The Optanix Partner Program. Built for MSPs, by an MSP

Transcription

1 The Optanix Partner Program Built for MSPs, by an MSP

2 Table of Contents Introducing Optanix 3 Built for MSPs, by an MSP 4 The Optanix Backstory 4 The Pain Point 5 The Optanix Platform Today 5 Partner Program 6 Partner Experience 7 Our Guiding Principles 8 Partner Opportunity 9 ITIL-Aligned Service Portfolio 10 Collaborative Sales Motion 11 Mutual Goals and Objectives 11 How We Support the Relationship 12 Program Benefits 13 About Optanix 14 About the Optanix Platform 14 2

3 Introducing Optanix When we first set out to provide a managed service, our founders and earliest employees knew from past experience that existing IT network monitoring and management platforms left much to be desired so they decided to build their own. Their goal was to address the top two platform pain points they were experiencing: 1. Frequently, three, four or even more platforms with similar but different feature sets would be required to provide effective service 2. Those multiple platforms all employed sliding window architectures that generated a tidal wave of events whenever a service issue occurred We eliminated those issues by combining all the monitoring and management features an MSP needs in a single platform. This includes patented correlation and decision engine capabilities that create just a single, actionable root cause incident for each service issue, and automations that remediate incidents by leveraging institutional knowledge from across the organization. Our customers began asking us how we were doing it. To this day more than 15 years later Optanix is the only MSP that uses its own IT operations management software, and the Optanix Platform is the only platform we use to manage all of our customers environments. At the end of the day, we are able to correlate the impact of network events on their businesses, provide them with actionable events, and improve their overall operational efficiency. Now, as part of the Optanix Partner Program, we are taking our own advanced offering built to fulfill our needs as an MSP and packaging it up for others to use. Industry leaders such as Cisco, IBM, Presidio and HighPoint are already leveraging the Optanix Platform to manage millions of events for hundreds of customers. 3

4 Built for MSPs, by an MSP Optanix has a unique perspective on the MSP market. We are an MSP that provides an operations platform for other MSPs, as well as VARs, cloud providers and other service and solution providers. So as you might imagine, there is a compelling backstory to how we got here. We started off as an MSP, but soon we identified a gap in our ability to get to the root cause of our customers IT problems. To meet our own needs, we built and perfected our own IT operations management platform. The Optanix Platform consolidated industry best practices with innovative root cause capabilities and remediation automations. We found it quickly improved our ability to respond to and often prevent network issues, helping to drive predictable outcomes for our MSP, MSI, VAR and cloud provider customers. The Optanix Backstory Our founders were pioneers of remote management services. At the time, most resellers had a cutand-run mentality: once a customer s network was built, the reseller would cut bait and run off to the next job. This usually left customers in a state of disarray. In the early days, we differentiated ourselves by saying we re not only going to provide Day 1 services (sell, design, configure and install), but we re going to stick around in the aftermath and help our customers run their business infrastructure by providing Day 2 services (such as ongoing IT operations management, monitoring and maintenance). Out of our necessity to support our Day 2 customers, we used a combination of the available tools on the market. Each of these tools had differentiated capabilities necessary to provide effective service and support. But they were clumsy and inefficient to operate. We decided that if we were to invest the time to create our own IT operations management platform, we could apply our own best practices and lessons learned and consolidate the toolset down to one service. Our plan was simple: let s invent a platform for ourselves that will help us provide all the monitoring and management for our customers in one place. 4

5 The Pain Point While consolidating the tool functionality was a good start, it was clear right away that we needed to develop a much more robust and meaningful technology platform. For example, one of the key problems for Day 2 customers was managing the tidal wave of events that were coming in. How were they supposed to know which of hundreds of thousands of events represented the actual root cause of the problem? And how could they know where to direct remediation efforts? The manner in which vendors and resellers were ingesting events known as sliding windows was deluging customers with a constant stream of alarms. We recognized this problem because, of course, we had constantly experienced this pain point ourselves as an MSP. Our solution was to develop the concept of the snapshot to investigate what s happening in the network. Then we were able to look at consecutive snapshots to identify changes in behavior and status over time. Similarly, existing tools had an immature approach to dependency analysis. Again, we understood the problem based on our experience as an MSP and developed an engine to correlate events with devices while associating devices to the services they impacted. The Optanix Platform Today Our proprietary network management platform made us much more efficient at managing our customers IT infrastructures. Eventually we enhanced our platform with advanced automations and root cause analysis capabilities. And then one day, one of our customers asked us if they could use the platform to manage their infrastructure on their own. By exposing the platform to our customers, we could enable them to either watch what we were doing or do it for themselves. As a result, we augmented our approach to Day 1 and Day 2 partner services by offering the Optanix Platform as a product. Taking another giant step forward, Optanix today provides our partners with the Optanix Platform plus flexible packaging options. 5

6 Partner Program The Optanix Partner Program was developed to make our partners lives easier. The core offering of the program is the Optanix Platform, which helps partners operationalize business outcomes for their end clients. It does this by driving actionable intelligence on issues impacting business services. What we provide. Optanix provides Remote Management Services (RMS) and Managed Platform as a Service (MPaaS). Who we provide it to. Our partners use the Optanix Platform to deliver their own managed services or to manage their hosted cloud offerings. They resell white-labeled Optanix managed services, or they augment their managed services with ours to deliver a seamless co-managed solution. How we help MSPs and MSIs. By providing IT operations teams with valid, actionable incidents instead of forcing them to triage the symptoms, the Optanix Platform enables them to preemptively address issues or to resolve issues quickly when they do occur. This greatly reduces the time and effort and thus the cost they expend to manage IT infrastructure. Know. Don t Guess. The Optanix Platform helps our partners and their end clients to Know. Don t Guess. when managing their IT operations infrastructure. With its precision monitoring capabilities, we help MSPs and IT organizations pivot from passive and reactive to active and proactive. The multi-layered technology platform does this by: Collecting and correlating events from a comprehensive array of environments Enabling real-time comparative analysis with snapshot processing Determining, validating and verifying the root cause Proactively delivering operational business intelligence Generating automations that accurately address remediation by proliferating institutional knowledge across the entire organization To drive down remediation time and effort, the Optanix Platform includes more than 2,000,000 built-in event rules, 1,500 automations and over 250 unique, multi-step workflows. These technical advantages help yield commercial value, sticky contracts and recurring revenue for our partners. 6

7 Partner Experience Optanix is driven to provide the best possible partner experience in the industry. That s why we work side-by-side with our partners to drive our mutual success and offer them a comprehensive partner program, which includes the elements listed in Figure 1: DELIVERY & OPERATIONS Transition management Platform tuning Runbook development Escalation management process PLATFORM Roadmap Platform upgrades Platform maintenance PRICING & PACKAGING Deal registration Incentive programs PARTNER PROGRAMS Market development funds Funded heads for co-selling PARTNER MANAGEMENT MSP operational on-boarding Fast Start program Demo systems Optanix training GOVERNANCE Partner and customer QBRs Executive sponsorship program CSAT program Joint account planning CO-NURTURE CUSTOMERS AND SELL Develop joint marketing plan Partner lead generation Marketing assets CO-CREATION Design sales campaigns/ programs White labeled collateral Figure 1. Core elements of the Optanix Partner Program Our objective at Optanix isn t merely to equip you with the basics. We want to accelerate sales success by joining forces on each opportunity built around your vision, culture and capabilities. We know our world. And we appreciate yours. Our support team didn t just learn about running a NOC in a textbook or from an instructor, we actually operate one. With engineers certified in a variety of environments, you can count on Optanix to provide high-quality service every time. Grow your margins. At Optanix, our partners realize a significant improvement in productivity per head in a fully managed service environment even when compared to their own people. Investing for the future. Our innovative approach to solving complex problems is constantly being applied to new engagement opportunities. Our partners enjoy significant upsell opportunities well into the future. We have a team of experts that are solely focused on developing and deploying new and innovative services with our partners. Partner centered. 98% of our business is fulfilled through partnerships. We not only have partner tailored programs, we will build our business around yours. 7

8 Our Guiding Principles Optanix s goal today is to be a trusted advisor and business advocate for our partners. We focus on enabling our partners growth by driving the success of their customers. As a company that exists to help others, we feel that the Optanix difference begins with our people and our product and our ability to utilize both to build and support a world-class partner experience. We bring the following to the table on behalf of our partners: More than 1,000 years of collective IT operations experience, with a mindset toward continuous improvement A program framework and domain intelligence that positions us to deliver exceptional service Service co-creation that anticipates and exceeds the expanding needs of end clients For us, it s delivering results that counts. That means delivering financial results to the partner and quantitative results to their end client. Here are some of our core professional beliefs that help explain who we are, and that drive us to provide outstanding service to our partners: We believe that our technology and service can uniquely position our partners to deliver an enhanced level of business value to their customers. We believe that today s customers demand unmatched IT service quality and if you don t deliver, they ll find someone who can. We believe when operations staff experience alert fatigue from excessive incidents, their motivation to do the best job they can is diminished. We believe the silo approach to IT management is dated and that our multi-technology IT operations platform is unmatched in the industry. We believe there is always something new around the corner in the IT world. That s why we have a team of people on the front-end of our business that focus on new technologies, how best to manage them, and most importantly, determining how they integrate and interoperate with existing assets. 8

9 Partner Opportunity Optanix s ability to pinpoint IT infrastructure problems and automate remediation helps our partners and their customers reduce the time they spend managing IT operations. The predictability of an Optanix monitored infrastructure, coupled with our advanced automation features, yields positive business outcomes. Going to market with Optanix increases customer stickiness, which directly results from making their lives easier. We provide a service that IT organizations can t afford to live without. Figure 2. The Optanix co-selling model provides superior enablement in these three areas. We have found that our innovative offerings help our partners manage out risk by: Reducing the time IT organizations spend managing their infrastructure, thanks to our root cause, decision engine and remediation automation capabilities Empowering them to bring services to market quickly through our breadth of services and the flexibility and agility of the Optanix service model Providing superior enablement in sales motion, sales tools and offer creation, as shown in Figure 2 We help our partners differentiate and grow their businesses by delivering a world-class experience to their clients. Our patented technology drives actionable intelligence on issues impacting business services. This helps our partners pivot from reactive to proactive. 9

10 ITIL-Aligned Service Portfolio The Optanix services portfolio provides integrated management and support that is aligned with ITIL. In particular, we are focused on delivering leading solutions for the ITIL services for Event Management, Incident Management and IT Operations Management (ITOM). When combined with our partner capabilities, we support a full ITIL service stack. ITIL, formally an acronym for Information Technology Infrastructure Library, is a set of detailed practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business. Our partners use the practices inherent in the multi-layered Optanix Platform to: Automate and enhance IT operations Consolidate and monitor IT operations data from various environments Automatically pinpoint and react to issues in real time Our ITIL-based service models were designed to augment the needs of our partners and their customers as necessary, enabling us to support the following models: INCIDENT MANAGEMENT Incident Logging Runbook Management Reporting EVENT MANAGEMENT 24*7 Monitoring Event Filtering and Categorization Correlation and Response Alerting and Ticketing PROBLEM MANAGEMENT Identification Diagnosis and Resolution Root Cause Analysis Reporting ORCHESTRATION Automation Correlation Web Tooling Portal APIs / E-Bonding Runbook Customization Change Management Release Management ASSET MANAGEMENT Auto Discovery EoL Identification Configuration Management Configuration Compliance PERFORMANCE Metric Definition and Tracking Dashboard Analytics Capacity Planning Trending and Reporting SERVICE LEVEL MANAGEMENT Supplier Management SLA Management Reporting CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT Process Issue Remediation Proactive Standards Recommendations Compliance Auditing Figure 3. Optanix services include Event Management, Incident Management and all ITOM management functions, aligning with the ITIL model. 10

11 Collaborative Sales Motion As shown in Figure 3, Optanix focuses on making our partners lives easier with flexible ITIL service options that match up with their business models and go-to-market needs. In short, we allow them to focus on their strengths. Our collaborative sales motion offering helps partners to: Maximize the profit of their relationships with existing and new customers Acquire new logos, build new revenue streams or expand existing ones Exceed the expectations of and build trust with their most challenging customers Our objective at Optanix isn t merely to equip our partners with the basics. We want to accelerate sales success by building a joint go-to-market win/close strategy for each opportunity built around the partner s vision, culture and capabilities. Mutual Goals and Objectives At Optanix, we help our partners close business by creating new and enhancing existing revenue streams. Of course, no one makes money operating their IT infrastructure. Because of the time and complexity involved, IT organizations want more from their remote management partners. Optanix provides an analytics-driven approach to service predictability that provides proactive service, while most of the world is stuck in reactive mode. We provide our partners with predictable infrastructure management and costs, with minimal cost to change. We also help our partners drive up their CSAT by delivering verified outcomes to their customers and focus on making sure those customers recommend our partners services because of those outcomes. We do this by delighting them with innovative, differentiated services. Our ITIL alignment gives our partners a holistic approach for treating their infrastructure as a system, not as discrete components or incidents. We effectively manage devices within the system, enabling us to triage, repair or replace without interruptions in service. 11

12 How We Support the Relationship PARTNER MANAGEMENT DELIVERY & OPS GOVERNANCE Partner PATENTED PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY Client CUSTOMER AND PARTNER NURTURE PRICING & PACKAGING PARTNER PROGRAMS CO-CREATION Figure 4. To increase end-client stickiness and provide an innovative service that end clients can t affort to live without, Optanix supports its partners in these eight areas. Optanix s success depends upon providing our partners with the best possible experience. This ultimately drives partner loyalty. Leveraging the eight areas indicated in Figure 4, we help our partners to: Improve customer experience by delivering verified outcomes to end customers. We strive to make sure the end client recommends our partner s service. Deliver innovation by positioning them to drive a fundamental shift in the service value chain from reactive, to proactive, to predictive. 12

13 Program Benefits The primary benefits enabled by the Optanix Partner Program are an increased speed to market and a reduction in the time spent managing IT infrastructure. The technical capabilities of the Optanix Platform enable our partners and their customers to move their IT infrastructure management from reactive to proactive. FEWER HANDOFFS CORRECT HANDOFFS PROACTIVENESS SPEED EASE OF ONBOARDING REDUCED WORK LEVEL WORKFORCE EFFICIENCY REDUCED SYSTEM DOWNTIME CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT CYCLE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT MORE PROACTIVE ADAPTABILITY SCALE Figure 5. Technical outcomes realized by deploying the Optanix Platform lead directly to business value. Our scalable, repeatable offers provide our partners with: A NOC-in-a-box which includes NOC, pre-sales, and sales support that integrates with existing services and allows additional services to be layered on top An improved speed to market, including revenue recognition typically realized within days Monitoring and remediation that provides the ability to treat the root cause of the problem rather than simply respond to the incident The ability to engage marketing teams when going to market 13

14 Figure 6. Key data points on Optanix. Our partners include some of the world s largest and most complex IT companies. To support them, we are expanding our footprint outside the U.S. and obtaining technical certifications across a variety of disciplines. For our efforts, we are frequently recognized by the industry. SELECTED PARTNERS CERTIFICATIONS LOCATIONS RECOGNITION North America-based NOC Presence in 26 States Customers in 65 Countries 14

15 About Optanix Optanix is leading the advancement of IT service predictability in today s hyperconnected digital economy where reliable service delivery has never been more vital. Hundreds of customers rely on the Optanix Platform and Remote Management Service (RMS) to enable unbeatable service availability that leads to positive business outcomes. Optanix solutions are delivered through industry leading channel partners who rely on Optanix s extensive IT automation experience. About the Optanix Platform The Optanix Platform is the only comprehensive, integrated solution designed to handle all aspects of managing IT environments. It uses patented automation and correlation processes to pinpoint the actionable root cause and business impact of service issues while reducing event noise by a factor of more than 1,000,000 to one. And by automatically routing only true root cause incidents to the appropriate support team in just seconds, the platform reduces incident remediation times by 50% and helps support teams respond proactively 95% of the time. Optanix One Penn Plaza, New York, NY info@optanix.com Copyright 2018 Optanix. All rights reserved. Optanix information is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. All marks are property of their respective owners. v