Tech Data Offers Bundled Microsoft Cloud Solution

Tech Data announced a solution that integrates the Microsoft 365 Business with its own Small Business Cloud Server offering, which runs on Microsoft Azure. This new cloud solution targets the growing small and midsize business (SMB) market, with greater support for Microsoft partners that are building their cloud practices.

Tech Data will offer both Microsoft 365 Business and the combined Microsoft 365 Business and Small Business Cloud Server solution to Microsoft partners this fall through StreamOne, Tech Data’s cloud aggregation, management and billing platform.

Providing enterprise-grade security with management features in a single solution, Microsoft 365 Business combines the management, configuration and deployment of services and devices from Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security, enabling them to be managed through a single interface on StreamOne.

Together, Microsoft Office 365 and Small Business Cloud Server create a fully modern cloud-based solution for SMBs and the midmarket, which allows a company to be fully run in the cloud, said Stacy Nethercoat, Tech Data’s vice president, Cloud, Americas.

The Small Business Cloud Server was one of the most recent solutions to be developed by Tech Data’s global design and development unit launched last year. The design unit enables the company to create its own intellectual property (IP) to help its partners get to market with solutions faster than they might be able to do on their own, said Nethercoat. “They don’t have the cost of development, and, ultimately, we can play an important role in helping them develop their cloud practice,” she added.

“When we create a net new cloud solution like the Small Business Cloud Server and then bundle it with Microsoft Office 365, we help partners go to market quicker and decrease their time to profit,” said Tech Data’s David Newbould, director of Cloud Business, Europe. “We’re innovating to give them more to sell beyond the core product.”

Tech Data also added several enhancements, including StreamOne Enterprise Solutions and StreamOne Insights, to the cloud aggregation platform.

Covering the Total Market

Tech Data now addresses the entire market, from SMBs to enterprises, with StreamOne Enterprise Solutions. It is a rebranding of Tech Data’s StreamOne Marketplace platform and Avnet Technology Solutions’ platform, now called StreamOne Technology Solutions. (Tech Data acquired Avnet Technology Solutions in February 2017.)

The solution offers added capabilities with billing and management tools. In addition, partners can build their own solutions and private-label storefronts to expand their offerings and market presence.

The new StreamOne Insights offers analytics tools for both Microsoft Azure and Office 365 that will enable partners to monitor the performance of cloud services and get access to real-time usage information. That will deliver greater flexibility for resellers offering aggregated cloud and managed services, according to Tech Data.

“This is a part of the system that takes consumption data from our partners’ end-user installed base to provide a rich level of customizable analytics and insight into that usage. As we see in this industry, the power of data is really everything,” said Newbould.

Tech Data also enhanced the Azure StreamOne Portal with new management features for Azure subscriptions. The new Azure Quick Start Blueprints will allow partners to save hours of design and deployment time by using Tech Data-approved architectures in Azure.

As an appointed Microsoft Learning Partner with specialization in cloud, Tech Data is authorized to carry Microsoft Official Curriculum on Office 365, Azure and other Microsoft Cloud offerings. This enables Microsoft partners to develop their sales and technical capabilities around cloud-based solutions and services.