Managed Services Provider Validates Cloud Expertise

ChallengeBased in Birmingham, Alabama, TekLinks is the Gulf Coast region’s leading provider of IT and managed services, with offerings ranging from the desktop to the data center. Since its founding in 2001, the company has focused on developing industry expertise for top technologies from market leaders such as Cisco, Citrix, EMC, Microsoft, and VMware. Today, TekLinks has a notable presence on CRN’s 2012 Tech Elite 250 and VAR500 lists, and is recognized by MSPMentor as one of the Top 25 Global Managed Services Providers, ranking number 22 globally and 19 nationally.

To maintain a competitive advantage and differentiate itself from other resellers, TekLinks has always closely watched evolving technologies. “In 2005, we saw the market move toward consuming the services that IT provides rather than purchasing and managing it,” says David Powell, vice president of managed services at TekLinks. “As the trend of virtualization picked up speed, we recognized an opportunity to leverage our data center assets and provide cloud-based services.”

For several years now, TekLinks has been offering both on-premise and hosted cloud solutions with Cisco at the core. “We’re a hybrid cloud provider that offers services based on our customers’ business needs,” says Mike Girouard, vice president of enterprise sales. “We can build an on premise cloud for our clients, offer them services out of our own cloud and data center, or provide them a combination of both approaches.”

TekLinks adopted the Cisco Unified Computing System™ (UCS™), a platform that Powell and Girouard found more feature-rich and robust than competing products in the marketplace. The team coupled the Cisco® UCS platform with EMC and VMware products to create multiple clouds offering flexibility, scalability, and speed to market. “There are a lot of great things that UCS can provide from a management point of view in virtualization, such as ease of use and administration,” says Powell.

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Cisco partner TekLinks uses Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider to build competitive edge with cloud offerings.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Customer Name: TekLinks, IncIndustry: IT ServicesHeadquarters: Birmingham, ALNumber of Employees: 131

Challenge:• Enhance and expand cloud offerings

based on best technology in its category• Maintain competitive advantage and

differentiate from other resellers• Develop deeper understanding of industry

best practices through certification

Solution:• Cisco Collaborative Professional

Services Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider offer access to Cisco engineering expertise, and proprietary methodologies

• Cisco validates TekLinks’ knowledge and experience in providing cloud solutions

• Cisco certifications offer differentiation from other managed services and cloud providers

Results:• Strengthened Cisco-based on-

premise and hosted cloud offerings to meet market demands

• Helped achieve key benchmarks in strategic plans, resulting in managed services growth by more than 50 percent

• Leveraged certifications to boost cloud marketing messaging

“Because we had familiarity with the product and how it interrelates to other products, particularly in the switch environment, this was a natural choice for us.”

TekLinks has a company-wide commitment to fully understanding and embracing partners’ technology and best practices, so when the Cisco Collaborative Professional Services Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider programs were offered, TekLinks immediately took advantage of them.

SolutionCollaborative Professional Services tracks are comprehensive, with Cloud Builder certifying skills in infrastructure, management applications, and professional services for partners’ cloud offerings. Cisco Cloud Provider is a separate offering for partners providing public cloud services. “With Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider, we saw an opportunity to differentiate ourselves with a credible, market-leading, third-party stamp of approval,” says Girouard. “We knew that the Cisco certification and best practices would mean an enhanced level of credibility in a rapidly changing cloud provider market.”

The TekLinks team saw these certifications as a way to set the company apart from other resellers that tend to mass market a “one-size-fits-all” cloud solution. “Unlike a lot of other managed service providers, we add value by layering customized services on top of the cloud to meet a customer’s particular needs,” says Powell. The certifications also send an important message to TekLinks’ customers. “These certifications tell a compelling story as they validate our expertise and provide assurance to our customers that TekLinks will continue to achieve the highest level of excellence in each solution we offer.”

As part of the Collaborative Professional Services training, TekLinks enhanced its employees’ knowledge and skills from Cisco’s Cloud Readiness Assessment. Says TekLinks practice manager Kathy Posey, “The assessment training gave us some great questions to ask customers in a template format that would help our sales people identify cloud opportunities and position our services more effectively. We’re currently in the process of implementing the Cloud Readiness Assessment methodologies into our cloud-selling strategy as well.”

ResultsTekLinks sees how Cisco, unlike other manufacturers, has found a compelling play in the cloud market in ways that go beyond technology. “Cisco has created a whole program around cloud and managed services,” says Girouard. “Cisco now compensates its field sales force, no matter how the technology is sold, and that shows a huge commitment to the cloud. Not many manufacturers have implemented a program to this extent.”

TekLinks’ sales people are using the Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider designations as an additional reason to have expanded conversations around the Cloud. The company is considering hosting a series of events to promote the benefits of cloud technology, and is also planning to implement the Cloud Readiness Assessment to better qualify cloud opportunities.

The strategy seems to be paying off. In 2011, TekLinks’ cloud and managed services grew more than 52 percent over the previous year, with Cisco representing over 43 percent of the company’s overall revenue. “Cisco supports our unified message around certification, quality, and differentiation by excellence,” says Powell. “Coupled with increasing customer demand, we’ve created an offering that meets the needs of the market.”

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“With Cisco Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider, we saw an opportunity to differentiate ourselves with a credible, market-leading, third-party stamp of approval.”

Mike Girouard Vice President of Enterprise SalesTekLinks

Press play below to hear a quote from Mike Girouard

Considering how quickly the company was able to get its certifications, the investment was well worth the effort. “We achieved our Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider certifications within two months and are planning to offer Cloud Readiness Assessments as part of our 2012 plans,” says Girouard. “We anticipate the assessment program to have an accretive effect on our positioning of TekLinks’ cloud services moving forward.”

Next StepsFrom a technology point of view, TekLinks plans to focus on what Powell calls the intersection of the cloud and consumerization of IT. “The nexus of those two points is where the growth is and where we want to live,” says Powell. “We’re looking for cloud-delivered solutions that empower the mobile worker and add real value and greater efficiencies on the backside of the cloud.” TekLinks is offering high-availability solutions for customers, making staff more efficient and simplifying application delivery.

For More Information• To learn more about Cisco Collaborative Professional Services, visit:

www.cisco.com/go/cps.

Services List• Cisco Collaborative Professional Services Cloud Builder

• Cisco Cloud Provider

Product List• Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)

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