Your point about market conditions and specific applications influencing the sales cycle is on point, of course. In the case of my company, Intermedia, we find a hybrid contract model works well. For our direct mid-range and enterprise customers, we ask for 6-mo contract because while we don't charge for onboarding, large-scale migration often requires engineers and support to meet client needs (Intermedia specializes in hosted Exchange, collaboration, unified communications and mobility).
On the partner side, however, everything is month-to-month and pay-as-you-grow. Our 4500 partners love this because they are free to establish own policies without facing commitments to us, their provider. Most partners pass the month-to-month offer straight to their SMBx, others repackage Exchange hosting into unique bundles (which may be subject to longer-term contracts)
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