Resilience in the face of adversity
As we close out 2020, we wish our SkyKick Partner Community the very happiest of holidays. We know this was a challenging year for many in our community, we celebrate your unwavering commitment to your customers, your communities, and your loved ones.
The MSP community has certainly shined and become one of the many unsung heroes on the frontline, as the businesses around the world searched for a sense of continuity and normalcy. Day in and day out we saw you perform the mission-critical work of helping SMBs pivot to the cloud, and at rates never seen before, to enable remote work environments and more. While more business opportunities emerged, many Partners faced new challenges and increasing cost pressures – particularly Help Desk costs. Alongside the first responders fighting this pandemic, we thank you.
Silver linings
One thing we have truly treasured in this unique year is how Partners have leaned in with us, to put our heads together to navigate these challenging times successfully. Many of you even managed to find time to collaborate with our Product and Marketing teams to help us deliver solutions that would help IT Partners emerge stronger from the pandemic.
Thank you for your valuable insights and continued Partnership throughout the year. In an otherwise somber year, we’d like to take a step back and recognize you, our Partners for helping land valuable product and programs to make all Partners successful in the cloud. So as we close out 2020, here is a look at just some of the work we achieved together this year.
Partner Collaborations in 2020
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 | Cloud Backup White Label & Self-Service: We introduced a Beta for Cloud Backup White Label and Self-Service, which meant that in addition to the existing ability to customize the Partners’ Cloud Backup service company name, logo, URL, web site favicon, and contact information – the new functionality included a streamlined user experience consistent with the ‘standard’ Cloud Backup service as well as more granular control for end-customers. With Partners responding favorably to the expanded customization, nearly 100 partners transacting over 100,000 individual orders under their own brand we officially launched the service to all registered Partners. |
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Cloud Manager Early Release: Inspired by the strength of our partner community during the early onset of the COVID-19 crisis, we heard your challenges and responded with tailor made product innovation, new offers, and resources to enable business continuity for customers – while strengthen your MSP operations, as all adapted to a new ‘normal.’ The release of Cloud Manager came 6 months before its scheduled debut to help MSPs quickly setup and manage remote work cloud apps for customers. With many Partners sharing with us that they were operating with 4X the normal support burdens, while having to content with reduced staff availability – we knew we had to release Cloud Manager sooner – rather than later – if we were going to support Partners with the move to Teams, Slack, Zoom and others for their customers. |
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New Tools to Help MSPs Close More Backup Deals: As the COVID-19 pandemic continued, Partners looked for ways to stay ahead. In collaboration with several of our top Partners, we released 4 educational resources (and proven to-customer content) designed specifically to help MSPs close more Backup Deals and increase their cloud profitability. The collaboration yielded the following pieces of content, which are available to all registered SkyKick Partners in the Readiness Hub: White-Label Cloud Backup To-Customer Video; Cloud Backup Website Copy; Cloud Backup Customer Conversation Guide; and a Cloud Backup Waiver that many Partners reported helped drive wide adoption of Cloud Backup. |
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Official Cloud Manager Release & Launch Event: Backed by months – years really – of Partner collaborations, industry research, and our early platform adopting Partners, we announced the general availability of the new Cloud Manager on 20 October. Our next-generation no-code and low-code automation, workflow and management application was designed to transform how IT Services Providers administer and secure their customers in the cloud. Built around six core areas of technology ITSPs can administer thousands of tasks across SaaS, IaaS, PaaS and devices both in a fraction of time – and do so securely. Then on 29 October we held a virtual public launch event, unveiling Cloud Manger to MSP community and press (who are still buzzing about the product release). |
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GDPR Process for Partners Updated: As the data processor, SkyKick takes on the lion’s share of the compliance burden, so cloud IT partners wrestling with their own GDPR compliance have one less thing to worry about. Instead, they can focus on building a more profitable cloud business. This year we updated SkyKick’s terms and data processing addendum, moving the related GDPR-compliant data processing agreement online. Additionally, other changes were made to help Partners save time while also giving them a flexible process by which they could demonstrate the GDPR compliance of their services to customers. |
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While it has been a challenging year, both personally and professionally, we’re optimistic for the future and look forward to all that we will achieve together in 2021. This year proved that no matter what our industry may face, we’re stronger together when it comes to solving the IT industry’s cloud challenges and helping our Partner community be more successful in the cloud.
Thank you for being a part of this wonderful community and always willing to lend your insights, voice, and talents to help drive the World’s digital transformation. We wish you much healthy and happiness this holiday season and in the New Year.