Thinking about the Google Apps Reseller Program

Google seems to be serious now about making money from Google Apps . Read here

So the deal is that a reseller sells GApps at $50 per user/per year and gets $10 per user/per year as his commission. To the buyer the price is always $50 (irrespective of where he buys from Google directly or reseller).

So to make this a viable business proposition for a reseller - if you staff one full time employee to get this business going (fully loaded cost of about $100K yearly) you will need to sell 10,000 seats to break even. 10,000 seats is no small number. What kind of a business will need > 10,000 seats and which has such an hybrid- and semi controlled IT Environment that only SaaS based web apps with zero installation and server side control do a justice.

My answer: Organizations that have three layers in their business. i.e the consumer , the agent/broker and the Company. The middle layer in these types of businesses has been the most difficult to manage from an IT Standpoint because it is typically a small business and a different legal entity but is associated with the Company .

Just ask the your Real Estate Broker or your insurance agent how they get their Century21 or ReMax email. The more you will drill into the economics of just a simple email address the more you will realize the opportunity for Google Apps type SaaS solutions