Peer 1 to grow indirect business

Hosting provider's new channel head outlines indirect growth strategy

Host with the most: Peer 1 wants to grow its channel business by forging new partnerships

Peer 1 Hosting’s newly appointed channel head has lifted the lid on the company’s plans for the UK market.

Amanda Dunn recently joined the firm, following tenures at HP and IT consultancy B&M Europe, to oversee the hosting provider’s UK channel growth.

The US-based company expanded to the UK last year and has since accrued 150 partners to resell access to its hosted services, which include Microsoft Exchange and online storage.

Dunn said Peer 1’s channel arm accounts for 10 per cent of the company’s overall business in the UK, a figure she wants to grow to 50 per cent within the next three years.

To help achieve this, Dunn confirmed that Peer 1 will actively recruit VARs and has a new partner programme in place to help them win more business.

“We want partners that can deliver a good level of service using the Peer 1 name, and recommendation-based recruitment is a good way of ensuring that,” she said.

Dunn said she would use social networking site LinkedIn to recruit partners, by drawing on the recommendations of the contacts garnered during her 25 years in the IT industry.

The new programme offers four levels of partnership: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

“The partner programme is designed to help VARs generate recurring revenue streams by referring customers or reselling our services to them," said Dunn.

The amount of revenue partners will receive is determined by their level of partnership. Top-level Platinum partners receive 20 per cent while those holding Bronze status will get five per cent.

Partners that generate monthly revenue of at least £3,000 will also receive the support of a dedicated technical account manager.