Hosted Service Providers Onboarding Kit

Transcription

1 Hosted Service Onboarding Kit Hosted Service Providers Onboarding Kit Contents Welcome, Hosted Services Provider! About DXC SLMS Our Programs and Services Additional Materials Onboarding with DXC SLMS Onboarding to Microsoft SPLA Onboarding to Citrix CSP Onboarding to Microsoft CSP Hosted Services Marketing Best Practices Getting Started with Hosted Services Marketing Hosting Service Provider Positioning Statements Campaign-in-a-Box: "Don't DIY!"

2 Welcome, Hosted Services Provider! About DXC SLMS The DXC SLMS Hosting group is dedicated to helping make our partners successful in their hosting business by providing resources and assistance with the effective marketing and licensing of hosted software products and solutions from our participating vendors. We re the support you need to grow your business at the pace of the cloud services market. As cloud-based hosted software services continue to reshape and expand the principles of modern IT, the future of a cloud services provider depends on the quality of its partnerships. Through our range of full-service hosted software licensing capabilities and detailed knowledge of the latest Microsoft and Citrix cloud licensing programs, we have the expertise you need to capitalize on new opportunities and grow your business. At any time, feel free to contact us or join our online conversations: SLMShostingAMS@DXC.com Our Program & Services U.S. partners can work with DXC SLMS to develop offers based on products and services from Microsoft and Citrix under the following licensing programs: Microsoft SPLA The Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA) is a licensing model that extends use rights to hosters and other managed service providers for two primary kinds of software: Microsoft cloud infrastructure products, including Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, and others; and Microsoft application stack technologies for example, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Skype for Business. With SPLA, you can license these technologies on a monthly basis during a three-year agreement term and use them to offer hosted services and applications to your customers. Citrix CSP Similar to Microsoft SPLA, Citrix offers its Citrix Service Provider (Citrix CSP) program for the licensing of Citrix products that you can use to create hosted offers to your customers. Citrix CSP provides access and support for a portfolio of subscription-based technologies including Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS), application hosting, and mobility solutions. A leader in hosted workspace technology, Citrix created Citrix CSP as a way of extending its product reach by partnering with hosters like you to make its solutions widely available throughout a rich business-to-business (B2B) channel market. Copyright 2017 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. 2

3 Microsoft CSP (coming soon) DXC SLMS is in the process of establishing itself as a partner in the Microsoft 2-Tier Cloud Solution Provider (Microsoft CSP) program. Microsoft CSP enables the hoster channel marketing and sales of Microsoft public cloud technologies, including Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Office 365. In addition to offering new revenue opportunities for partners like you, Microsoft CSP also uses in-product tools and services that enable you to directly manage the customer lifecycle for your Microsoft cloud offerings. The SLMS Hosting group provides a variety of services to support your hosted services business. First and foremost, we act as your partner, helping you evaluate your current environments and business opportunities, as well as advising you on marketing strategies and materials. We also work with you to navigate and untangle the licensing complexities associated with the hosted offers and subscribe each partner to the SKUs you need. If you're new to the SLMS Hosting program, we help you with onboarding and provide you with training on using Online Services (OLS), the proprietary SLMS tool for ordering SKUs and reporting end-customer usage. For ongoing partner support, we also broadcast SPLA, Citrix CSP and Microsoft CSP program updates and other helpful information to our partner community, and work individually with partners to determine any subscription changes and assist with compliance inquiries, as well as provide timely answers and critical issue resolutions related to your end-customer license aggregation, usage, and reporting. Additional Materials For additional information, visit the following sites: DXC SLMS Microsoft SPLA Citrix CSP Microsoft CSP Copyright 2017 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. 3

4 Onboarding with DXC SLMS Onboarding to SLMS Hosting services entails following a few key phases to get you up and running. The SLMS group is here to help guide you through this process and answer your questions so you stay on-track. Planning Implementation Plan your business what solutions are best for you to sell, and what licenses will you need? Determine the best route for implementing the hosted solutions in your environment. Marketing Operations Based on your business plans, produce a marketing strategy to help sell your hosted solutions. Use the Marketing Best Practices section of this document for some preliminary guidance. Also, consider using the brand-ready Campaign-in-a-Box assets developed for your use by DXC SLMS to get a running start on your first end-customer hosted services marketing campaign. Once you have your services and your customers, stay current with the latest updates and continue refining your hosted services business to support your growth and meet customers' needs. The following tables on the next page provide checklists with helpful links for onboarding to the various programs. Use these checklists to plan your progress as you achieve full operational capacity for your chosen licensing program(s). Copyright 2017 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. 4

5 Onboarding with Microsoft SPLA Phase Planning (Weeks 1-2) Implementation (Weeks 2-8) Marketing (Week 8) Operations (Ongoing) Steps and Links Review this checklist! Verify that you have access to the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) site. You'll use this site to obtain the product keys and downloads you need. Verify that you have access to the Service Provider Use Rights (SPUR). You'll use this site to understand the details of your use rights for each of the products you implement. Watch the Online Service (OLS) video. OLS is the proprietary DXC SLMS tool that you'll use for reporting your monthly SPLA usage. Review the reference architectures and other comprehensive technical guidance for each of the SPLA-based hosting solutions. Participate in TechNet and Cloud Channel Network, two key Microsoft educational resources covering cloud- and SPLA-related topics. Visit Microsoft Virtual Academy to peruse the library of additional Microsoft resources available for hosters and other partners. Review the additional campaign resources available and expand your sales and marketing reach for hosted service offerings at DXC SPaRC. Review the materials on the public Microsoft SPLA Licensing support page, including the SPLA Hoster Playbook and SPLA Hoster Video. Stay current with the latest information on the Microsoft Cloud & Hosting site. Register for the Microsoft Hosting & Cloud Newsletters and attend the Cloud Channel Network webcasts to receive the latest SPLA program updates. Keep checking the MPN Partner Marketing Center for the latest ready-to-use marketing resources and guidance to help you with additional campaigns. For assistance with Microsoft SPLA issues, send us mail at Copyright 2017 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. 5

6 Onboarding to Citrix CSP Phase Planning (Weeks 1-4) Implementation (Weeks 2-8) Marketing (Week 8) Operations (Ongoing) Steps and Links Download the Citrix Service Provider Getting Started Checklist and use the Welcome and Onboard phase activities to start planning your Citrix hosted services business. Schedule an onboarding call with your DXC SLMS Hosting representative. Use the Implement phase activities in the Citrix Service Provider Getting Started Checklist to familiarize yourself with the Citrix Service Provider reference architecture. Work with your DXC SLMS Hosting representative to order the licenses you need. Use the Market phase activities in the Citrix Service Provider Getting Started Checklist to develop your go-to-market strategy and launch plan. Use the Sell, Report, and Expand phase activities in the Citrix Service Provider Getting Started Checklist to continue operating and improving your Citrix business. For assistance with Citrix Service Provider issues, us at Onboarding to Microsoft CSP Coming soon! This information will also be featured in SPaRC, the SLMS Hosting partner community. Copyright 2017 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. 6

7 Hosted Services Marketing Best Practices No matter where you are on the marketing experience spectrum, it's helpful to have a few guidelines to make sure you've got your bases covered. In particular, marketing for hosted services requires some unique considerations. Use the following best practices to start thinking about your marketing plans, and when you're ready, look at the ready-made Campaign-in-a-Box we've developed to help you put your plans into action. Note: These best practices simply represent suggested guidance. DXC SLMS does not assume responsibility or liability for any actions taken or investments made on behalf of your organization. Keep it Simple When it comes to marketing your hosted services, don't overthink it. Many of the message development has already been done by Microsoft and Citrix, as well as by the DXC SLMS group. Use the materials available from these organizations and focus your time and effort on getting started and establishing a steady rhythm of campaign execution. Keep it Social Social media forums are a popular and highly effective method of reaching customers and prospects with your marketing messages and general information about your company and services. They're also important for establishing and cultivating a community of users who interact with your brand and, over time, build confidence and trusting your leadership as a trusted hosted services provider. Examples of hosted services-related social media forums include thewhir, ChannelProSMB, MartinWielomski, Archimedius, samcharrington, PaulMiller, and eb@b_cloud. Focus on what makes you unique Hosters who differentiate themselves and their services from other hosters stand a better chance of earning increased recognition and rewards in the marketplace. When assembling your marketing plan, ask: What makes your business stand out from your competition? What's special about your company and its offers that you want customers to understand and remember about you and your brand? Think Business, not Technical. Even though you sell technical services and deal day-to-day with technical issues in your company, your customers have a different view of things. They spend all day every day focusing on their core offerings and capabilities which generally aren't technology-related. When you engage your customers and prospects, remember to have a conversation about their business, not just about your technology. Copyright 2017 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. 7

8 Update your Website Effective websites convert visitors into prospects, so that your follow-up marketing and sales activities can take them from there to becoming paying customers and happy consumers of your services. The best websites use a modern, dynamic, mobile-ready design that makes your services highly visible and easy to understand. Avoid big chunks of content; users won't read it. Add video content to make your message especially compelling videos are currently the most accessed resource on most sites. Also, remember to focus your website content on the business benefits, not just the technical benefits, of your offers (see related best practices listed above) and include links to your social media outlets. Promote your Brand Your brand is at the core of how others perceive and recognize your company. Make an effort to get your brand out in the public eye as much as possible, and particularly in your business community. Consider sponsoring business events, such as Chamber of Commerce events, wherever your prospective customers are attending or participating. And be sure to put your website URL, phone and address on every communication that you send. Optimize and Market your Website and Landing Pages Use search engine optimization (SEO) to generate "free" or "organic" traffic to your website. By publishing content that your audience is searching for applying metatags, you attract prospects who will, over time, find you and hopefully engage with you. Effective examples of SEO-friendly content includes: case studies, white papers and testimonials as meta-tagged text with your brand on them. Check out this guidance to help you get started. You can also use search engine marketing (SEM) to generate paid traffic to your website. By using pay-per-click advertising services, such as from Google, Yahoo and Bing, you compete effectively for the keyword phrases your competition may be getting instead of you! As with any marketing decision, be sure to measure your performance regularly and make the needed adjustments to optimize your results. Check out this guidance to help you get started. Track the Trends The cloud market is booming, and at the same time, it's always in a state of change. As more businesses and individuals become cloud-aware and new cloud-based services gain popularity, it can be important to learn about what's hot and what's not. Follow social media and read online newsletters from SLMS Hosting, Microsoft, Citrix, and any other vendors you work with to gain the latest perspectives. Talk to your Customers The better you understand your customers who they are, what they do, what they care about, and how they use technology the better you are in a position to advise them and, ultimately, sell them services that meet their business needs. For example, conducting a simple five-question survey and sending it to your customer base can be a great way to let them know you're their business partner and you care about their success. It's also an avenue toward new business generation when it opens up communication about opportunities to try services in your portfolio they haven't previously discovered. Copyright 2017 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. 8

9 Let s Work as a Team! Your SLMS Hosting representatives are not only here to answer your questions we also want to help you succeed. Whether it's helping you understand new opportunities or just expanding the customer base you've already worked hard to establish, consider DXC SLMS to be your partner for business growth, profit expansion, and long-term success. In addition to reviewing the newsletters, price lists, and other materials send by our group, you can work with us to establish a regular phone call cadence with our consultants to help track your progress and attain your goals. Getting Started with Hosted Services Marketing Hosting Service Provider Positioning Statements Here's an overview of the basic statements you can make about the services you sell that will resonate with your customers and get them interested in what you have to offer. Use these four simple phrases as a starting point for the messaging you include with your campaigns. A brief explanation of each phrase follows below. Simplify your IT. IT hassles plague nearly all of your customers and prospects in some way or another. Even running a simple business can get complicated in a hurry. Without the cloud, your customers are stuck buying and maintaining servers, tracking software licenses, and constantly updating applications. By signing up to receive hosted services from your company, the complexity is simplified, and the hassle goes away. Consolidate your Services with a Single Provider Your customers are smart, and they're also busy. Most of them are aware of some services the cloud can provide for them, but as they learn about new services, they don't want to constantly be evaluating and signing up with new providers. By marketing your business as a one-stop shop for their cloud services needs, you establish yourself as their top-of-mind resource for consolidating their IT needs. Copyright 2017 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. 9

10 Focus on your Core Business. Invest in Trusted Solutions with State-of-the-Art Support. By joining the programs offered through DXC SLMS Hosting, your business is now associated with the leading brands in hosted technologies: Microsoft and Citrix. Customers who sign up with you can expect the high-quality support your business already provides, backed by the reputation and service quality levels of the vendors whose hosted services you represent. Very few of your customers if any are in the business of managing computers and what's running on them. That's why they work with you to do that for them. The clearer you can be that your business exists to reduce the time, money, and stress your customers expend keeping their IT systems running, the faster they'll realize they now have those resources free to devote to doing whatever they do best. Campaign-in-a-Box: "Don't DIY!" To help you start marketing your DXC SLMS hosted services, we created a campaign that's ready to go all you need to do is add your company's branding and edit the content appropriately for your offer. This campaign is an example of how you can creatively market your hosted services using the positioning statements above. "Don't DIY!" Campaign Landing Page This landing page to describes the reasons customers should consider your offer, and tells them how to take action by contacting your company. "Don't DIY!" Campaign This can be customized by you and sent to the marketing lists you use for your campaigns, targeting business and technical decision makers who are likely to be interested in your services. "Don't DIY!" Campaign Banner Ads These ads are sized and produced to be ready to include with your campaign. As with the , the goal of these banner ads is to generate interest and drive traffic to the campaign landing page. Click here to download the Campaign-in-a-Box assets. Questions? Send to SLMSHOSTINGAMS@DXC.com. Copyright 2017 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. 10