Ingram Micro has made a series of announcements signalling its investment in its cloud business.
The distributor launched Cloud Marketplace, which it says will help channel partners to grow their cloud practices by offering instant access to a range of cloud solutions and services from the likes of Microsoft Office 365, Acronis, Nomadesk, and Cirius.
Announced today at the Cloud Summit in Barcelona, Ingram Micro describes Cloud Marketplace as an ecosystem of buyers, sellers and solutions that make it easier for the channel to purchase, provision, manage and invoice cloud technologies. Partners can manage the complete end-customer subscription lifecycle from a single, automated platform, provided and supported by Ingram Micro.
Currently available in France, Netherlands and the UK, Cloud Marketplace is also scheduled to launch in Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Sweden in the second quarter of 2015.
“For our channel partners, enabling businesses to operate in a hybrid environment that includes cloud-based solutions is as much about business transformation as it is about technology,” says Carl Alloin, executive director Europe, Ingram Micro Cloud.
“Our Cloud Marketplace was designed to help channel partners quickly scale as they seek to expand their footprint and profitability in the cloud.”
The distie highlights the availability of Microsoft Office 365, claiming it is the first master cloud service provider to offer a true, online consumption model for Office 365 that is also backed by a suite of migration services from Skykick.
Partners can directly purchase, provision, and offer Office 365 bundles, set prices and invoice monthly. They can also offer consolidated billing, providing customers with an easier way to manage their subscription costs.
Apay Obang-Oyway, general manager for Northern Europe at Ingram Micro Cloud says Cloud Marketplace allows resellers to build their cloud portfolios without the hassle of dealing with lots of different vendors individually.
“Ingram Micro Cloud has 70 different vendor partners, with 200 different solutions, so the partner would have to have to deal with 70 different vendors, 70 contracts, 200 solutions, 200 SLAs – with Cloud Marketplace there is one agreement that allows you to have a number of different solutions and vendors,” he tells Channel Pro.
He adds that the ability to provision, build and manage the cloud services in real time is also a key selling point for partners.
In addition to its new Marketplace, Ingram Micro announced a loyalty programme, Cloud Elevate, which delivers rewards and enablement services to help resellers accelerate their cloud sales and profitability.
The two-tiered programme offers promotions, discounts, education, sales and marketing support as partners move up in the programme. New partners joining Cloud Elevate by June 30 will receive a credit of £100 or €150 which can be used against Marketplace purchases within 90 days of joining the programme.
Also the distie launched Cloud Ignite Services, which are designed to help partners with the data migration and on-boarding needs of their customers, as well as providing partners with free customer service for all cloud services purchased on the Marketplace.
Obang-Oyway maintains the channel has a role to play in cloud, citing a Gartner report, Forecast: Public Cloud Services, Worldwide, 2012-2018, 2Q14 Update, which says the UK is the second most important market outside North America for cloud services.
