Most businesses operate, or try to operate on a cost-plus basis. The profits represent how well sales relate to expenses. Lower costs should represent lower prices – at least in a highly competitive market such as cloud services.
MSPs looking for that cost efficiency edge have a new ally – two, in fact. The firm, independenceIT (iIT), makes its living helping channel partners make theirs, in particular helping partners establish recurring revenue streams. These partners include VARs, ISPs and MSPs who use iIT’s tools for application and service provisioning.
Now, those partners can use that provisioning with new hosting management partner, Autotask Corp. (News - Alert) Because the two companies now work together, it should be easier administratively for MSPs to erect new cloud services.
Autotask sells hosted IT business management software to service providers, and includes service desk, project management, customer relationship management (CRM), tech scheduling, and billing and reporting. In addition, the software “provides real-time service delivery intelligence to help users understand the factors that drive their business and their profitability,” the company said.
"Autotask is committed to helping IT and managed services providers run their businesses more efficiently and more profitably," said Len DiCostanzo, Autotask senior vice president of community and business development. "Building deep integrations with best-in-class solutions like independenceIT's nPanel and Cloud Workspace Suite make it easier for our clients to manage and deliver a broader range of services and increase their value to their end customers."
With the partnership, Autotask’s various partners can use both iIT’s Cloud Workspace and the company’s nPanel for cloud service management. nPanel helps MSPs by allowing for “multi-product single location management and automatic services provisioning, which make nPanel an invaluable part of client servicing,” the company says.
It supports the creation of quotes, price management, ordering and provisioning – and a set of management tools for cloud services.
iIT’s Cloud Workspace, meanwhile, is much like it sounds. The service is really a virtual workspace or set of desktop-style services, including access to applications, files and e-mail over the Internet or through a private MPLS connection.
The base service comes equipped with Microsoft (News 
- Alert) Office and Exchange.
Adding to the managed services aspect, the firm has security experts protecting the data and apps from hackers and viruses, and who are also there for remediation. The service offers storage with backup and disaster recovery as well.
Partners Abound
The 11-year-old Autotask has been on a partnership roll lately. Just last month it forged an integration deal with Anchor. Here, Autotask provides the service automation, while Anchor kicks in its sharing, sync and collaboration tool. Like the deal with iIT, the Anchor arrangement is aimed at helping partners make money from the cloud. The idea is that partners using Anchor’s Dropbox (News - Alert)-style cloud sync services can gain more visibility into performance, including system activity and usage.
“Companies within Anchor can be mapped to Accounts within Autotask so that tickets are pushed to their appropriate owners. Additionally, ticket due dates, priorities, queues, statuses, and sources can be configured within Anchor,” the partners explained.
Edited by
Braden Becker
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