InPartnership with Outsourcery for Outsourcery, by 9 Yards

Summary

 Previously Outsourcery targeted SMEs via direct sales and channel partners. Since 2010 the business strategy and focus has moved towards Outsourcery becoming the UK’s number one cloud service provider (CSP) and in support of this, Outsourcery recognised the opportunity to engage partners to deliver scale and reach across the SME market.

Outsourcery has invested £10 million pounds in its infrastructure and in June 2011 launched a new cloud platform based on the latest Microsoft Hyper-V Cloud technology. The Outsourcery proposition to partners is to sell Outsourcery products to their own customer base and be rewarded through a flexible commission structure. Each partner will be ‘classed’ according to its willingness to work with Outsourcery and the potential business they can generate.

Following the launch of the InPartnership brand in 2010, the challenge and task for this campaign was to further develop the partner proposition and launch our manifesto to the channel to support them selling cloud services. The overall key messaging for the campaign was based around the question ’Why should a potential partner choose Outsourcery? Because at every level they offer a better solution than the competition.’

As a mark of metamorphosis, Outsourcery was named Microsoft’s worldwide “Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year 2010”. 

About the Company

In March 2007, Outsourcery underwent a management buyout led by Piers Linney and Simon 

Newton.  Subsequently, the company went through a dramatic organisational and cultural 
transformation and Outsourcery was reinvented with a new name, new strategy, product set and target customer.

Following the management buyout, the business was rationalised to implement its shareholders’ vision to become the UK’s No.1 CSP.  Outsourcery then commenced an aggressive acquisition 

strategy to deliver a cloud offering, unparalleled in today’s marketplace. 

In 2009 Outsourcery recognised that in order to maximise scale and reach of cloud and unified communications (UC), it needed a dynamic and ‘best in class’ channel strategy; offering partners 

flexibility in the way they engage customers.  In this way we believe our ‘solution’ is unique and offers a new and innovative way for partners to engage with a cloud provider. 

Strategy – broader business issues the company is facing

2010 saw Outsourcery create a discreet and focused business unit launching its channel strategy under the theme “InPartnership with Outsourcery” and creating three commercial models; 

1. Introducer (lead referral) 

2. Dealer (Outsourcery manages the partners customer relationship) 

3. Reseller (partner manages the customer billing and service relationship) 

The Outsourcery Channel Business Unit was seen by partners as ‘easy to do business with’ and 

provided four key areas to encourage uptake: systems, processes, training and marketing.  A partner segmentation plan was created, categorising partners into: strategic, premier, approved partners  and partners; giving all partners access to the same support network however, Outsourcery is more  proactive with approved partners and even more so with delivering bespoke support with strategic  partners and premier partners.  
The “InPartnership” proposition was built on three core values;  

1. Flexibility – offer reseller, dealer and introducer models 

2. Support – training, guides, incentives, events, technical and marketing support 

3. Products – leading UC, mobile and hosted IT products 

Working with design agency 9 Yards: it created a campaign which included messaging based on  ‘Outsmart’, ‘Outearn’, ‘Outgrow’, ‘Outsell’ and ‘Outrageous’. The campaign was distributed across multiple channels and at UK events. 

In April 2011, Outsourcery took the biggest step towards reaching its goal to become cloud experts by announcing the sale of its Vodafone mobile business to Daisy Group plc. This saw a repositioning of Outsourcery’s channel strategy and a further development of the InPartnership brand with the 

launch of its “CLOUDSMART” campaign. 

Building on the original proposition of the core values and offering ‘choice’ to partners, the routes to 

market needed to maximise the reach and scale of UC and cloud. The new strategy was based on the 
same three methods of engagement, with the aim to appeal towards three main groups of partners; 

mobile, fixed telecoms and IT. 

Objectives of the campaign 

The core objective for the campaign was to create a distinct identity for the channel and a vehicle to talk directly to each tier of the partner structure. The campaign development needed to work within the 

established Outsourcery brand guidelines but be clearly differentiated from the ‘direct’ approach, 
whilst developing a unique set of cloud inspired icons, each representing a different aspect of the 
proposition. 

The idea was to ‘land grab’ within the channel, with a primary focus on selling UC.  Outsourcery 

identified a branding opportunity to lead the channel by articulating the definitive way to provide cloud services, with a more focused offer that is relevant for a variety of different partners. 

The target audience 

‘InPartnership with Outsourcery’ was built to give stand out in a crowded sector, and to demonstrate 

trust in the company and strategy with the existing partners.  The new strategy was aimed to appeal 
towards three main groups of ‘traditional’ partners; mobile, fixed‐ line and IT. These partners have different levels of understanding for what cloud actually is but realise that they need to move their business forwards and away from traditional telecoms and IT into Cloud. 

Media, channels or techniques used 

There has been a varied mix of media used including several nationwide print and online Channel and IT publications such as Comms Dealer, Comms Business, Mobile News and CRN. Cloud events, direct mail and email campaigns have also been used. The ‘InPartnership’ website has also seen a revamp with the latest CloudSmart campaign. 

Testimonial  

“The latest development of the InPartnership campaign has moved away from the sales/profit messages of the 2010 ‘Out’campaign and provides a much more rounded view about 

“Outsourcery’s capabilities and credentials to work with their Partners and help them develop their own Cloud proposition.

“A key campaign consideration was to position Outsourcery as the partner of choice emphasising  their expertise, depth and breadth of products and commitment to service, all underpinned by the 

profit message.

“We wanted businesses working in IT, fixed line and mobile to see Outsourcery as the partner of 

choice and ideally positioned to help them take advantage of the growing hosted revolution. 

“We felt that the ‘CloudSmart’ tag encompassed these key considerations and positioned 

Outsourcery at the very forefront of the hosted revolution putting out a very confident message and 

setting Outsourcery up as the Cloud experts.”

Tim Slough, Client Services Director, 9 Yards Creative

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