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The Difference Between Wholesale vs. Private Label Cloud? A Tad Cloudy

By Michelle Amodio
TMCnet Contributor

So you want to partner up with some cloud solutions provider, but you’re not 100 percent sure if you should go with a wholesale option or a private label one. What’s the difference between the two? Well, the answer is a little bit “cloudy.”

According to cloud communications provider CoreDial, the disparity between the two may be unclear, but private label is advantageous.

“To us, private label is not simply reselling another provider’s services, but taking advantage of a fully brandable solution that combines different capabilities into a complete end-to-end platform,” according to CoreDial’s Alan Rihm in a recent blog post.

The private label model enables providers to offer customers an entire suite of highly-reliable cloud services entirely under their specific brand. They can resell specific private label plans at a price point that is entirely up to them. This, according to CoreDial, allows providers to maintain customers without confusion.

What are the benefits of private labeling?

For one, private labeling allows you to create your own unique image, which creates a marketing identity and promotes stronger customer recognition and loyalty.

“The communications service provider can brand the services that their customers receive with the assurance that experts in cloud delivery and communications services maintain the underlying technologies and capabilities,” Rihm wrote.

Private labeling allows more control over things like pricing, marketing, sales and distribution. You set the rules.

What also makes private label cloud options preferable is its ability to sell easily, room for growth, and, well, it’s made for resellers. With this option, it’s easy to turn virtual machines up and down to support fluctuating demand and the needs of a wide range of customers.

Before selecting this option, however, CoreDial recommends a few key questions to ask before embarking on this journey.

“Does the partner offer a complete solution from quoting to invoicing or is it just a portion of what you need to provide a service to customers? Is there a complete infrastructure provided for you behind the browser, and is access to that infrastructure provided via a private branded portal?” These are just some of the many items to consider before moving forward.

By white-labeling a cloud computing product you own the customer and are responsible for the customer experience by being their first point of contact for support.