Alloy - Help Desk Software

Company: Alloy Software

Headquarters: Nutley, N.J.
 
Technology Sector: Software
 
Key Product: Alloy Navigator
 
Year Founded: 2002
 
Number of Channel Partners: 40 active partners worldwide
 
Ideal Channel Partner: SMB-focused solution providers
 
Why You Should Care: Alloy posted record growth in 2008 and is expanding its help desk market reach in all directions, from government accounts to SMBs to large enterprises.
 
The Lowdown: Alloy Software in the past year encountered a problem: its service and asset management products were too expensive and complex for many in its SMB customer base, even as they also left room to scale for larger enterprises that wanted more features. Therefore, the company had to begin offering products targeted to both market segments, increasing its penetration into both and continuing to expand its direct and indirect business in each. Problem solved.



The company was founded in 2002 by CEO Vladimir Vinogradsky, who, as the story goes, began developing the software that would later become Alloy's flagship products as a hobby. Alloy's been expanding ever since, and in seven years, it's developed a worldwide clientele and a reseller channel that comprises about 35 to 40 percent of its overall business.

"We're not really sure how much more we're going to grow that yet, but it seems to be a pretty good balance," said Robert Josefs, Alloy's manager of marketing sales, of the company's indirect sales channels. "The ratio [of direct to indirect sales] is nice. Of course we earn more money sometimes and can manage the customer when they come directly to us, but the partners are very important, and we will work with partners no matter how much we grow."

The company's products are seen in health care, education, manufacturing and any number of large enterprises and small businesses alike. Alloy Navigator is Alloy's top-selling help desk and asset management software, and the company in March launched Alloy Navigator Express, a pared-down, cheaper version of Navigator intended for small and medium sized businesses. The Express version is priced per technician and computer node, and a three-agent license that supports 100 computers runs $990, which is then further discounted for education and government clients and also anyone switching to Alloy from a competitor's software.

"Now we can better engage two types of customers," Josefs said. We have the Navigator Express for the SMBs, and in the coming months we'll be adding more features to Navigator to expand it for enterprises. Our Enterprise Edition will be focused on the largest accounts."

Most recently, Alloy formed a partnership with the Winvale Group that allows it access to Winvale's GSA Schedule and ups its ability to do business in the public sector arena. Navigator, Navigator Express and Alloy Discovery -- Alloy's network inventory software -- are all available through Alloy's GSA program.

"If you're in the government, each department, each agency has its own needs," Josefs said. "Most of them have a help desk, but most also need their data cleaned up and relief from so many processes. We can streamline all of that and be very versatile for them."

Source: www.crn.com