Why is it smart to work with an Atlassian partner in the first place?

The first thing that comes to your mind before contacting an Atlassian partner is probably: do I really need it? And this is a smart thing to consider, especially in business. There’s nothing wrong with asking for support whilst making the final decision, on the contrary, it helps to approach the problem from a wider perspective. In the case of implementing Atlassian products, the customers have a choice of doing it with the support of a Certified Partner or directly through the Atlassian website. Both ways are of course efficient, but the whole partnership program is build to assure the customers that in the end, they get the best, individually customized solutions.

What does the whole process look like? After the consultation and making sure that you understand the license policies, a Partner will help you in purchasing the right license. And by this, we mean full support every step along the way, as in addition to providing the client with complete information, all activities related to invoices and payments are also executed by a Partner. Hexygen Inc. offers up to 30 days payment term, so you don’t need to pay for licenses in advance. It’s important to mention here that during the process you save not only time but moreover: money. The prices offered by Partners are often much more attractive than in the case of buying products directly from the Marketplace.

During the license maintenance period, Partners offer extended services and consultations, for example budget planning. Customers get notifications about the maintenance period end (soon enough to be sure that they are able to use Atlassian support and get access to the new versions), forecasts about the renewal costs, and early information about the possible price changes.

Why is it important to be prepared for the conversation?

It’s not a secret that it’s always better to come prepared for a meeting. In this specific case, your Atlassian Partner will advise you anyway, but the more you know at the beginning about the products or results you’re aiming for, the better. Having in mind the background of Atlassian products as well as being conscious of the business needs will help to find the most suitable solution together. Thanks to this your choice can be analyzed from all angles and the offer designed to fit your needs best. What’s more, you can get what you expect faster, without having to exchange a thousand e-mails. Imagine that sometimes solving the problem can take just one phone call!

It’s not pleasant for anyone to find themselves in a situation where they have to check what does the Partner talk about every other minute. Neither in one where we‘re asked questions that we can’t answer. In order to avoid this inconvenience, we recommend visiting the Atlassian website before the phone call or meeting, writing down the main goals of your company, and thinking if you have any solution in mind that could help you achieve them. Also, it’s a good idea to take into consideration how many employees work in the company or how many licenses would you like to get. Are you still a bit confused? Take a look at our list which can help you prepare exactly what you need, depending on your current knowledge of the possibilities that Atlassian offers.

3 paths you can take regarding your Atlassian knowledge level

1. You’re a prospective Atlassian client

If you are completely new to the Atlassian world, it can be difficult for you to be very specific about which products of their wide offer interest you. Nevertheless, there is a bunch of information you can provide us with to make our conversation easier. And don’t worry about the research, we’re talking here about the basic data, which requires from you only a few moments to prepare.

• How many people does your business count?

This information will help us determine which hosting model is the best for you (whether it’s Cloud, Server, or Data Center). The right choice mainly depends on how many people will be using the license and how much data would you like to store on your device.

• What are the main goals of the company?

Tell us what does your company do, so that we could match your business to the related Atlassian products. We have a great experience with different clients and specialties, so based on that we’ll able to estimate your needs knowing just what you and your team aim for as a business.

• What results are you expecting to achieve?

Atlassian products can serve you for a lot of things. As they are designed to support ITSM related activities, they improve project and incident management processes, extend the options of functional documentation and knowledge-base maintenance, and just make the cooperation inside and across the teams much easier.

If you’d like to know more about ITSM services, you’re more than welcome to read our IT Service Management white paper. It aims to be a complete guide through the topic, even for beginners.

2. You know the Atlassian suite and look for licenses

No matter if you used the Atlassian software in the past or just had the opportunity of seeing it in action some other way. You are already familiar with Jira, Confluence, or other popular products, and came up with the idea to start using it in your everyday work. The smart thing to do now is going through the Atlassian Marketplace, and see what additional opportunities the apps can give you. What else can you prepare before meeting your Partner?

• Links or names of products on the Marketplace

If you’ve already done your research and know which software you’d like to implement into your project, this is great! Send your Partner the links to the products or apps on the Atlassian Marketplace. Of course, you can still count on professional advisory during the conversation, but it’s a good place to start the discussion from.

• What is your current hosting model: Cloud, Server, or Data Center?

Just as in the case of new clients, this information is very important in order for your Atlassian Partner to put the right offer forward, as well as find the most attractive pricing for your kind of team. Also, we can help you smoothly go through migration to another model, if needed.

• The preferred payment model (for Cloud only)

If you use Cloud hosting, think about which option is more convenient for you – the bigger payment once a year or a smaller one every month. It’s good to remember that by cooperating with Atlassian Partner you’ll be able to acquire more flexible payment terms than by buying the software directly from the company. This is just one of many services we are obligated to provide the customers with.

3. You’re already a customer and would like an upgrade or renewal

If you use one or more of Atlassian products and just would like to connect some more apps or extensions to get new functionalities, you will also benefit from the collaboration with an Atlassian Partner. This is also the case when it comes to the renewal of an existing license. Partners always know the latest offer and can recommend new solutions that are the most likely to be successful. As an active user, you have some more things to prepare before the call but be sure that it’s worth your time.

• Which Atlassian products do you already use?

Prepare a list of software and apps that you have a license for. Find your SEN (Support Entitlement Number), which determines your organization’s current instances, and by this lets us know in advance what support you may require. All detailed instructions about how to get to your assigned number you’ll find on the Atlassian website, as it depends on your role with your organization. The second thing you should know is your license numbers for all the products your company uses. Remember that for two different products, there are two different license numbers.

• E-mail address of the company’s technical contact

As an Atlassian’s client, you probably have a dedicated technical contact assigned to your licenses on my.atlassian.com account. In order to verify it, after signing in to your account, click on the Licenses tab on the header. Then, click the plus ‘+‘ sign to see the extended editing options and locate the Technical Contact field.

• What possibilities do you want to have?

Last but not least: tell the Partner about your expectations. What goals would you like to achieve or which new features could help you with that? Maybe you wish to customize your Jira Service Desk portal, or bring your testing process inside Jira? Or are there more people at your company now than at the start, and your current plan doesn’t provide you with enough storing space? We can help you deal with all these problems and many more.

Key takeaway

To sum up: working with a Partner means getting the same products, with all formal things like Atlassian User Agreement in force, but in a more beneficial way. The purchased licenses are just as much available in my.atlassian.com account. The main difference is that before making the final decision on which products you need, you know all the possibilities and get the professional expert advisory. No matter if you are completely new to Atlassian, know just a little bit about it, or are an already active user.

The main differences between all three options include things you should prepare before scheduling a conversation with your certified support provider. To make it as easy and quick as possible, we prepared for you the form to fill in and send it back to us. Let’s keep in touch!