There is a famous saying of former president Bill Clinton: “It´s the economy, stupid!” In the cloud age, we again need to be reminded: “It’s the business model, stupid!” The issue is, we all just get too busy talking about technology and devices that we forget that they are only the platform. Don’t get me wrong, these devices are entirely necessary (and fun), but it is the flexible business model that wins the day.
Technology of course will always have an influential impact on markets, but it is the innovative business model that can deliver the same or even more of a punch. The business model of a company can be very disruptive and especially when long lived and established models suddenly change. In the past, everybody had a clear understanding of Microsoft’s business model: Build software, sell licenses and support through a large global network of channel distribution. But that primarily was directed at the enterprise customers. The Internet however, has its sights focused on consumers with the good old “channel” ignoring the signs.
The internet’s rapid development and expansion into all of our lives changed everything. Suddenly Microsoft was forced to compete with companies like Google having to offer services and especially content to end customers directly via online interaction channels like Hotmail, Bing, Xbox Live or Windows Live. And as Gmail evolved into Google Apps for Business, Microsoft had to evolve as well extending their new approach the enterprises. They did and Office365 was born.
As time went on, Microsoft introduced reseller models and the ability of billing for the service. But this was truly only the beginning of how cloud computing is changing the IT business to date and years to come. It is the toughest for the resellers in this scenario: They ‘get to’ bill their customers directly too, but are selling someone else’s services, letting their customers store the data in someone else’s data center without knowing where and how the data is saved. Clearly, this surrender of control and the relationship of your most trusted asset – your installed (customer) base – is a losing model for all IT service providers.
This approach weakens your brand and sustainability to retain your customers. Is there another choice for resellers?
The clear choice is to choose solution partners that enable and strengthen your brand, value proposition and relationship with your customers. At Open-Xchange, we enable resellers and service providers to launch web-based software that is embedded in their brand´s environment. With this brands regain the ability to market to their customer base with a flexible business model that drives growth and customer retention. We supply the tools for companies to build, deploy, operate and even market best-in class cloud services. In the fight against the over-the-top giants (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook…etc.), it takes the focus of a steady hand, a focused aim and a rock to swiftly slingshot the winning blow. OX is that rock and slingshot combination you’ve been searching for.
At today’s mobile internet business pace, you need to have the guts to deploy across all channels to utilize the power of your brand, leverage your user base and deploy services that are meaningful to your customers. Most customers will value this and buy your branded services, because you took the time to make them relevant to them.
Need help with this? Then I am the guy for you to contact: Rene.Otto(at)Open-Xchange.com