In general, partners provide us with deeper engagement, value-add, and assistance to position us for the future. These same principles should not just apply in life, but in technical partnerships too – that’s where Cloud Solution Providers come in. A Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program is a partner that provides organizations with end-to-end technical support for their cloud instance. These providers support the customer’s life cycle with industry- specific knowledge and offers guidance on services from technical cloud issues to billing.
The Cloud Solution Provider program will help you move beyond reselling licenses to being more involved in your customer’s business.
Overcome the following challenges:
- Complicated monthly billing
- Inability to increase or decrease licenses instantly
- Paying for what you do not need
- Limited levels of administrator and user support
- IT department spending too much time designing, planning, and deploying components
- Limited visibility and guidance
Profile
CSP programs offer organizations the opportunity to consume Cloud Services by paying for what they use (utility-based billing model) and only the number and types of user’s licenses needed. CSP is designed for organizations of different sizes and types, specifically designed for cloud first, online service environments. A key benefit to a CSP program is that includes comprehensible Microsoft applications.
Profile Qualities
- Windows 10 Enterprise
- Office 365
- Enterprise Mobility and Security
- Microsoft 365
- Dynamics 365
If CSP checks the following boxes for you
- Organization is under 500 users
- Technical staff needs premier support
- Fluctuations in users creates a need for a scalable solution that evolves
- Primary requirement is for cloud use rights
- Assistance managing licenses
- Minimum of 1 User Subscription License
Then CSP may be your match!
A key benefit to CSP is the flexibility and licensing, as stated above. For those wondering if this is a good solution for your organization, review the following checklist.
Commitment issues?
Yes –
- “True -up” or “true-down” your licensing agreement anytime
- No fixed contracts, cancel anytime
- Pay only for what you use
- No surprise charges (price protection is 12 months)
No –
- One invoice, one bill for all cloud services consumed
- Continuous support (24×7) from a local partner who is familiar with you
Seeking a Partner?
Direct Partners buy the online services for Microsoft, then sell them as part of the managed solution to the customer. Direct Partners are required to sign the “Microsoft Cloud Reseller Agreement”.
Direct Partners:
- Provide 24/7 technical support
- Customer billing structure
- Commit to selling a minimum of 5,000 new Office 365 seats annually
- Maintain at least one Microsoft Gold Productivity Competency
Indirect Partners buy online services from Microsoft and sell them to indirect resellers. Then, Indirect Resellers sell those solutions to the end customers. Indirect Partners are required to sign the “Microsoft Cloud Distributor Agreement”. Indirect Partners help you:
- Ramp up quickly
- Focus on your investment
- Evolve at a slower, more controlled pace
- Take advantage of your partner’s services
For those with commitment issues, please note:
Microsoft customers using online services must adhere to usage rights and accept the Microsoft Cloud Agreement. The agreement is not signed directly with Microsoft. The Partner or Indirect Reseller embeds the “Microsoft Cloud Agreement” into their own terms and conditions.
Seeking a partner at the center of the relationship? Want your relationship to include deployment, provisioning, management, pricing, and billing? CSP is a solution to these common issues and many more. For more information about becoming a CSP or enlisting 3Cloud to manage your own cloud instance, visit our website.
