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Liquid Web Case Study:
How the Right Partnership Improved the Bottom Line For A Growing IT Services and DaaS Provider
RosinCloud
About RosinCloud
RosinCloud is an Oregon-based Cloud and IT services company that currently employs around 35 tech experts serving customers across the US, Canada, and South America. Since 2009, RosinCloud has built their business providing two distinct services to two very different markets.
RosinCloud provides IT and Cloud services for enterprises across North America in a range of fields, allowing companies to outsource the hassle of IT and Cloud migration and transition IT from a CapEx to an OpEx model. They provide comprehensive service and 24/7 support, effectively relieving their end users of the burden of managing and monitoring their own IT.
RosinCloud specializes in MySQL and Unix, but due to the rising popularity of their DaaS packages, they’ve found that their offerings are balanced evenly between Microsoft and open source. They offer full support for any and all of their customers: the ITaaS clients, DaaS resellers, as well as DaaS end users who get the service from resellers not offering support.
Desktop as a Service: IT as a Service:
RosinCloud provides white label DaaS services to MSPs. The average cost of DaaS can reach $100 to $110 per user to manage, but RosinCloud provides its DaaS offerings including full backend support for $35 to $40 per user, allowing managed service providers to offer the service as a profitable revenue stream.
The Challenge
We had two service issues. One was that (our previous provider) wasn’t very good at servicing their Cloud hosting customers at that time — it was early in the Cloud. The second was that (our previous provider) started getting into the managed service business, doing IT as a service.
- Guy Rosinbaum, Owner, RosinCloud
Robust, reliable service was key. Despite having procured hosting services from a well-established provider, RosinCloud began to run into problems when their customers complained about unexpected service outages. The RosinCloud team contacted support and found that when data center issues necessitated server replacements or restarts, the work was simply going ahead with no notice or consideration to how it might affect RosinCloud or their end users. Not long after these issues surfaced, their hosting provider announced the launch of their own IT as a Service package; meaning RosinCloud was effectively paying one of their main competitors.
RosinCloud began migrating their servers to a second hosting provider, in the hopes of addressing these two problems with a single solution. Unfortunately, sub-par service issues and customer complaints persisted; and not long after making the switch to the new provider, that provider was acquired by an enterprise offering ITaaS — meaning RosinCloud was once again sending a cheque each month to help grow their competition.
Once again, RosinCloud began the search for a hosting provider who could provide the robust infrastructure and support their customers required — one who would act as a partner, rather than a competitor in the ever-expanding Cloud market.
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RosinCloud needed reliable hosting services to provide their offerings to both their ITaaS end users and their DaaS resellers. The problems that arose from engagements with other hosting companies were twofold:
Service levels didn’t meet expectations
Support was unable to address issues satisfactorily
The providers they worked with moved into the ITaaS market, competing directly with RosinCloud
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The Solution
We’d keep coming back to this: what we really need is an infrastructure partner that will take care of us on the hardware side, and will allow us to take care of our customers… Liquid Web supported us a partner.
- Guy Rosinbaum, Owner, RosinCloud
In their quest for a hosting partner who could meet their needs and help them grow, RosinCloud considered — and rejected — a wide range of hosting options, including AWS, Azure, and even their previous provider. Their ability to stay competitive and increase their share of the ITaaS and DaaS market hinged on finding an infrastructure partner capable of taking care of the hardware end of things while allowing them to focus on supporting their clients.
In 2015, RosinCloud was introduced to Liquid Web as a hosting option. Hesitant after having been twice burnt, the RosinCloud team wasn’t immediately certain that Liquid Web would be the right fit. However, they decided to migrate a small number of their servers to Liquid Web based on three key factors:
Liquid Web had multiple data centers in distinct geographic locations
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Liquid Web had architected a support structure the likes of which RosinCloud had not previously experienced
Liquid Web offered a sale support structure to help their partners win and retain business
Robust, Reliable Infrastructure
Having experienced firsthand the chaos that can ensue when servers are unexpectedly unavailable, RosinCloud was determined to partner with a hosting provider that could eliminate costly outages and limit planned downtime.
Liquid Web offered servers in any of three privately owned data centers in Michigan or one in Arizona — all staffed 24/7/365 by trained technicians. Liquid Web’s service guarantees both included proactive monitoring to mitigate the risk of unplanned outages and required authorization from RosinCloud for any server restarts. In addition, the Liquid Web network was architected with multiple redundancies to all but eliminate interruptions to customer connections.
Technical Support from an Expert Partner
Even with a network infrastructure that seemed up to the task at their service, RosinCloud wasn’t ready to subject any of their customers to poor service any longer. They were determined to hold their hosting provider to the same standards they offered in terms of support: always available, 24/7/365.
Liquid Web’s Heroic Support® was up to the challenge. In addition to their proactive server monitoring and maintenance service, Liquid Web offered unbeatable response time guarantees, any day, anytime:
Liquid Web’s support model proved a valuable resource to RosinCloud. Their responsiveness was only the first benefit the RosinCloud team discovered. Liquid Web’s proactive monitoring meant that often, they were drawing attention to issues that RosinCloud were unaware of. This new level of support allowed RosinCloud to plan well in advance for future changes, therefore providing a new level of service to their clients.
59-second initial response to telephone calls to the support team
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59-second initial response to LiveChat inquiries
30-minuteinitial response to HelpDesk email submissions
Sales Support to Expand and Grow
Previous providers had sold their services to RosinCloud while at the same time competing with them for their customers — a clear conflict of interests, as far as RosinCloud was concerned. This time around, RosinCloud was determined to find a hosting partner motivated to support them on the path to growth and success.
Liquid Web’s focus was on providing premier hosting services, so RosinCloud would not be forced to compete with them for clients. In addition, Liquid Web’s expert support team and partner programs offered RosinCloud assistance in onboarding new customers and forming strategic partnerships with other industry agencies.
RosinCloud leveraged Liquid Web’s sales support structure to motivate existing customers to recognize the benefits of moving to Liquid Web and help sell their services to new clients. The fact that they could reach out to Liquid Web for advice on new accounts and speak not only to sales agents, but even to Liquid Web engineers about what hardware configurations would best suit new clients allowed RosinCloud to grow their clientele and upgrade services to existing clients — all while decreasing their cost per server.
The Result
We expect (our partners) to be part of our change management program, not the reason we have a change management program, and we get that from Liquid Web... Liquid Web is great at helping us support our customers.
- Guy Rosinbaum, Owner, RosinCloud
A little over one year later, RosinCloud has already migrated over 30% of their servers to Liquid Web, with some notable results:
Their customers have seen (and commented on) the marked improvement in service
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Their costs per server have significantly decreased
They have increased their customer base and formed new partnerships with industry leaders
The majority of RosinCloud’s clientele were complex customers that required constant data movement between multiple servers, meaning that, with the right infrastructure behind their services, RosinCloud could make a huge difference to those customers.
More than one of RosinCloud’s customers not only noticed the difference in performance and uptime with the switch to Liquid Web but also actively commented on it, praising RosinCloud’s improved service.
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While it would not be unexpected to pay a premium for a more robust network and server infrastructure or more hands-on support for both sales and technical issues, RosinCloud’s expenses per server have actually decreased with the switch to Liquid Web.
The team at RosinCloud has been able to funnel those savings into more servers at Liquid Web, thus supporting a growing customer base and increased demand from existing customers — all trademarks of a healthy business model.
Happy customers = successful business
Reduced costs = a better bottom line
RosinCloud has, with Liquid Web’s assistance, been able to form mutually beneficial partnerships with other companies and increase their customer base while cutting server costs.
RosinCloud’s experts now make it part of their standard procedure to consult with Liquid Web’s technicians before bringing on a new customer, to ensure they can provide the right mix of hardware, infrastructure, and service to meet each client’s unique needs.
RosinCloud continues to migrate more and more of their customers to Liquid Web, having finally found a hosting partner that offers them a foundation on which their business can grow and thrive.
Growth and partnership = a bright future
IT, at the end of the day, is really about communications. The more efficiently we communicate with one another and the more efficiently our customers communicate with their customers, the more efficiently they’re able to sell, manufacture, or produce products for their customers. That’s what IT will always be about. And it’s why we choose Liquid Web as our key partner for our hosting infrastructure.
- Guy Rosinbaum, Owner, RosinCloud
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Compare Partner Programs
Company Profile: Liquid Web is one of the most successful and well-respected names in cloud and web hosting, worldwide -- ranking regularly among luminaries such as Apple, Costco, and Ritz-Carlton in 3rd-party brand loyalty and customer appreciation metrics. We have been recognized among INC Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies for the last nine years, running. With over 30,000 customers spanning 150 countries, we have assembled a world-class team, global data centers and an expert group of 24/7/365 solution engineers.
Become a PartnerOpen revenue opportunities and grow your business with Liquid Web, a leader in managed hosting. The Liquid Web Partner Program includes our Affiliate Program, Reseller Program, and Solutions Partner Program, and empowers individuals and businesses of all types to offer our suite of products to their clients.
In addition, we value our partners and understand they have unique needs. Whether you wish to bill and support your customers, or entrust them with Liquid Web’s industry-leading service and Heroic Support®, the choice is yours. With the most aggressive SLAs and the highest customer support ratings in the industry, you can trust that your clients will have the best experience possible.
Contact Information:
1-866-210-4185 [email protected]
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