Parallels

In the dynamic landscape of Managed Service Providers (MSP), Vyon Technology stands out. Founded in 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, Vyon Technology has carved a niche in offering specialized managed application and desktop services to sectors like medical, financial services, and construction. Mike Tatar, the visionary behind Vyon, recognized early the shift towards cloud-based solutions, steering the company to innovate and grow in this direction.

Find out how Vyon used Parallels RAS to build three core cloud-based solutions that complimented their toolbox of offerings. 

The issue

As Vyon Technology expanded, they faced the daunting task of managing a cloud platform efficiently while keeping costs in check. They needed a solution that was secure, scalable, and easy to manage. Initial ventures with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services proved complex and costly. A Citrix-based solution was robust but required dedicated administration, an expensive proposition.

Vyon Technology built their own cloud platform from the ground up and established two data centers. As part of their growth, they needed load balancers, dual factor authentication, and reporting.

The solution

Enter Parallels RAS. Its simplicity and built-in load balancing solution appealed to the team at Vyon. Parallels RAS stood out during a 30-day testing phase for its ease of setup and robust performance. Key users, especially CPAs, tested it in rigorous scenarios like printing tax forms. The positive outcome led Vyon to integrate Parallels RAS into their service offerings.

Vyon Technology leveraged Parallels RAS to develop three core cloud-based services: Application Cloud, Business Cloud, and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). They catered to diverse client needs, including white-label solutions for unique branding. Parallels RAS’s features like Multi-Factor Authentication, multi-tenancy, and built-in redundancy enhanced Vyon’s service efficiency and reliability. This adaptability was particularly beneficial during high-demand seasons like tax periods.

Adopting Parallels RAS resulted in an impressive 30% growth for Vyon Technology. Key benefits included cost efficiency, savings on external consultants, an efficient administrator console, increased uptime, and customized reporting capabilities. The ease of managing the hosting environment, even from a smartphone, highlighted the flexibility of Parallels RAS.

Read the complete case study or trial Parallels RAS today at your organization.

Parallels, the global leader in cross-product solutions, wanted to transform their software offering from a perpetual license to a subscription-based model. With the support of Cleverbridge, they successfully made the transition and saw positive results.

The benefits of a subscription offering include seamless regular upgrades, improved customer experience, and reliable, consistent revenue plans. However, the transition didn’t come without hesitations or concerns, such as potential negative impacts to new business and long-time customers receiving the change negatively.

Setting goals

To successfully make this transition from perpetual license to subscription, the Parallels team needed to set goals. The measurements of success included increasing new customer acquisition, revenue growth, retention rates, and user engagement.

The team also tested a few different subscription lengths–monthly, yearly, and multi-year–to identify which served their customers best. In doing so, they found that most clients preferred a year-to-year subscription.

Next up was building out the subscription offering and the necessary infrastructure to support it. There was a concern about the development and supporting costs of a purely subscription-based model, including getting industry insights to benchmark success.  The Parallels team worked with B2B CLV growth company Cleverbridge to provide industry insights and support in building the backend licensing integrations.

Measuring success

Transitioning from perpetual license to a subscription-based model resulted in predictable revenue forecasting, improved customer lifetime value, higher renewal rates and increased customer engagement with the product. Parallels’ move to a subscription-based model was successful both for the company and its customers.

For companies starting on the transition journey, it’s essential to begin testing earlier and tailor messaging and promotions to the benefits of the subscription offering. Tracking MRR and Churn Rate, providing educational content, and regularly monitoring customer feedback channels are crucial for a successful transition.

Get more advice on how your company can get started on their transition from perpetual license to a subscription-based model.  

A look at her career in parallel with Parallels

Quite literally no one has more experience with Parallels than Elena Koryakina. She was there from the very beginning, as a pioneer in virtualization and a woman in tech, while still a graduate student at Bauman Moscow State Technical University. She was the first person to run Windows solutions in the virtualization engine that was the foundation of what is today Parallels Desktop, which means that every employee and every customer since then are walking in her footsteps.

Over more than two decades, Elena rose through the ranks as a woman in tech in roles such including software engineer to senior vice president of Engineering, leading the research and development team at Parallels under the Alludo umbrella. Along the way, she served as a technical advisor, unit manager, project manager, director of cloud infrastructure, and vice president of engineering.

“It’s very important to note that it has been a long career path,” says Elena. Even before officially joining Parallels, Elena worked as a software developer at the Moscow Central Depository in the late 1990s. Elena is at once humble about her achievements (she holds multiple patents based on her work) and extremely practical. She feels strongly that others looking to emulate her success understand that it comes as a result of two elements: constant curiosity, and constant investment in your education and profession.

Celebrating women in tech

As we celebrate International Women’s Day today, it’s critical to address an obvious point: Elena is a pioneer in tech by any demographic standards, and the fact that she’s a woman who played such a central, early role in modern tech is even more exceptional. Still, Elena insists that her gender isn’t as much of a factor as people might make it out to be. “Maybe I was lucky, but my professors didn’t treat men and women any differently,” she says. “While my university was mostly men, there were lots of talented women too, and I’ve been surrounded by talented women for my whole career. I believe that we shouldn’t think about whether you’re a woman or a man, but whether you love your work, and what ideas you bring to the table.” She’s inspired by people from different backgrounds, with different experiences and interests.

Sources of inspiration

One source of inspiration has been her grandmother, who played a significant role in Elena’s childhood. Her grandmother wanted Elena to become a doctor, which seemed like a great fit because Elena was always interested in physics, math, and biology. She initially planned to pursue education in biological medicine and technology, but fellow students noticed her talents and encouraged her to focus on IT. “It was a group of men, actually,” Elena says. “They said, ‘Come with us, we’re IT technologists, and it’s really interesting.’” Elena shifted courses and immersed herself in mathematical modeling, and had the chance to build software tools to perform that modeling. She loved it. And she’s grateful to those students, who truly saw her for her ability.

As for her grandmother, Elena says she was extremely proud of her after Elena shifted away from biological medicine. As it turns out, her grandmother only wanted Elena to become a doctor because she wanted Elena to be useful to people. “A doctor obviously helps people,” Elena says, “But we do, too. I’m absolutely sure that my profession and the products we provide for our customers make peoples’ lives better and their work easier. We simplify life for them and allow them to work from anywhere. What we do is so similar to the goals my grandmother set for me.”

Managing priorities

In addition to staying curious and continuing to invest in your education and yourself (Elena pursued an advanced, fast-track course at the Harvard Business School on Leading with Impact in 2014.) , she also advises other women in tech to prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. “There are only 24 hours in a day,” she says. “And your prioritization should be flexible and change throughout your life.” When Elena was a student, she would go to school all day and when she completed her labs she would go to work on what would become Parallels, and put in a 10-12 hour shift—working very late into the night before starting everything again the next day. She thrived on that demanding schedule, because it worked for her at that time. School and work were her only priorities.

After she became a mother, Elena shifted her priorities. They’re now “My son, and virtualization.” Elena notes that pregnancy is, in itself, a virtualization project. And shifting priorities doesn’t need to happen only if one chooses motherhood, Elena points out. “It could be travel or anything else that is important to you. Pursue what you love. Continue your dreams.”

Parallels Desktop gave TravelEssence the ease of use, freedom, and flexibility they wanted

Andrew Morton knows a thing or two about transporting people to new experiences. He founded TravelEssence, a bespoke travel company, to help others break out of their routines and explore the world.

His reasoning for founding TravelEssence is very sweet: He met and fell in love with his now-wife, a native of the Netherlands, on a trip. He decided to take up residence there and turn travel into a career. His business took off (pun intended), but there was a problem: For all his ability to get himself and others out of their comfort zones, Andrew and his team were very much settled in their comfort zone when it came to operating systems. He loved Apple/Mac products and had no intention of switching to Windows.

The issue

Two of the most essential solutions for planning and booking long-distance travel are native to Windows and not Mac-compatible.

Their company’s entire IT backend was set up on Apple computers. Not a single Windows computer can be found on the desks of the roughly 60 employees. They didn’t want to compromise on what they saw as the benefits of Apple products, but they also didn’t want to stunt their competitive edge by being unable to leverage those essential travel solutions.

Were they stuck? Grounded? It seemed that way at first. TravelEssence wanted to deliver ease of use, freedom, and flexibility for their clients—but they were having a hard time achieving those elements within their own workspace.

They tried to leverage a preinstalled utility that purported to allow them to use a dual boot system to access the Windows products, but was clunky, lacked performance capability and finesse, and required constant rebooting—a death sentence in the fast-moving world of travel.

The solution

Enter Parallels® Desktop for Mac. Andrew stumbled on this solution via a Google search. He downloaded a free trial and quickly realized that this was the high-performance, sophisticated solution he’d been waiting for. Andrew loved its simple installation and seamless, resource-saving integration in macOS. The real gold star, however, came thanks to Coherence mode. With Coherence mode, allowed the OS X window and the Windows-based applications to be displayed on the same desktop, with easy copy/paste data transfer. No rebooting required.

With Parallels Desktop, TravelEssence found the ease of use, freedom, and flexibility they needed. Parallels Desktop allows Andrew and his team to have the best of both worlds: the reliability and ease of use of their preferred Apple products, with the best-in-class, Windows-native travel software that helps them serve their clients. They work together seamlessly, without hiccups or downtime—exactly what you want to achieve when you’re in the travel business.

Ready for more? Read the full TravelEssence case study or learn more about Parallels Desktop.