may 19-20 l washington, dc l omni shoreham scaling your hosting business using parallels automation...

May 19-20 l Washington, DC l Omni Shoreham

Scaling your Hosting Business Using Parallels Automation

Brian Shellabarger

Chief Architect - SaaS, Parallels

Agenda

1. The 5 major challenges of growing a hosting business.

2. The technology solutions available to address those challenges.

3. The future of Parallels Automation (Road map)

Parallels Summit 20082

The 5 Challenges of Scaling a Hosting Business


1 Automating Complex ProcessesAutomating Complex Processes



1. Automating Complex Processes1. Automating Complex Processes

Keys to Success

Automate End-to-End Provisioning

Using Workflows for Process Automation

Single Console for Data-Center Management

Automate End-to-End Provisioning


Customer Order

Customer Meta-Data

Domains

Provisioning Gateways

DatabasesRun-time

EnvironmentMail

Accounts

DN

S

SQ

L F

arm

Vir

tuo

zzo

Exc

han

ge

Bill

ing

• Orders for a plan are translated into service requirements

• Individual services are provisioned automatically

• Full support for roll-back on failure

• Provisioning events are customer driven

• Complex service bundles can be delivered in seconds

Using Workflows for Process Automation


Success

Charge Credit Card

Mark OrderAs Suspect

Wait For Approval

Provision Services

FraudScreening

Order Placed

Yes

No

• Ordering workflows act as a logic tree for order-handling

• End-result of workflow is either a fully-provisioned customer or a rejected order

• Transitions between steps can be automatic, manual, or based on an automated decision

• Separate workflows can be defined for all order types: Billing, Cancellation, Downgrade, Payment, Resource, Renewal, Sales, Transfer, Upgrade

• Resellers can have their own customized workflows, independent from their parent service provider

NotifyCustomer

ApprovedYes

No

Reject Order

Single Console for Data-Center Management


Manage Physical Servers

IP Address Allocation Pools

IP Address Translations

Capacity Management

Updates and Upgrades

Users, Staff Members, and

Roles

Background & Periodic Task Management

Reseller Management DNS

Resource Management



Keeping up with BillingKeeping up with Billing

1

2

Automating Complex ProcessesAutomating Complex Processes



2. Keeping Up With Billing2. Keeping Up With Billing

Keys to Success

Allow Customers to Manage their own Billing

Automate the End-to-End Billing Process

Flexible Billing Terms

Allow Customers to Manage Their Billing


• Happier Customers: Services can be ordered and delivered in real time

• More revenue: Up-sells and add-ons can be sold as impulse items

• Lower Costs: Service providers using automated billing self service save significant amounts of money on people and resources

• Compete Effectively: Customers are more likely to choose a service provider that keeps them in control

Billing Self-Service is the key to:

Customers Can:

• Make Payments• Subscribe to additional plans• Renew plans• Buy more domains• Renew domains• Buy additional resources• Upgrade / downgrade plans• Make a payment• Modify payment method• View payment history• View invoice history• Submit support tickets• Create users (delegate billing

mgmt)

Automate End-to-End Billing Processes


Manage Payments, Invoices, Credits

Run Reports and Forecasts

Manage / Approve Orders

Create Service Plans (Products)

Manage Pricing and Overage Fees

Manage Market Brands

Manage Marketing Campaigns

Communicate with Customers

Manage Resellers & Sub-Resellers

• Parallels Business Automation is a true carrier-grade ordering & billing system

• Major accounts-receivable capabilities are included.

• Full support for multiple payment processing centers (including Paypal, direct-debit, checks, and more)

• Full underlying API for integration with external systems

Flexible Billing Terms


Service Terms• Defines how expired services are handled

• Service terms include the ability to define a grace period, a hold period, and a destroy period.

• Service terms can be assigned individually to customers or in groups.

Credit Terms• Defines how aged invoices are handled

• Credit terms include the ability to define when invoices are due, a payment grace period, and a hold period.

• Credit terms can be assigned individually to customers or in groups.

Statement Cycles• Defines when invoices are generated

• Supports “day of month” billing and “anniversary” billing

• Different customers can be assigned to different statement cycles

Customer Classes• Provides a common set of terms and parameters to groups of customers

• Customer classes can be used to define which customers require printed invoices

• Discounts can be applied globally to an entire customer class




Reacting to the MarketReacting to the Market

1

2

3




3. Reacting to the Market3. Reacting to the Market

Keys to Success

Deliver Products as Modules

Manage Reseller Channels

Comprehensive Product Catalog Management

Deliver Products as Modules


Shared Web Hosting

Virtual Servers

Dedicated Servers

Domain Reg.

Service Gates

MS-Exchange

MS-Sharepoint

MS-CRM

• Hosted services are delivered as modules.

• Choose the modules you need now. Leverage your investment to add more modules as your business expands.

• Future hosted services will be deployed as modules for Parallels Automation

• Service Gates can be leveraged to provision other services.

Par

alle

ls A

uto

mat

ion

Manage Reseller Channels


AffiliatesAffiliates

• Affiliates receive a commission (or referral fee) for bringing customers to the hosting company.

• System tracks affiliate referrals and reports on payments due.

• Does not own relationship with customer.

• Fully white-labeled product offering including a custom store-front

• Sells the products defined by the parent provider at set prices.

• Owns the relationship with the customer

• Collects payments using the service provider’s payment gateways

• Manages their business using the same screens and interfaces as the service provider (limited control).

• Creates their own products and manages their own pricing

• Pays parent service provider based on resource consumption or pre-purchased “bulk resources”

• Uses their own payment gateways

• May even have dedicated hardware.

• Manages their business using the same screens and interfaces as the service provider

Basic ResellersBasic Resellers Advanced ResellersAdvanced Resellers

Comprehensive Product Catalog Management


Define Resources

Create a Service Template

Attach Plans to Service

Templates

Define Resource Rates

1

• A resource is any individual item in your data center that you want to provide to your customers

• Examples include: Mailboxes, disk space, bandwidth, IP addresses, mobile devices, application licenses, CPU time, memory, applications, and more.

• Service templates are a “bundle” of resources

• Templates define limits on the number of resources the customer can consume (e.g. disk space limits, mailbox limits, etc.)

• Templates also define what parameters must be collected in the order form to deliver the service

• Service Plans are the pricing terms on top of a template.

• Subscription periods are defined here (1-month, 3-month, 6-year, 1-year, etc.) with each period having different setup, recurring, and renewal fees

• Trial plans can also be created

• Resource rates define the cost to the customer for going over the limits in their service template.

• Resource rates are attached to individual resources

• Rates include setup fees (for buying more), subscription fees (for a-la-carte purchases), and overage fees.



Managing Customer RequestsManaging Customer Requests



Automating Complex ProcessesAutomating Complex Processes1

2

3

4



4. Managing Customer Requests4. Managing Customer Requests

Keys to Success

Automate Order Processing

Deliver Comprehensive Self-Service

Automate Communications

Automate Ordering Processing


Create a new Store-Front

1

Design Your Screens & Templates

2

Define Product Ordering

Scenarios

3

Publish Products to

Store

4

• Service providers can create multiple store-fronts, each with a different brand, language, currency, or product focus.

• Design your own templates, screens, & layouts

• Embed product ordering into your existing web-site

• Define the ordering steps and product-specific data collection

• Choose which products should be published in your various stores

Store Front: Final Result


Add Hosting Plan Add Resources Add Domain Name Collect Payment Data

3221

• Full support for in-line domain registration

• Full support for payment collection

• Real-time invoicing and “provision while you wait” capabilities.

Deliver Comprehensive Self-Service


Resellers Customer Admin. Service End-User

• Manage stores, products, pricing, and branding

• Manage customers

• Full payment and invoicing

• Full sub-reseller management

• Manage users & privileges

• Manage applications

• Delegate service management to other employees

• Manage billing and payments

• Purchase more services

• Change password & account information

• Manage application settings

• Adjust preferences (e.g. display language)

Automate Communications


Order Accepted

NotifyCustomer

(email)

High Bandwidth

Usage

NotifyCustomer

(email)

Bandwidth usage warning – HTML version

ManuaProcess

Complete

AutomatedProcess

Complete

• Create notification schedules that define when customers should be alerted about events pertaining to their accounts.

• Create notification templates to customize the formatting and wording of the communications to your customers (Resellers can create their own).

• Send automated alerts to customers based on their account activity reaching certain thresholds



Managing Customer RequestsManaging Customer Requests




Integrating with Other SystemsIntegrating with Other Systems

1

2

3

4

5



5. Integrating With Other Systems5. Integrating With Other Systems

Keys to Success

Integrate with Processing Centers and Registrars

Standard API Interface to Service Delivery Platform

Event Management

Integrate with Processing Centers and Registrars


• About 30 plugins are supported out of the box with the platform

• Full SDK for creating domain registrar plugins and payment processing plugins

• Plugins support complex scenarios, such as multiple payment processing centers (e.g. sending all Visa requests to one processor and all Amex requests to another).

• Full underlying API interfaces are provided to connect to Parallels System Automation and Parallels Business Automation

• APIs are well documented and easy to integrate

• Allows for full connectivity to third party systems

Standard API Interface


SOAP

SOAP

SO

AP

SO

AP

Core Services

Parallels Business Automation

Ecom

merc

e

Billin

g

Mark

eti

ng

Reseller

CR

M

Su

pp

ort

In-House System

Custom Application

Virtuozzo Containers

Plesk Control Panel

3rd Party Application

CustomerControl Panel

Domain Registrar

Accounting System

Trouble Ticketing System

Provisioning System

Payment Gateway

ResellerControl Panel

OnlineStorefront

Event Management


• Event-management can be used for real-time integration with third-party systems

• Events are triggered in the provisioning or billing systems (71 possibly events on the billing side, 47 possible events on the provisioning side)

• Events trigger one or more actions (sending notifications or launching external scripts on remote systems).

• All actions are logged as “tasks” and tracked by the system.

Summary:


Au

tom

ate

Co

mp

lex

Pro

cess

es

Kee

p U

p W

ith

Bill

ing

Rea

ct t

o t

he

Mar

ket

Man

age

Cu

sto

mer

Req

ues

ts

Inte

gra

te W

ith

Oth

er S

yste

ms

Future Roadmap:


• Parallels Roadmaps not available online– Parallels Partners may contact their sales representative regarding

roadmap availability

may 19-20 l washington, dc l omni shoreham scaling your hosting business using parallels automation...

Documents

billingparallels summit

automated billing self

service providers

major challenges

customized workflows

happier customers

successallow customers

order types