June 2, 2005 - (HOSTSEARCH.COM) - Web host AIT has expanded the reach of its reseller program, going well beyond a c-panel and disk space. In addition to hosting, AIT makes available domain services, Internet access, a merchant bank, and a software development and web design shop. Any or all of these can be packaged under the reseller’s logo. The program revolves around a three-point approach of variety of services, anonymity for the user, and margins for revenue. “Our resellers can be Internet companies, if they choose, offering businesses the services that are vital in today’s office,” said Clarence Briggs, AIT’s Chief Executive Officer. “The more services they can credibly offer, the more avenues they have in pursuing customers and the greater their potential as entrepreneurs becomes.”
AIT partners like Paul LaFlamme have benefited from the additional opportunities. LaFlamme, a professional web designer with a good degree of technical savvy, houses several servers in AIT’s data center in North Carolina. He is also a one-man operation, so the reseller program works to extend his day. “In essence, I have a design shop and support staff working for me, with minimal overheard,” said LaFlamme. “Because of that, I have more time to follow up with current customers and talk with new prospects. I’m not bound to my office.”
From his new location in Northern Virginia, LaFlamme has cultivated deals with a few defense contractors, which entail strict service level agreements. As a result, he has bent the traditional reseller model a bit, turning it into more of a partnership, which suits AIT as well. “The private label component of the program is for the reseller’s benefit, so that his relationship with AIT is transparent to the customer,” says Briggs. “That said, the pursuit of larger deals is often more successful when AIT is visible, with the reseller in the role of company agent. Our role is to provide as many options to the reseller as possible.”
To date, AIT’s reseller community totals about 8,000 entrepreneurs of varying dimensions and areas of expertise. Some offer a portion of the AIT product line; others carry it all and supplement with services of their own, such as on-site networking or computer repair. Jim Hatley works in the shadow of the Smoky Mountains and has been an AIT reseller for years. “This program is ideal for someone like,” says Hatley. “I am my own boss, and in teaming up with AIT, I not only provide businesses with services they need, I’m also just a phone call away if they have questions.”
