allows partners to take advantage of compelling features, such as NaviSite’s innovative “usage based” billing model.

Resellers can rely on NaviSite’s compelling “co-selling” model, as well as an array of sales and business development tools to keep building your cloud business.
The program includes the ability for resellers to earn commissions for the life of each contract that they sell.

Q You have plenty of people within
NaviSite who have responsibility for
relations with the Channel?
A NaviSite’s channel program is part of the Time Warner Cable channel initiative and leverages these resources, as well as extending to new campaigns which relate specifically to the NaviSite product portfolio.

Craig Sandman, Senior Director of Channel Sales manages a group of 12 people which includes sales and marketing staff dedicated to developing and supporting channel partners. NaviSite Europe has both sales and marketing staff who are focussed on channel activity.

As the channel programme is fully integrated into the sales and marketing model for the company, there is no channel conflict due to the channel neutral sales compensation structure.

This has been established to compensate both direct and channel sales representatives at NaviSite for any channel initiated sale, eliminating the normal channel conflict which is present for many companies. In addition to the dedicated Channel Sales and Marketing staff – all technical presales, technical implementation staff and post sales staff – NaviSite’s army of technical experts - support all channel initiated deals.
Q In more detail, what is the portfolio
of solutions offered to NaviSite’s
Channel partners?

A The range of services which are on
offer via Channel partners includes:
Production-ready, reliable and scalable Cloud Services.

Infrastructure services
NaviSite’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service solutions, NaviCloud Sphere and NaviCloud Director, allows for the provisioning of on-demand, scalable, usage-billed, and infrastructure services from virtualized resource pools. With NaviSite, customers get the scalability and flexibility of cloud computing as a managed or self-service solution that can be personalized to address a company’s security, availability, flexibility, and performance needs. NaviSite IaaS solutions can help organisations to:
 Compete efficiently – Rapidly test and roll out new customer facing applications.
 Control growth and uncertainty – Adapt computing environments to meet the changing IT requirements brought on by mergers and acquisitions, dynamic industry standards, application development and testing, and other upticks in the demand for computing resources.
 Support internal IT initiatives – Build scalable, productivity enhancing employee applications, such as worldwide human resource portals.
 Reduce application management costs –
Move back-office applications to a highly secure, cloud-based infrastructure.
 Ensure business continuity – Restore IT environments and help combat data loss.
 Prepare for phased cloud deployments – Build and deploy hybrid clouds.

Desktop services
NaviCloud DaaS is NaviSite’s leading-edge alternative to traditional VDI and labour-intensive desktop support, providing a simple, secure, and complete desktop experience in a virtual environment.
This cloud-based, on-demand, scalable, pay-as-you-use platform enables a seamless and secure transition to the Cloud from costly, potentially at-risk physical machines, safeguarding data and adding a new
layer to the organization’s resiliency competencies.
Secure storage services
NaviSite offers a powerful portfolio of storage, backup, replication, and archiving solutions. Through a partnership with EMC, NaviSite also provides a premier storage portfolio extending beyond traditional cloud storage to meet the compliance, accessibility, and security requirements of enterprise clients.

Managed application services
NaviSite offers managed application services for many enterprise applications – including Microsoft Dynamics, Exchange, SharePoint, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and more.

Unlike many other application-hosting providers, NaviSite’s cloud-based service includes complete lifecycle management, full upgrades and round-the-clock support.
Whether you are modernizing the applications pertinent to your daily operations or integrating the standards put in place by a new acquisition, NaviSite simplifies the obligations of managing and maintaining a secure, reliable, and compliant application environment.

Q How does Navisite help its Channel
partners through the whole sales cycle?
A a) Co-selling
NaviSite supports partners throughout the sales cycle. We work with partners right from marketing and lead generation, qualification, face to face meetings, negotiations through to closing of opportunities. NaviSite supports partners with commercial and technical resources at every phase of the sales cycle.

This includes meeting with clients, technical demonstrations, datacentre tours, proof of concepts and pilots. We believe in working closely with our partners at every phase to deliver value to the customer.
b) Commission
To build successful long term partnerships, NaviSite pays agent partners commission for the life of customer contract. If a partner refers an opportunity to NaviSite then they will earn commissions from the life of that customer’s contract with NaviSite.

c) Referrals
NaviSite’s referral partner program gives partners all of the co-selling and commissions support outlined about when they refer customers to NaviSite. Once a partner registers an opportunity with NaviSite then Navisite align a sales representative and solution architect to work with the partner and client throughout the sales cycle.

d) Pre and post sales
We continue to work with partners throughout the post sales and support phases of sales to ensure customer satisfaction and to continually look for new opportunities.

e) Legals
NaviSite provide partners with a simple partner contracts that include reselling or referring NaviSite services.
NaviSite works with reseller partners to build go to market propositions, service and support offerings. This includes helping our partners with the contractual and legal aspects of delivery cloud services. For our referral partners NaviSite contract directly with the customers and ensure partners do not have the cost of dealing with service contracts themselves.
f) Finance
NaviSite’s referral program offers partners
the ability to refer customers directly to NaviSite and NaviSite will handle all of the financial and credit obligations directly with the client. This enables partners to take
cloud services to market without the
financial risk of providing these services directly themselves.

g) Any other
Marketing – NaviSite build marketing plans with their partners to generate new business. Marketing support includes supporting events, lead generation, promotions and advertising.
Q How has NaviSite’s Channel offering
been received to date?

A Since the announcement of the formalised Partner program, the number of our channel partners has more than doubled and includes partnerships with Master Agents, VARs, SaaS providers, White label and Referral partners.
To find out more about how our partners work with NaviSite and the benefits that they receive from this partnership, log onto our Channel portal at http://www.NaviSite.com/partners/partner-portal-intro
Q What plans does NaviSite have to
further develop the Partner Program?

A NaviSite has an expanding team directing channel activities and has an active roadmap of new initiatives which will be implemented in 2014 and beyond. The plans include providing channel partners with more tools, more go to market strategies, extending the existing co marketing funds, engaging in joint marketing activities, supporting partners with press and social media activity, specific sales tools developed for the channel; for example, mobile sales and marketing tools are due to be released shortly.
Q Specifically, how has NaviSite
developed its Partner Program in the
UK and Europe more generally?

A In the last three years, NaviSite has recruited a dedicated Channel Director to implement the partner program within Europe and to grow the channel business, supported by a European Marketing Director and the resources of the Channel group in the US. Specifically NaviSite has focused on recruiting and investing in partners that have synergies with their market and solution focus. NaviSite has built a number of successful partnerships that have driven new business with organisations in the UK and in Europe.
Q Is NaviSite looking for more partners in
the UK/mainland Europe?

A Yes. NaviSite is looking to build on the current success of our partner program by recruiting more partners in the UK and mainland Europe. The growth in adoption of cloud services means we are seeing demand for NaviSite core services and are looking for partners to work with to capitalise on this demand. NaviSite believe in investing in our partner relationships to make them successful so we are looking for partners that have a clear strategy to grow their managed services and cloud business. The types of organisations that NaviSite has built successful partnerships with to date include Value Added Resellers, Managed Service Providers and Systems Integrators.

Q Is there a typical ‘partner profile’ for
which NaviSite is looking?

A Although there is no one profile which NaviSite is looking for in recruiting prospective partners, the qualification questions below would drive our partnership discussions.
 Partners should have a commitment to build out their core competency to include a hosted/cloud offering.
 Reseller and white label partners need to offer Tier one support to customers, referral partners would receive a referral commission and all support for the end customer would be via NaviSite
 Partners should be able to demonstrate proven sales reach which may be in new geographies NaviSite wishes to enter or provide added value services (software, hardware, support services) in existing territories which current NaviSite partners operate in.
 Most existing partners have targeted the small to medium size commercial enterprise market (50-5,000 employees), however, if there was a strong commercial case to deliver cloud services outside of this base – as evidenced by an existing strong installed base by the partner, this would also be a good target for NaviSite.
Q We’ve talked quite a bit about what
NaviSite does do for the Channel, what
are things that it doesn’t do (ie ‘stealing
customers etc.!)?

A Yes, you’re right, NaviSite doesn’t share customer data or steal customers. We do however encourage all partners to register opportunities on a partner opportunity form to ensure ownership of a particular deal. Once registered on the NaviSite CRM, NaviSite will not flip opportunities to other partners or to direct sales.
Q How does NaviSite’s Channel Program
compare to other Cloud offerings
available to the Channel right now?

A NaviSite’s Channel program is geared to maximise partner revenue by reselling NaviSite’s proven portfolio. It allows partners to take advantage of compelling features, such as NaviSite’s innovative “usage based” billing model. Resellers can rely on NaviSite’s compelling “co-selling” model, as well as an array of sales and business development tools to keep building their cloud business.
The program includes the ability for resellers to earn commissions for the life of each contract that they sell.

Some uniques:
As NaviSite has an extensive presales and technical support teams, NaviSite will sit at the table with partners to solution, close and implement the deals. This helps to ensure that the solution is exactly tailored to meet the customer’s requirements and building the expertise, credibility and knowledge base in the partner organisation. Unlike competitors,
our partners receive commissions for the lifetime of the customer, not just on the
initial sale.
Q Specifically, what are the one or two
things that you believe give NaviSite a
clear edge over its competitors in terms
of its Channel Program?

A NaviSite stands apart from other cloud service providers in its ability to offer cloud solutions “outside the box,” built to your clients’ specific requirements. This includes configuring hybrid solutions – where customers take advantage of physical and virtual resources which plays to the strength of Partners who can effectively complement their extensive hardware experience with the backing of NaviSite cloud services.

Our partners are also able to drive new managed services business by wrapping their services around NaviSite’s core offerings.
Q Most recently, NaviSite launched an
Enterprise Mobility Management
solution – can you tell us something
about this?

A NaviSite’s EMM solution offers a managed service that provides a configured AirWatch MDM Portal based on the customer’s mobility requirements. EMM allows enterprise email and collaboration to mobile devices, key features are:
 Comprehensive Mobile Device Management ensuring both the security and access control, of devices allowed to connect to services
 Mobile Application Management, providing control of which applications can be used by which user on which devices
 Access to, but separation of hosted personal and corporate data
 Support for common platforms and email systems
 Self-service portal to enable on-boarding
Q The physical location of Clouds/
Managed Services and the security
surrounding them is a major issue –
how does NaviSite address this?
A There are new threats in both cloud and physical hosting environments all the time, so it’s important to be working with a managed service provider who has the right security measures implemented – at the physical, logical and application level. It’s important not to overlook security at any of these levels, as sometimes it’s the old threats which still have the most impact.

In a 2013 survey by Forrester research, 25 percent of respondents said that abuse by a malicious insider was the most common cause of data breaches. Channel partners need to work with a provider who can address security needs at all three levels. This is where NaviSite’s strength in technical presales, implementation and post-sales support really come into play.

By guiding prospects through the key areas of their security requirements and ensuring that the bespoke solution configured can meet these needs, NaviSite is an ideal company for the channel to work with.

This consultative way of working with clients, hosting at the highest level data centres, having a totally transparent approach to the underlying infrastructure which is used to host a customers cloud applications and data means that NaviSite can offer the highest service levels in the industry – at 99.999% uptime for managed cloud hosted environments.

With the cloud you have the added issue of data sovereignty, as some providers will move data and applications to data centre locations where there is spare capacity, taking advantage of their lower utilised resources to deliver an optimal service.

If data sovereignty is critical then you will need to work with a provider which can guarantee that data will not leave the country boundaries.

NaviSite has two cloud nodes in the UK as well as nine cloud nodes in the US. Having multiple cloud nodes in the UK means that customers can not only host their cloud data within UK boundaries, but can also setup disaster recovery over the cloud within the UK. This is especially important for industries such as finance, insurance and healthcare, where strict rules are in force about where patient and customer data can be stored.
It is critical that the channel works with a provider who has the relevant operating processes and procedures in place to maintain security and to have these audited on a regular basis. As a channel partner and for your end customers it’s important that you can gain access to previous audits undertaken and that you have the right to run your own audit checks to ensure that all of the right procedures are being followed.

NaviSite works with a number of external bodies to ensure that appropriate accreditation can be achieved, for example to achieve SSAE16 certification or industry compliance standards such as PCI (for credit card transactions) or HIPPA (for healthcare applications).

Finally, channel partners who have clients with both a European and US presence get to benefit from, not only the high spec datacentres in the UK, but also consistently high quality data centres in the US with a great implementation and support team working to consistent high standards and with common operating processes and procedures.

This makes NaviSite a great partner for anyone in the channel where clients require a data centre presence in both the UK and the US.
Q Are there any other, similar issues
that you believe NaviSite addresses
when it comes to offering your Channel
partners ‘Cloud peace of mind’?

A When working with Enterprise customers, channel partners will be able to benefit from all of the certifications and accreditations which NaviSite has achieved for their clients. They will be able to host data centre visits, so that these systems can be demonstrated and audited and to setup reference calls with existing customers to get live feedback on how key security and data sovereignty requirements were addressed.

Q Not so long ago, Cloud/Managed
Services were predicted to cause the
demise of the Channel – this now
seems rather less likely?

A Increasingly Managed service providers and cloud providers are proactively developing channel strategies, recruiting partners and augmenting their sales and support activities through this means. The channel who are embracing this partnership are seeing growth, rather than a demise of their business. They are extending their reach, broadening their solution offering and building a stronger base for their own business through this alignment. The NaviSite strategy is to continue to develop the channel to accelerate growth for our business and to continue to implement programmes and ways of working with channel partners to ensure their success.
Q What can we expect from NaviSite’s
Partner Program over the next
12-18 months?

A NaviSite has spent the last year building the foundation required to support a robust indirect channel. The next year and half we will be focusing on helping the channel reach more prospects to accelerate sales.

For more information on NaviSite’s channel program, please contact Mark Hart on mhart@navisite.com