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Getting to Know Faction’s (Channel) Relationship Expert

If you know Faction, you know the emphasis we put on our partnerships. We built the Faction cloud with service providers and resellers in mind and our 100% channel-driven business model means we never, ever compete with our partners. Instead, we work hand-in-hand to support you with best-in-class service and cloud expertise. Simply put, if you don’t make money, we don’t make money.

At the helm of our channel partnerships is Brad Cardwell, Faction’s Director of Channel Development. Brad comes from an impressive telecommunications and cloud background and joined the Faction team in 2013 as a Channel Development Manager for the Western US. He might not tell you, but we will: his level of commitment to the Faction channel partner mission was so impressive that he was promoted several ways over a two-year period, ultimately landing the ‘channel chief’ position he has today.

For those of you that don’t know Brad, well you’ve probably seen him—he is front and center on our website’s homepage, after all. We sat down with him to learn more about what he does and why he thinks partnering with Faction is a smart move.

Faction: What does your typical day as Faction’s Director of Channel Development entail?

Brad Cardwell:  My responsibilities are national in nature, of course, so I’m on the road. A lot. I attend conferences and represent the Faction brand. One week I’m in the Silicon Valley, the next I’m in New York, and then it’s off to the Midwest. Talking to partners in all areas is crucial for tailoring a go-to-market strategy for a specific region. The Silicon Valley folks are the leading edge for technology shifts and New York provides useful data points for what’s going on in the financial and media markets. The Midwest offers insight into needs for control of data and security.

I am constantly meeting with individual service providers and resellers to build and enhance go-to-market strategies.  With that often comes discussing and ‘consulting’, regarding operational elements to best support those strategies. I am of the belief that one partner plan does not fit all. Each partner has its unique needs and requirements, so we deduce what works best for each individual. Reminding me of past consulting and business analysis engagements, I relish the discussion with partner leaders and establishing strategies to drive their growth.  After that of course, I help our partners to enable their teams and to jumpstart selling.

Faction: Why would a company want to partner with Faction?

BC: Simple: we never, ever compete with our partners. Faction provides cloud infrastructure and services exclusively to and through the channel. Faction does not sell directly to end customers – we do not compete for business against our partners. At the end of the day, we want our partners to make money, which is why our no-compete policy is crucial and what makes the Faction business model so unique.

Resellers can rest comfortably knowing they are preserving their customer relationships, maintaining their primary sales role with their customers, and selling a cloud that’s infinitely scalable and purpose-built for mission-critical workloads.  Resellers of the Faction cloud have quite a bit better margin potential than if they partnered with other cloud providers out there. It’s in fact double the industry standard.

Faction: Who is the typical Faction partner and what do they sell?

BC: Partners generally come from the managed service provider and value-added reseller space. Faction’s job is to help our partners help their customers. You have to think about it this way, if a VAR isn’t speaking to someone about the cloud, someone else is. There is a major appetite for moving to the cloud and partners are able to protect the relationships they already have in place. Now, we are seeing customers wanting a disaster recovery and backup-to-the-cloud solution, and Faction’s service offering in that department is exceptional.

Faction: What have you learned from dealing with so many partners over the years?

BC: It’s funny.  I’ve found that people shy away from the word ‘Cloud’.  For many partners, and sometimes even their customers, ‘the C word’ can be uncomfortable.  Some find cloud and all of its permutations to be a complex topic, so I like to demystify it by using this analogy:  It is essentially like borrowing someone else’s computer.  Of course, I’m referring to the fact that it’s leased, off-premise, managed, scalable compute and storage infrastructure, but my basic description of borrowing a computer can break through the cloudiness of cloud and more quickly reveal not what you can do in the cloud, but what the cloud can do for you.

Get to know Brad and the rest of the Faction team by becoming a partner today! Learn more and don’t forget to read about other services and resources we provide for our partners.

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