Cloud management has been around for nearly as long as the cloud has been a viable business model, but it tends to perpetuate vendor lock-in, similar to a small town naming one man to be the judge, sheriff and mayor.  As the cloud itself forms around a number of different services, from platforms to software, the management of cloud implementation becomes a service for companies to build up.

That’s exactly what Syncplicity is doing, addressing growing client needs around cloud management services.  Syncplicity’s direct clients, however, will be resellers of its cloud services.  The new channel program enables authorized resellers and IT solution providers to extend Syncplicity’s solutions directly to their customers.  As IT management becomes an outsourced service in today’s business world (a trend also noted by Appcelerator for the mobile app market), we’re seeing a number of cloud companies find ways to expand their management solutions, Puppet Labs among these.

Syncplicity has developed a program and resources to help ensure the success of its channel partners. These include:

• Private online Reseller Console lets resellers initiate free 30-day trials for up to 25 users, place new orders, and manage customer accounts
• Sales and marketing materials and tools
• Product training and documentation
• Reseller discount off the list price of Syncplicity Business Edition, for initial orders as well as renewals
• Online or telephone front-line support for customers and resellers
• Remote administrative console, enabling resellers who manage IT on behalf of customers to administer Syncplicity remotely on an ongoing basis.

The Syncplicity Reseller Program is effective for channel partners looking to expand the types of products and services they offer.  From a business standpoint, it reduces upfront costs, just as other cloud services, making the reseller program itself a scalable one.

As Syncplicity’s core products are for cloud-based file management, it’s also an easy sector for resellers to get into.  Simple to understand, file management is also an established and necessary portion of cloud services.  For Syncplicity, it’s a selling point for its channel partners, and one that trickles down to end customers, conserving its brand all the way through.  In the end, Syncplicity’s biggest benefit is its flexibility to allow resellers to preserve customer relations.

“It helps with customer retention,” Leonard Chung, Syncplicity’s CEO tells me.  “Resellers have a relationship with their customers and we want them to maintain this.  We enable these guys to have whatever relationship they want with their customers, and provide them with what they want.

“It’s a great place for resellers to get into cloud services distribution–it’s easy for people to understand,” Chung affirms.

And that’s been the case for one reseller, Maestro Technology Solutions.  Owner Kyle Baysinger attributes Syncplicity’s cloud services as part of its own growth, which has enabled the company to expand into the commercial sector this year.  When it comes to client management, more direct integration of Syncplicity’s tools really simplify things for Baysinger’s team.

“The new console, which is part of this roll out, will really give us a tool to actively manage our clients,” he explains.  “Before this, our clients still wanted us involved. They want to hand over these things and have us do it for them.  We still get to act on behalf of the client, but now we can actively manage the clients and offer an even higher level of support.”