As a Microsoft Gold Partner and Indirect Cloud Solution Provider, Vuzion has 20 years’ experience in the cloud, and launched Vuzion Ireland last year to support IT resellers across Ireland.
The transition of software services to the cloud is here to stay. Although a relatively new market, it’s one that is maturing quickly and overtaking traditional on-premise solutions with features and functionality. The latest Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) white paper, Cloud: Driving Business Transformation, reports that 88 per cent of business and IT decision maker respondents to a survey use cloud, with an average of three cloud-based services. Looking at a specific cloud application, Microsoft puts the number of Office 365 users at more than 85 million worldwide.
What is evident is that the old model of selling a solution and leaving the customer to it, is no longer viable. IT providers must be continually updating services along with delivering expert support. And it’s also becoming increasingly clear that no one provider can offer everything, but needs access to an ecosystem and portfolio of integrating solutions and products, and to support services.
Microsoft set up the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) programme to help strengthen the partner-customer relationship, enhancing partner business opportunities through giving partners the ability to manage the Microsoft cloud customer lifecycle and encouraging customers to develop a long-lasting relationship with a trusted vendor. Partners use dedicated tools to provision, manage, and support customer subscriptions, can package in their own products and services, and are responsible for billing and support.
Vuzion — awarded CSP Momentum Partner of the Year at Microsoft’s Cloud and Hosting Summit in Seattle 21-23 March 2017 — provides partners with a complete cloud service delivery platform and smart ecosystem of cloud, managed and professional services. Partners can also leverage Vuzion’s expertise across the Microsoft cloud portfolio and integration of solutions and services from other providers, as well as billing and support services, to build their own solutions and services and further expand their customer offerings.
Kieran McDonnell, Vuzion Ireland Country Manager, says: “With the CSP programme, more partners have the opportunity to be the trusted advisers who best understand customer needs, and they are helped by Vuzion who provides the pre- and post-sales support, professional services, training and resources to make this happen.
“They can go back to the customer again and again with new solutions solving business problems and outcomes. This will help partners transform their businesses with new revenue and service models.”
Core offerings centre around solutions based on Microsoft Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Azure, with a focus for the latter on assisting resellers to build their own Azure-based solutions and services.
With cyber threats and targeted attacks continuing to grow in number, sophistication and type, and organisations of all size targeted, security leading cyber security company Symantec reports that in 2015, 65 per cent of targeted attacks were aimed at SMBs. Vuzion partners with Symantec and other protection providers, such as Mimecast, as well as including Microsoft Enterprise Mobility and Security (EM+S) within the company’s portfolio.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the 2018 changes to rules are also going to have a profound effect on IT requirements.
Aisling Curtis, director of SMSP at Microsoft, says: “We are strongly encouraging partners to use the Cloud Solution Provider model to supplement their own resources with those available from Indirect providers such as Vuzion.”
McDonnell added: “We’re committed to helping the Ireland partner community grow their cloud services, and build a future-proof and profitable cloud business — and to help celebrate the launch of Vuzion Ireland, we’re delighted to offer €1,500 Azure credits to partners who sign up with Vuzion Ireland*.”
Vuzion Ireland has an office base in Sandyford, Dublin. For more information visit www.vuzion.ie/connected, call +353 168 561 91 or email [email protected]
*T&Cs apply