For enterprise end-users looking to purchase IT services and solutions, the myriad options on offer both in and outside the channel can be bewildering. While vendors are getting closer to the customer segments, they can’t be everywhere and satisfy a business’s every need.
Similarly, while channel partners can have a deep understanding of customer needs based on how customer-facing they typically are, they might not have the product and use-case specific knowledge that vendors possess.
The solution may lie in driving joint value propositions between suppliers and channel partners to deliver superior customer experiences, particularly where cloud communications is concerned. Uniting product and service offerings can enable a customer experience that is superior by default, enabling quicker product delivery and enhanced levels of customer support.
Defining propositions
Today, joint value propositions have become an increasingly important positioning tool for vendors that deliver end-user solutions together with MSPs and VARs. Both parties come together to combine product and service in such a way that communicates increased value for the end customer, which then provides customers with a tangible, distinct service package that can accelerate transformation and collaboration.
Partnering sales and fulfilment teams can ensure more efficient service delivery, which ultimately leads to a more satisfied end-customer. As a channel partner can facilitate quicker communication between user and vendor, this means solutions can be implemented more swiftly, while the vendor has access to a direct line of feedback about the product offering.
By improving communication between vendor, partner, and customer, joint value propositions hold the power to maximise sales and increase end-user retention rates as both fulfilment and sales teams can support clients better.
Enhancing offerings
The joint value proposition sees vendors empower partners to deliver managed, professional, and development services that add value to the vendor’s product. This helps end-users make the most of the offering by enabling bespoke vendor-partner solutions that are intimately tailored to both partner applications and customer needs.
For example, these services could include a more intimate service desk in a customer’s native language or new training and certifications to deliver solutions better. Other options include developing new applications for the customer, leveraging APIs to integrate disparate systems or embedding communications into the customer’s own consumer-facing application.
As a result, channel partners are in a better position to offer high-level value-add services to truly deliver on the promise of superior customer experiences.
It can also be particularly beneficial for channel partners to shadow vendor staff during sales, implementation, and support cycles. By incentivising partners to join vendors by way of a referral approach, partner-vendor teams can progress to a reseller arrangement once the former is further enabled to fly solo.
True consultancy
A joint value proposition also provides the opportunity for resellers to position themselves as trusted advisors and consultants to end-customers, allowing them to sell higher-level services as a result. Where cloud computing in particular is concerned, MSPs and resellers that will be most effective here are those that have become well versed over time in taking the customer on the journey from on-premise infrastructure to cloud services, across infrastructure, platforms and applications.
The key lies in addressing customer’s priorities and concern’s head-on as a trusted advisor, ultimately helping the customer migrate their most critical workloads to the cloud, be it across IaaS, PaaS or in Vonage’s case SaaS-based cloud communications.
For those less experienced channel partners however, delivering a superior customer service requires effective training and certification of channel partners by vendors to meet consistently high standards.
Resellers can then commence their engagement with a consultative approach to understanding their required business outcomes, which enables both parties to feel confident that they are delivering to the best of their ability.
The value of a joint value proposition for vendors and channel partners has become increasingly clear over the last few decades and vendors can provide crucial support. By joining up sales and fulfilment teams, enhancing partner offerings and helping to position partners as consultants, the joint value proposition can effectively build on top of the vendor’s product and the channel partner’s service to deliver a unified solution.
Ultimately, this improves customer experience and satisfaction, while increasing the value of the offering for the end-user in an innovative way.
This feature appeared in our June 2022 print issue. You can read the magazine in full here.