Partners can now resell 'mix and match' CRM, Email and SharePoint services under their own brand on a simple 'pay for what you use' basis
LONDON, 12 January, 2010 – Star, a provider of on-demand computing and communication services for UK businesses, has today announced the launch of the Flex Productivity Suite of on-demand business services, which partners can add to their portfolio and offer to their customers under their own brand. Services included in the Flex Productivity Suite are Star Business Email, Windows SharePoint and Star CRM, all of which optimise the best of Microsoft technology. No minimum order is required, as there are no set-up fees or contracts, so partners will simply pay for the services that their customers consume. Flex enables partners to not only benefit from the recurring revenue of an on-demand service but also to build-in additional professional services to configure, maintain the solution and train end users in order to retain long term relationships.
Partners will be able to purchase the services from Star at a wholesale rate, which they can re-brand and offer to customers with the freedom to set their own prices and bundles as they choose. The Flex Productivity Suite is aimed at current Microsoft partners, large IT consultancies and service providers.
Partners have full control over their customer relationships via the Flex control panel, through which they can administer account settings such as adding more seats or adjusting the size of email mailbox and storage capabilities. The Flex control panel enables partners to provision new users quickly and it is also possible for end-users to 'self-provision' services as required. The suite is fully managed by Star's technical team with advanced monitoring systems to ensure maximum uptime and to guarantee service levels. All data are stored, back up and secured to the highest standards within Star's UK data centres.
Martin Walker, Software Services UK Sales Lead - Communications Sector at Microsoft, says: "Star is leading the way in providing partners with a flexible white label solution, helping them maintain full control over the services they deliver and keeping direct control of their customer relationships. Star is a leader in hosted Microsoft applications and has the credentials to ensure that their partners benefit from the very best in Microsoft technology, backed up by dedicated levels of support. Partners will benefit by being able to instantly access new business opportunities that may otherwise be difficult to tap into."
Ricky Hudson, CEO at Star, comments: "With Flex we want our partners to satisfy the growing need for on-demand services for their customers. In doing so they can open up new revenue streams with a range of services designed for them to build and maintain long term customer relationships, with the popular Microsoft applications that they know and use today. With Gartner research predicting that 20% of all business email will be delivered as a service by 2012, now is the time for partners to embrace the software as a service model."
Hudson concludes: "As the service is fully white-labelled, partners have the benefit of going to market with their own brand to ensure customers have a seamless experience. Moreover, unlike other providers we're not locking partners into a rigid pricing structure, but giving them the flexibility to bundle, price and package services as their own offering. With Star, they can also be confident of guaranteed service levels from UK data centres with local service and support from our dedicated team."