Trusted Parties and Third-Party Maintenance: Capstone (Part III)

By Harry Brelsford

 

Clearly one of the greatest opportunities for resellers, Network Service Providers (NSP) and Managed Services Providers (MSP) in the current economic climate rests with the speed and efficiency that Third-Party Maintenance (TPM) agreements can rapidly be sold and implemented for enterprise and small and medium business (SMB) clients. That’s the fast path to CASH! We have established that in part one and part two of our TPM series.

 

This blog installment underscores the importance of partnering with the best (and most trustworthy) TPM service providers. The golden rule is to find or transition to a TPM partner that you can trust. And drum roll please – who is on the short list of trusted partners? It’s a partner you’ve had since nearly day one of your technology practice: your Tier One distribution partner!

 

While other private equity-backed firms are in the TPM game, all major distributors like Ingram Micro, Tech Data, Synnex and Climb Channel Solution (formerly Lifeboat) have had your back from day one and you can be guaranteed not one of them has ever taken your customer direct and they never will.  These are billion-dollar global giants that dwarf even the largest players in the TPM industry.  All major distributors have a services division and most offer channel friendly TPM programs that guarantee a non-compete partnership.  Companies like Altnet, ATS and ATO Data were conceived with the charter to protect the US reseller.

 

Climb Channel Solutions

Dale Foster, president at Climb Channel Solutions weighed in on TPM. “From our point of view and that of our partners, it’s about efficiencies and entanglement.” Foster shared. “Climb Lifecycle Solutions (CLS) simplifies the entire TPM process with a special shoutout to the quoting module. For MSPs, NSPs and reseller, the TPM motion creates customer stickiness in the areas of software, hardware and maintenance. Bottom line is that MSPs and partners want to be the ‘end all’ for customers while also protecting their customer relationship.”

 

GC Micro

There’s nothing better than hearing from a real customer! GC Micro is a technology solution provider with a focus on the defense and aerospace sectors. William Holcomb, account manager, shared the following in an interview.

 

Brelsford: How do you like the white labeling – on a scale of one to ten?

Holcomb: “White labeling is one of the most important factors in working with ZPI/Synnex/ATS – it solves the complexity and streams it down to just GC Micro (even though we might have several different companies we are orchestrating in the background). Gotta roll with a 9 or 10 on the satisfaction score.”

 

Brelsford: Do you feel the “cost” is acceptable and of real value?

Holcomb: “Absolutely the cost is of real value. We’ve been comparing the ZPI/Synnex/ATS approach to other providers and the costs are very competitive.”

 

Brelsford: How has asset management improved your profitability?

Holcomb: Our customers use the portal to manage assets both ‘not’ under contract and those under contract. The idea being we can transition ‘not’ under contract assets to a under contract scenario.

 

 

 

Brelsford: Why did you go with ZPI/Synnex/ATS?

Holcomb: A few factors were involved. I’ve worked with members of the team before, so they had credibility. The ZPI/Synnex/ATS team works with me to overcome client objections in features, functionality and workflow. It’s taken the main client concern of ‘that’s why I don’t like TPM agreements’ off the table.

 

Brelsford: How has ZPI/Synnex/ATS TPM helped you go get more business?

Holcomb: The assessment process up front to craft the TPM solution has allowed us to proactively get new opportunities and expand our existing business relationships.

 

Brelsford: Has it protected your customer base from external competitive threats?

Holcomb: One example is service level agreements (SLA). We work in regulated environments where the downtime must be less than four hours. The ZPI/Synnex/ATS TPM solution set allows us to manage that process and, ergo, keep our competitors away from our accounts.

 

Brelsford: How important is the non-compete/non-solicitation protections working with ZPI/Synnex/ATS and trusted distributors?

Holcomb: Being able to “TRUST” ZPI/Synnex/ATS is a critical success factor. Because the platform has visibility into the customer details, it would be devastating if that were abused.

 

Brelsford: Do you like to track the entire lifecycle of the customer?

Holcomb: Yes – one of the goals in setting up the portal was to allow the customer to logon and do it all in one spot. Thus we track the entire lifecycle.

 

Figure 1: William Holcomb, GC Micro

 

Bottom Line

So what do you do to protect yourself and enjoy the new future of TPM?

Go back to your oldest and most trusted partner: distribution.