Intermedia Launches Cloud Onboarding Tool for Channel Partners

Cloud hosting provider Intermedia (News - Alert) has released a new tool designed to help its partners migrate their small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers’ Exchange mailboxes to the cloud.

The company’s proprietary Cloud Concierge Onboarding Tool allows channel partners to control the onboarding experience in its entirety, from account creation through object creation, data migration and cutover, according to Jonathan McCormick, COO of Intermedia.

“The migration and onboarding experience creates the customer’s first impression of their new system,” McCormick said in a statement. “A smooth experience builds a strong and trusting partner relationship immediately, while giving customers confidence in the solution. Our goal is to minimize onboarding interruptions, assure fidelity and proceed at the pace our partners and customers require. Our Cloud Concierge Onboarding Tool gives our partners the control they need to nail this first experience every time.”

Over the past three years, Intermedia, which claims to be the largest Exchange host in the industry, has developed and used its Cloud Concierge Onboarding Tool to migrate over 300,000 users.

Intermedia’s team of onboarding experts can even handle the entire migration if so desired. The company’s Cloud Concierge team, for example, migrated Cyber Services’ customers to Exchange in the cloud, focusing on the details of each migration, according to Denise Hyatt-Roberts of Cyber Services.

“I’ve done many migrations to different vendor clouds. What I truly appreciate about Intermedia’s team is its focus on the details of each migration. Team members listen to the specifics of the case, apply their deep knowledge and expertise, plan for and then execute a worry-free end-user experience,” Hyatt-Roberts said.

Whether moving from in-house systems, third-party systems or IMAP, the tool guides partners, step-by-step, through all aspects of the setup process, including:

• Exporting objects like GAL or Active Directory objects;
• Adding or excluding specific objects;
• Fixing bad e-mail addresses or other objects;
• Managing mailflow redirection;
• Migrating data;
• Distributing single sign-on tools to end-users; and
• Executing the cutover.

While the tool is currently focused on Exchange, company officials said it will soon be expanded to support Intermedia’s hosted PBX (News - Alert) and cloud server customers.