Microsoft Signs Seven New Cloud Partners in Malaysia

 KUALA LUMPUR, 22 September 2015 — At Microsoft Malaysia’s Channel Partner Conference (CPC), held today at the Sunway Convention Center, seven new partners were announced as part of the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program. This is part of the company’s continued commitment to taking customers to the cloud. These partners are: These CSP partners will be able to directly manage the entire Microsoft Cloud customer lifecycle, utilizing dedicated in-product tools to directly provision, manage and support their customer subscriptions. This provides them the latest and best-in-class solutions to businesses in Malaysia to embrace the cloud and manage and drive value from the explosion of devices, data and applications. Speaking at the conference, César Cernuda, President, Microsoft Asia-Pacific shared with a crowd of over 200 key local service providers, distributors and resellers on how consumers and businesses in Malaysia are already embracing the benefits of a mobile-first, cloud-first world. He said that the trend is highly positive with business leaders recognizing the need to transform and lead digitally powered organizations that are adaptive to change. “It is stunning how fast customers are moving to cloud and how quickly partners are adapting to meet their demands. We hear time and time again that running your own business with cloud solutions helps you sell better and provide better services to your customers. Putting partners first in our go-to-market strategy has always been key to our joint success, and it will continue to be a priority as part of our commitment to our partners and customers, to transform businesses around the world,” Cernuda said. Investing in partners and customers key to Microsoft’s success Today’s partner announcement is in line with Microsoft’s continual commitment to makes business productivity easier and more secure with updates across its enterprise solutions. First introduced at last year’s Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington D.C., United States – CSP allows Microsoft partners to retain full control over customers when selling the Microsoft’s cloud-based offerings. For the first time, solution providers have the option to sell one or more CSP-eligible offerings, as well as their own services, on a single monthly bill to customers. The company announced last July the expansion to the program as part of the initiative to help partners continue to build and grow profitable cloud services businesses using Microsoft Cloud, and at the same time acknowledging the role distributors and large cloud-hosting companies can play in helping smaller solution providers meet those requirements. The company also announced that Azure and CRM Online will be joining Office 365, Microsoft Intune and Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) as available services in the CSP program. Under the CSP program, there are two models available for vendors to provide Microsoft 365 Malaysia solutions to customers: 1-Tier for strategic partners who interact directly with customers, and are able to bill and provide support accordingly. These are partners who will deal directly with Microsoft.
2-Tier is for partners who will be working with resellers with easy-to-customize cloud services from Microsoft by leveraging a Cloud distribution partner’s billing, support, and value-added services. Microsoft to date has launched the program in 65 markets around the world, with an aim to enable a total of 134 markets globally. For Malaysian businesses, they can look forward to engaging these CSP partners for their cloud needs (refer to appendix for full list of partners and their offerings). K. Raman, Managing Director, Microsoft Malaysia said that the Microsoft CSP program is a powerful model which opens up new opportunities for partners, “The expanded CSP program is part of Microsoft’s increasingly efforts to make the transition to the cloud more seamless for businesses, and allow partners to continue to build and grow profitable cloud services businesses based on Microsoft Cloud technology. The biggest value in CSP is that partners can create their own services and sell as a single solution and we hope to enable our partner network to future-proof their technology investments by having access to the latest solution offerings from Microsoft. Our seven CSP partners will begin by provisioning Office 365 services to customers, with roadmaps to offer EMS, Azure and CRM Online at a later stage.” Tay Boon Tiang, Managing Director, Ingram Micro Malaysia, echoed Raman’s comment saying, “Ingram Micro’s expansion in Malaysia reinforces our position as the region’s leading master cloud service provider to meet the growing demand for cloud solutions and services. We are excited to embark this success with our channel partners.” Cloud remains a lucrative market for partners The industry is changing rapidly and those who want to succeed in the long-term must change with it. Businesses that embrace technology to reinvent themselves and their industries will thrive, but those that choose to hang on to the status quo may risk facing extinction. According to IDC, 86% of business customers buy their IT solutions through channel partners – 80% do so for cloud products and services specifically. With IT spending going through a period of transition – 55% was spent on cloud and managed services versus traditional IT (45%) – it is well in line with IDC’s prediction that 70% of CIOs will shift to a “cloud first” strategy by 2016. It has never been more vital for businesses to find a trusted advisor to provide them with the right advice around both technology and specific business processes or vertical industries. With the greater cloud market expected to reach US$200 billion by 2018, Microsoft continues to work closely with its partners by empowering them to transform today’s businesses with powerful productivity offerings, ubiquitous mobile solutions and intelligent cloud. Microsoft has the largest partner ecosystem in the industry, investing over US$2 billion annually in channel operation – also the largest amount in the industry. In Malaysia alone, the company maintains over 5,000 partners nationwide, the largest in Malaysia’s IT industry. “For the millions of Microsoft customers in Malaysia and around the world who need help to transition their business to the cloud, channel partners are often their unsung heroes. With so many technology choices to consider, partners bring relevant business solutions to life for customers, and in many ways they make those solutions better. What hasn’t changed is that Microsoft knows that partners are the best way to bring this reinvention to customers, and we will continue to take steps to make it more valuable, less expensive and easier for local partners to do business. Together we have a unique opportunity to help customers embrace the mobile-first, cloud-first world with a differentiated vision for the future,” Raman added. Read more at http://news.microsoft.com/en-my/2015/09/22/microsoft-malaysias-cloud-solution-provider-program-mints-seven-new-partners/#GYg3Qib5pp14A2ft.99