Following up their announcement from August earlier this year, after bowing out of the IaaS competition to further focus on the “managed cloud services” field, Rackspace has just this week announced a new strategy to detail what that actually now means.
The company’s plan to support customers in building and managing cloud services is furthered by their launch of managed Google Apps for Work. Technical expertise and support for SMBs in relation to their new partnership with Google provides an interesting business model which other hosting companies can potentially fully capitalize on.
Accepting the eventuality of not being able to compete in the field provides companies with a keen opportunity to focus on a field that they can compete in. Support in a field which may seem challenging for small to medium businesses which do not have the manpower or infrastructure to fully understand or deal with the complexities surrounding the cloud productivity market.
In the best case scenario a company moving their services to the cloud will be able to fully automate their existing processes, greatly cut down on hosting costs, and be able to freely access information anywhere on the globe. With the difficulties surrounding billing, and what services to deploy where and when, getting the most out of the cloud proves challenging.
Rackspace offers support through their program for Google Apps at Work, which includes email, calendar, video calls, cloud storage, document editing etc. But Google Apps will not provide everything a company potentially needs for their business.
“Focus on making SMB businesses successful through its managed cloud services and Fanatical Support team is an advantage for smaller customers who many times require this type of assistance in order to take advantage of the cloud productivity market.”
Chris Chute, research vice president, Global SMB Cloud and Mobility Practice at IDC said in a statement.
Working towards a better tomorrow with Pilvi
We at Pilvi can help your hosting company provide an of greater value service through our Platform. Through our branded Platform your hosting company can offer AWS Managed hosting services side by side with Google Apps services. Your customers will be able to not only purchase, build, and manage services in one and the same place, but you can also provide support for the services, the customer moves global and can begin making the most out of their cloud services without losing their trusted local support partner.
Food for thought, is this a model you see yourself in? contact us and let’s discuss how we can help you can your customers get the most out of this interesting new possibility.
Source material referenced from: Rackspace Launches Managed Google Apps for Work. 2014. Rackspace Launches Managed Google Apps for Work. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/rackspace-launches-managed-google-apps-work. [Accessed 08 October 2014].
Rackspace bows out commodity IaaS market in favor of ‘managed cloud’ | Network World. 2014. Rackspace bows out commodity IaaS market in favor of ‘managed cloud’ | Network World. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.networkworld.com/article/2461361/iaas/rackspace-bows-out-of-iaas-market.html. [Accessed 08 October 2014].
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