AppDirect, a cloud service marketplace company, is partnering with Mural, a firm that activates and up-sells third-party SaaS solutions, to deliver customer onboarding services for software offered on AppDirect-powered marketplaces.

"Small businesses are excited about using cloud-based software, but they often need help finding and setting up the solutions that are right for them," said Daniel Saks, co-CEO, AppDirect in a statement. "By partnering with Mural, we're able to help our marketplace partners deliver the best possible customer service in a way that is simple and seamless to end users." 

For AppDirect marketplace partners, Mural's services can deliver increased customer satisfaction and retention, as well as more customer referrals. Research shows that half of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) feel it is important to buy cloud services from a provider with local personnel, while 31 percent feel this is critical. With it strong focus on customers, Mural offers this type of localized experience.

In addition, Mural can provide higher up-sell and cross-sell opportunities for software products, helping to boost marketplace revenue and ROI overall. Moreover, utilizing third-party customer support and on-boarding services can be more cost effective than building and training teams from scratch.

"We recognize the challenges SMBs face when moving their IT to the cloud. Mural provides solutions that get SMBs' cloud services activated fast, easily, and affordably," said Steve Zimba, president of Mural, in a statement. "We also educate SMBs on how to get the most out of their cloud services, and we help our cloud-ISV and service-provider partners up-sell additional services. We are excited to support AppDirect and AppDirect's marketplace partners to help SMBs realize the full value of their cloud services."