D&H Distributing this week revealed it has partnered with ALSO, a provider of an e-commerce platform, to revamp the distributor’s cloud marketplace.
That platform will not only make it simpler for partners to consume what D&H refers to as cloud clusters made up of hosted servers and storage, backup and data protection, collaboration, data migration, cyber security, email archiving, hosted CRM, hosted communications solutions along with business applications that integrate with Microsoft Office 365, it is also integrated with professional services automation (PSA) platforms from ConnectWise and Autotask.
The goal is to make it simpler for partners to layer additional services on top of cloud platforms such as Microsoft Office 365, says Jason Bystrak, vice president of cloud for D&H. That approach will enable partners to more profitably create an “Everything-as-a-service” experience for their customers, says Bystrak.
Those experiences should include not just the cloud services and software sold as a subscription, but also the hardware platforms relied on to access them, adds Bystrak.
“Hardware is still a big part of our strategy,” says Bystrak.
Many partners that are focused on the small-to-medium businesses (SMB) are still in the early stages of making the transition to the cloud, notes Bystrak. Partners mays have embraced Microsoft Office 365 but have had less success selling additional complementary products and services. By revamping the distributor’s e-commerce platform, D&H is looking to make it easier for partners to identify potentially complementary offerings, says Bystrak.
Once those partners begin to sell the cloud solutions they select, it should also become simpler for many of them to offer managed services around those solutions, adds Bystrak.
The rate at which SMBs are making the transition to SaaS applications has accelerated considerably over the last two years. Each new SaaS application SMBs adopt, however, creates yet another integration challenge. The opportunity for channel partners is to stitch all those applications, services, and associated hardware together to create a workflow that is customized to meet the specific needs of the SMB customer. Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time before partners that only act as a conduit through which customers renew their Microsoft Office 365 license will find themselves becoming little more than just another agent representing a cloud service that customers can pretty much get almost anywhere without much help from them required.
Be First to Comment