Entrepreneurship in the software development industry is facing high levels of competition due to market fragmentation and emergence of hundreds of small-scale IT businesses. In such a scenario, business owners have turned to various web design partnerships, including white label reseller partner programs to gain the competitive edge and reduce the time to market. By joining these programs, software development companies also avoid huge development costs and receive a quickstart in their respective niches.
In this blog, you will learn what a white-label reseller program means and what are the various benefits of joining it. In the end, we will also help you select the correct program for your business needs.
Under a white-label reseller program, the white-label partner sells the products and services of the software provider under any brand name. To be more precise, a white-label software does not have any logo or branding of the original developer and thus, the white-label partner can sell the software to clients under its own brand name or the client’s brand name. The same goes for white-label services in which the customer receives an invoice under the white-label partner’s brand name.
Any software development company can join a white-label program for a specific period of time and become the white-label partner. However, as the white-label, the company must comply with terms and conditions of the actual development firm.
Below are some common reasons why software development companies and business enthusiasts prefer to join a white label program.
There are different types of reseller programs that a software development company can join. The most popular among them are:
Under this type of program, the reseller partner can sell custom or readymade software of the manufacturing partner. Today, there are numerous businesses looking for readymade solutions over custom development because of three main reasons, which are cost-effectiveness, reduced time to market and tried and tested products. However, in some cases off-the-shelf solutions fail to fulfill the requirements of a business and that’s where custom development services help.
Design and development teams do not only require technical knowledge but also creativity and critical thinking to produce fascinating designs and functionalities. However, finding such talent is difficult these days and also expensive. As a solution, joining a white label reseller program with design and development services is more reliable for many companies. Not to mention the investment saved on human resources.
Branding and digital marketing reseller programs are useful for those companies who provide end-to-end startup consultation. Not to mention, these are also some services that entrepreneurs immediately require after setting up an online business. With a dedicated team of branding and digital marketing experts, fulfilling client requirements becomes easy. Providing digital marketing services along with software development or readymade business solutions is also a lucrative addition to existing service offerings.
Along with being a cost effective option for several software development businesses, there are also various other benefits of joining a white label reseller program. In this blog, we have brought some of them to the limelight:
Planning and development of a new software product takes time. By eliminating the development stage from the entire process, companies can release new software much faster. With a white label reseller program, IT companies not only get past the development process but also get access to a wide range of software that they can add to their service offerings and sell forward. A good service offering also impresses the customers and makes you highly distinguishable within your industry.
Continuing from the previous point, with the help of white label solutions, software development companies are able to accept and deliver projects with complex requirements within time. This gives a competitive edge to the businesses and surges its brand value in the industry. Moreover, the white label business model also ensures the white-label partner (while not even being the actual developer of the software) is able to meet the client’s exact requirements and deliver a high-satisfaction product.
White label solutions enhance the project delivery speed of software development businesses with the principle of divided workload. The entire development process is eliminated from the project and the white label partner remains responsible for handling client side communication and conveying the client’s requirements to the white label provider. This speeds up the entire work process and leads to a comparatively faster delivery of multiple projects.
Startups, SMBs and several medium-sized businesses feel the need to hire technical expertise when some complex project requirements arrive. They do so because large size projects are important for business expansion and rejecting them can be detrimental. However, often the required expertise for these projects is out of reach, especially in developing countries. Thus, completing such projects with the help of a white label software is easy. Most white label providers already have the expertise required for handling complex project requirements, which reduces the burden from the shoulders of the white label partner.
Small businesses and SMBs repetitively face the challenge of finding reliable talent that can commit with the company for a long time. As a result, work quality and internal processes deteriorate. Human resource management feels overburdened with too many hiring requests. Including the hiring costs, length of the hiring process and possible rejections, joining a white label reseller program sounds more lucrative and convenient for SMBs. This program not only reduces human resource expenses but also decreases the workload.
Crisis can be of various types, including PR, executive and work related. In several scenarios, developers leave the firm halfway through a project or leave a pile of long backlog that cannot be completed within the deadline. White label reseller programs assist in resolving such crises by providing means to reduce the workload by outsourcing any new projects to the white label development firm. In the end, these programs help you protect your company’s reputation by ensuring performance and delivery even in the toughest times.
Internal processes involve back and forth amongst various departments and team members. During revisions and long backlogs, this back and forth becomes hectic and hinders the work process. Although a company might follow standardized development procedures, they are difficult to comply with impaired internal processes, resulting in redundancy and time wastage. White label reseller programs are able to bring the internal departments on the same page by outsourcing various interdependent development and testing procedures. They make the remaining internal processes easy to manage and follow.
Going back to human resources, it is difficult to find appropriate talent for startups and SMBs. Due to this, software development companies also hire remote developers to meet the complex software development requirements. In some cases, the right talent isn’t locally available, leading to more talent search issues. As a solution to these problems, joining a white label program is really helpful. The software products included in the program are mostly readymade and do not put the burden of finding the talent on the reseller partner.
Despite the benefits, white label programs can also lead to aberration of profit expectations and client satisfaction. This happens when software development companies join a white label program without a forethought. Several inconveniences arrive such as lack of effective communication from the white label firm and failure of timely delivery of your project. To stay afloat from all such problems, consider the following factors while selecting your white label reseller program.
The price ceiling fixed by white label providers limits the profit margin of the partner. Several white label companies impose pricing restraints due to various reasons, such as maintaining tiered partnerships. Under this, the partners cannot advertise the product or service lower than the stated price category of the tier and must also follow the price ceiling very strictly.
Price ceilings vary from tier to tier to encourage white label partners to sell more to move up a level and maximize their profit. Other reasons for pricing control include balancing demand and fair pricing strategies amongst all partners. However, to earn adequate profit, we recommend you to join a reseller program with minimum pricing controls or pay close attention to terms of tiered partnership programs. In any state, a good white label reseller program should offer you 30-40% profit on each project.
The greater the number of product and service offerings in the white label program, the greater your value proposition. Wider offerings also mean you can go to the white label company for various requirements and complete those projects on time. To explain it in layman terms, joining a white label reseller program with multiple offerings is like joining multiple white label programs without the hassle of complying to the diverse terms of each and every partner.
Software documentation acts like a backbone of every project. It includes more than boarding manuals, such as database documentation, troubleshooting information, installation guides, software requirements and much more. Basically, having documentation will make you less dependent on the white label provider. For example, with documentation, you can perform server migration, do minor design changes and provide customer support to a level all on your own.
Usually, the project delivery involves a copy of documentation to be given to the client but the white label partner should also be providing one to the reseller for a mutually beneficial partnership experience.
The reseller partner should confirm if the white label partner program is inclusive of the technological support. While some white label companies charge for it (meaning, to cover its costs, you will also need to charge your clients), others provide limited tech support free of cost. However, the white label service provider should usually provide support because of its complete knowledge on the software.
Under no circumstances, the white label partner can provide better support than the provider despite having a full-fledged team of developers. This is because technical support is not only about resolving bugs and issues, but also about acting on deep knowledge to resolve the problem in a quick and efficient manner.
White label providers can have different delivery frames for each and every partner depending on his tier. To move up this tier, the partner will need to sell more. But till then, the white label provider may keep the delivery of his projects on low priority. Thus, read the terms and conditions to ensure the white label program includes a reasonable delivery time. The same goes for delivery including any customizations and customer support.
A white label reseller program may offer a wide range of services and products. However, the program is not profitable if the included services are not in high demand, or the offered software lacks in quality, functionality and features. Thus, if the offerings are not good or agile or fail to meet the requirements of your clients, there’s not much benefit in joining the white label program. To confirm the functionality and quality of the software, ask white label firms to provide you with a one-on-one product demo. For services, you can again ask for a demo to understand the working process of the firm.
Another important factor for selecting a white label program is reviews, both software-user and reseller partner reviews. Finding the partner reviews is going to be very difficult considering that many companies sign an NDA with the white label provider. NDA is even included in the terms and the conditions of the program to protect the source of development from the partner company’s clients and competition. On the other hand, you can find user reviews of the software on websites like Clutch, G2 and TrustPilot that actively review software products to spare time for prospects.
With all aforementioned benefits, joining a white label reseller program is lucrative for software development companies. To sum up all the benefits in one sentence, it is safe to say that white label programs allow you to focus on your goals while sidelining complex development tasks. However, it is possible for the white label reseller partnership to take some time before bringing in the desired profit. Thus, one last piece of advice is to stick with a white label partner for a minimum of six months to see how things workout.
The White Label Reseller Program of FATbit Technology is currently open. This program offers several readymade eCommerce solutions to launch an online marketplace (multi-vendor) or store (single-vendor) in various niches. You can talk to our industry experts to book one-on-one product demos and clear any doubts.
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Abhishek Kataria is a business consultant at FATbit Technologies. He assists entrepreneurs and business owners in developing viable digital touchpoints and marketplaces. Abhishek is curious about exploring and analyzing new business trends and has a keen eye for the latest developments in the eCommerce sector. Apart from consulting, you can find him practicing French and exploring his creativity in Photoshop.
