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Optimizing Your IT Practice for the Cloud

Erick Simpson

MSP Mastered®

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4 Steps to Building Your Cloud Solutions Offering

1Define your cloud strategy

2Design your cloud portfolio

3Price your deliverables

4Go to market with bundles

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Resell

Create competitive advantage

by reselling cloud-based

services that deliver more

value to them with less time,

trouble and technology

Build

1. Define Your Cloud Strategy

Host

Create competitive advantage

by selling, consulting, delivering,

supporting and hosting public and

private clouds

Create competitive advantage

by selling, consulting,

delivering, supporting and

building public and private

cloud infrastructures

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2. Define Your Cloud Portfolio

IAAS? PAAS? SAAS?

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IaaS – Hosted Infrastructure

PaaS – Hosted Platforms

SaaS – Hosted Applications

What’s In Your Cloud Solution Stack?

Office Productivity

Online Storage, File Sharing, Collaboration

Acronis Cyber Cloud, Acronis Backup Cloud for Office 365 and Acronis Backup for G Suite

Acronis Backup for Microsoft Azure

Amazon Web Services

Acronis Cyber Platform

Windows Azure

Application Software

Computing Infrastructure and Storage

Solution Stack

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Business Model

Factors That Affect Pricing

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Offering / Bundling2

Cost of Service Delivery3

Sales Sophistication4

Service Delivery Efficiency5

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3. How Do You Price Your Deliverables?

User

• Easy to price

• Easily shopped

Tiered

• Most popular pricing model

• Clients usually take lowest point of entry

Value

• Requires more marketing and sales acumen to price and sell

• Can yield highest margins

Pricing Considerations

• Availability

• Redundancy

• Security

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Business Model

Factors That Affect Pricing

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Offering / Bundling2

Cost of Service Delivery3

Sales Sophistication4

Service Delivery Efficiency5

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What Is Your Predominant Business Model?

Product-Centric

Product sales > 50%

of gross revenue & clients

are encouraged to buy

more products

Project Driven

Majority of service revenue is derived from projects and clients are encouraged to upgrade often

Time & Materials

Majority of service revenue is from billing clients on time to repair issuesas they arise

Managed Services / Cloud

Majority of service revenue is derived from flat rate-based services

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Are You Bundling Your Offering for Maximum Value?

Managed Services

Office 365

Online Storage/File Sharing/Collaboration

Acronis Backup for Office 365

Acronis Disaster Recovery Services

Office 365

Unified Communications

Online Storage/File Sharing/Collaboration

Acronis Backup for One Drive and SharePoint

Online

VoIP

Unified Communications

Online Storage/File Sharing/Collaboration

Hosting/Virtualization

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What Is Your Cost of Service Delivery?

Labor + Overhead Burden per HourHourly Cost of Service

Delivery (HCSD)

Number of Hours Per Month To Support Customer

Projected Support Hours Per Month

Cost For 3rd Party Cybersecurity Subscriptions and Services

Cost of Subscription

= HCSD x Projected Support Hours + Cost of Subscription

Total Cost of Service Delivery

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Determining Your Cost of Service Delivery

$56.09

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$400.00

$624.36

Hourly Cost of Service Delivery (HCSD)

Projected Support Hours Per Month

Cost of Subscription

Total Cost of Service Delivery

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Add Desired Markup and Price to Determine “Stop-Loss”, Then Price and Sell On Value!

Divide By Total Users To

Get “Per User” Cost/Price

$624.36

$936.54

$1,560.90

Total Cost of

Service Delivery

Desired Markup

+ 60%

Retail Price –

Monthly

Divide By Total Users To Get “Per User” Cost/Price

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How Would You Rate Your Team’s Sales Sophistication?

We’ve developed a great new service

to convert your money into our money!

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How Efficiently Do You Deliver Services?

Higher Efficiencies and Automation

Result In Competitive Advantage

• Lower Costs

• Pricing Flexibility

• Increased Margins

• Greater Scalability

• Decrease churn

• Upsell

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4. Go To Market With Bundles for Maximum Profit

Bundling

Backup | 24/7 Support | Vendor

Management

Cybersecurity Training and

Disaster Recovery managed services

Hosted VoiP| UC |

HaaS/IaaS

SaaS \Websites |

CRM | AppDev

Virtualization | Security |

Sales Automation

With Acronis Cyber Cloud

making bundles is easy:

• Backup +

• Disaster Recovery +

• File sync & share +

• Security +

• Management

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Client Type Determines Potential

Technology Strategic Client

• Views technology spend as an investment

that provides a competitive advantage

Technology Dependent Client

• May not view technology spend as

strategically, but business is so reliant

technology that they are forced to maintain it

Technology Averse Customer

• Does not appreciate the importance of

technology and in certain cases may fear

it and its cost

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2 Sales Targets

Longer Sales Cycles• Technology Strategic

• Technology Dependent

New Prospects

Shorter Sales Cycles• Technology Strategic

• Technology Dependent

• Technology Averse?

Existing Clients

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Existing Clients – SCHEDULE MEETINGS

2 Marketing Approaches – Campaigns

• Multiple, diverse touches to schedule appointments, invite to Webinars and Lunch n’ Learns

• Direct mail, email, social media, LinkedIn marketing

• Call-downs

• Webinars

• Lunch ‘n Learns

• Calls or emails to calendar meetings, invite to Webinars and Lunch n’ Learns

• Email, Newsletter marketing

New Prospects – BUILD TRUST

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Marketing (& More) Resources Offered by Acronis

Dedicated Account

Manager

+ Unlimited ability to engage

all needed resources

Co-marketing initiatives

Build your market presence with

Acronis press releases, joint PR

activities, case studies, and other

marketing initiatives

Sales tools and

collaterals

Leverage our whitepapers

Training and

Certifications

Tailored to teach you how to sell

and implement data protection

strategies and solve all challenges

in the shortest time possible

Regular communications

Quality partner webinars to keep

informed of new features will help

you to improve your service

offerings

Professional Services

Acronis team to help ensure the

Technical Support

Tier il technical support available

24/7/365 free of charge, exclusively

for certified Acronis partners

Sales Support

Presales and post sales support

by a designated team of

specialists in all stages of the

customer lifecycle

Advisory Board

Be the one, who change

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2 Sales Approaches

New Prospects –

BUILD TRUST

Preparation – Web Qualify

Warm Up – Ease them into opening up

Qualify – Immediate pain AND latent

needs, build buying temperature through

implication questions and explore budget

Existing Customers –

QUALIFY FOR SOLUTION

Warm Up – Ease them

into opening up

Qualify – Immediate pain AND latent

needs, build buying temperature through

implication questions and explore budget

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Qualifying Using QBS*

Use Diagnostic / Status Questions to

uncover needs and Qualify Prospect

Step 1:

Credibility

Use Issue Questions to discover if there

are Active or Latent Needs and to make

Client aware of Need

Step 2:

Identify Need

Use Implication Questions to create

Emotional Connection to Solution

and Build Urgency

Step 3:

Connect Implication

Let them know you can helpStep 4:

Position Away

Alternatives * Secrets of Question Based Selling –Thomas A. Freese

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Most Successful Sales Approach:

QBRs With Technology

Strategic Clients

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If We Do Our Job Right…

Technology Strategic

ClientsSeek

Technology Dependent

ClientsAccept

Dependent Clients to Strategic

Transform

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Business Reviews – How Often?

Every 30 Days

Every 60 Days

Every Quarter

1st Quarter

2nd Quarter

3rd Quarter

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QBR Process

Preparation

Service Delivery Reports

Security Reports (AV/AS, Web Filtering, PEN, etc.)

Backup Reports

DR Plan Failover Test Results

Patching/Updating Reports

User Surveys

Trending

Delivery

High-Level Overview of Reports

Attention to Customer SAT

Conduct Business Needs Analysis

Align Service and Solution Recommendations to increase efficiencies, reduce costs, mitigate pain and reduce risk

Conduct Budget Discussions

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Transforming Dependent to Strategic

1st

Quarter Introduce Budget Discussions

2nd

QuarterAccelerate Budget Discussions

3rd

QuarterEach Meeting Revolves Around Budget

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QBR Do’s and Don’ts

Create a recurring schedule• Prepare and be on time

• Develop a consistent Agenda

• Transform Dependents

• Be strategic

Do:Miss or reschedule QBRs• Spend too much time in weeds

• Perform service

• Leave without a budget commitment

Don’t

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Who Performs QBRs?

Sales Professionals Business Owners

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Browse to: www.ericksimpson.com/acroniscalculator

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Get My Cloud & MSP Pricing Calculator!

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