LongJump unveils reseller program for cloud applications platform 22 October, 2009 By Mark Cox

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"One of the thing we are hearing from channels is they want to participate in the shift to how business software is being delivered over the internet," said Rick McEachern, Longjump cofounder. "It's a really good idea for solution providers and MSPs, essentially delivering applications through the internet channel."

LongJump is based in Sunnyvale CA and has been around since 2003. The private company has more than 400 customers, and is profitable.

"We've been around for a while, and are not some startup whose existence depends on getting this program in place," McEachern said. "We have a leading platform. Apart from Salesforce.com, we are the only platform-as-a-service (PaaS) in Gartner's Magic Quadrant."

LongJump's VAR program allows VARs to profitably create solutions for large and small projects and offer those solutions to clients on a subscription basis. Leveraging the company's PaaS, which provides multi-tenancy and scalability, allows VARs to directly participate in a SaaS business model and generate recurring revenue streams.

"Our intention is not that we compete with our own channel," McEachern said. "We want to establish a price point that lets our channel compete underneath it very profitably. Instead of charging $65-200 per user per month, we are offering this to partners at $15 per month, and there is the ability to make huge profits."

The LongJump program offers ready-to-go applications in areas like sales force automation, service and support, and campaign management that partners can take to market immediately, which the company is already using itself to compete against the likes of Oracle, Siebel and Salesforce.com. It also facilitates the use of custom apps by partners.

"There is no cost to get started," McEachern said. "The solution provider sets the customer price, supports the customer, they are the face to the customer. What we provide is product collateral, engineering support, sales support. The partner is front and center on everything, and controls the customer."

There is no hardware or software to license. LongJump's multi-tenant platform is fully hosted, eliminating the need for expensive infrastructure and operations costs. LongJump will provide free training for resellers to certify them on the platform and help them understand how to create and customize client solutions. And for sales situations where technical expertise can help close a contract, LongJump will work with the reseller as a member of their team to provide answers to customers.

McEachern thinks that LongJump's emphasis on enabling the partner to develop their own branded offerings gives them a powerful competitive edge.

"Salesforce.com is promoting their own brand. We make it easy for resellers to create their own branded SaaS offering with their own brand. Their customer gets a great experience from a brand they know, and at a price they cant touch. And if the partner doesn't want to brand it themselves, that's an option too."

"We have the capacity in place to scale out to thousands of partners," McEachern said, "We think they will find this really easy to work with."