Community infrastructure service provider Prospero Technologies today announced a partnership agreement with online community management provider Participate.com.
The companies plan to leverage their core competencies to offer businesses a complete electronic community solution. Prospero and Participate.com also intend to cooperate on sales and marketing initiatives.
Although some doubt the benefit of partnerships, especially for a growing company, Prospero Technologies is confident that it will gain new business from linking with Participate.com, and also provide the same service for Participate.com.
“We are targeting the same market segments and decision makers within those organizations,” Dan Bruns, president and chief executive officer, Prospero, said, pointing out that both companies’ core competencies are complementary.
Bruns continued to say that the very notion of community revolves around the principals of cooperation, and the benefits of uniting complimentary strengths, creating a whole that is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Bruns explained to ASP-News that partnerships succeed when there is significant upside for both partners in terms of additional market reach, new features for clients, market penetration and revenue growth.
“Participate.com benefits from the ability to offer Prospero’s scalable, reliable, and feature-rich community solution, without any investment in infrastructure or time-to-market delays,” he continued. “Prospero benefits from Participate.com’s moderation and consulting services, providing clients the ability to optimize their investment in community and derive the greatest value.”
Other Patricipate.com partners include Asera, Cisco Systems and Breakaway Solutions.
Bruns believes that this combination is more appealing than the two offerings in isolation, saying that now both companies will be able to offer a broader range of technological solutions and value-added services to their clients.
“Participate.com did not have the technological infrastructure needed for community, which Prospero now provides,” Bruns said. “Participate.com offers moderation, consulting, and insight, which will now enhance Prospero’s technical solutions.”
There are still some who might agree that a small company like Prospero should concentrate its efforts on gaining customers rather than partners.
But Bruns told ASP-News that by focusing on the right kinds of partnerships, the company will be able to grow its customer base, leveraging the market relationships its partners have developed. “Additionally, our partnerships help accelerate the aggressive expansion of our national sales efforts, further increasing our customer base,” he said
According to Bruns, Prospero currently has nearly 200 customers, including Hasbro, Inc., PlanteRX, Chicago Tribune, Fox.com and CMGI’s MyWay.com.
Approximately 25% of Prospero’s brand new SAN infrastructure is actually being used at the moment.
Bruns explained that implementation of the SAN technology, typically deployed by only the largest ISPs, ASPs and interactive media/content sites, is the first phase of Prospero’s long-term technology strategy to meet rapidly increasing demand for the companys services.
“The SAN positions us for growth and scalability simultaneously,” he said. “This technology allows Prospero to enhance management and reporting while simultaneously increasing the speed and reliability of the infrastructure.”
When asked what the company is hoping to achieve in terms of number of users and revenues by the end of the year, Bruns told ASP-News that Prospero is currently meeting, and exceeding targets for revenue growth, page views, and client wins and is serving over six million page views daily across our client network, with an estimated 3,000,000 independent users.
