Cloud computing and SaaS were supposed to put the squeeze on technology distributors. But Excel Micro, a modern-day distributor, seems to be thriving. The reason? Excel Micro distributes Google Apps and Google’s SaaS-centric security software to VARs and resellers. And the results sound quite impressive, if you listen to Michael Amadio, director of marketing at Excel Micro.
In a TalkinCloud FastChat Video, Amadio describes how Excel Micro started out as a traditional IT reseller in the 1990s. But gradually by the late 1990s, Excel Micro pushed into hosted email security — long before the cloud became the hottest term in high-tech. Along the way, Excel Micro struck up a relationship with Postini, the email security company that Google ultimately gobbled up in 2007.
So far so good for Excel Micro. Amadio says the company now serves 3,500 resellers and the Excel Micro business spans more than 1 million end-user licenses sold. Moreover, he sees Google remaining committed to channel partners even as Google shifts the CEO title from Eric Schmidt to Larry Page.
Amadio certainly sounds upbeat. But we can’t ignore the fact that some VARs and MSPs worry about shrinking SaaS prices, especially as Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365 (the forthcoming successor to Business Productivity Online Suite) prepare for combat later this year. Still, the Google Apps Reseller team is promoting a six-pillar strategy for channel partners that want to push beyond basic SaaS revenues.
For its part, Excel Micro continues to march ahead — promoting a partner portal and other tools to further engage VARs and MSPs that want to profit from the cloud.
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Worrying about shrinking prices, then the MSP/VAR is selling themselves short. Even when Google reduced Postini pricing, some well over 50%. Margins have not compressed and we are netting higher bottom line revenues. Because of the lower costs, more clients and resellers are purchasing more services and have more to spend on other products and services.
We have been a direct partner with Postini since 2003 and business has always trended higher every year. Combining Google Business and Postini services is a great combination, that has done nothing but add higher bottom line revenues. Our direct client and resellers are very happy with the programs.
FrankM: Always good to hear from someone who has been embracing this opportunity for eight years… especially since most VARs are just getting started with cloud. Please keep me posted as you continue to evolve your cloud reseller efforts.
-jp
Joe, Just became a subscriber to your enewsletters they are great. My company offers cloud based services that allow organizations to share confidential documents securely for funding, parterning, M&A applications etc. We are currently looking for partners; MSP’s, VARs, cloud integrators. I have found this to be a difficult task, trying to identify some of these channel partners that may be able to ad our service to their offerings, any ideas how to find this information? Thanks for your help. Joe
Joe: Thanks for the feedback and for taking the time to post a comment. On the partner front I would start tracking traditional anti-virus companies that now offer Data Loss Prevention (DLP) technology. Find each AV company’s top DLP channel partner, and I suspect you’ll have a list of 25 to 50 VARs who may be interested in your privacy solutions…
Also, start sending us news. We update each of our sites about 5X daily…
Joe Panettieri
joe [at] NineLivesMediaInc [dot] com