Insight Announce Strong Growth in Microsoft Cloud Offering

ITAM News & Analysis

Insight Announce Strong Growth in Microsoft Cloud Offering

Global reseller Insight are gaining traction with their Microsoft Cloud offering following a concerted effort across 22 countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Some interesting feedback here on adoption, customer profiles and market drivers from Stuart Fenton, President of EMEA and APAC at Insight:

“We offer a range of cloud-based solutions for our clients but it is the launch of Microsoft Business Online Services that has really accelerated the growth of our business across our priority European markets. Over the span of five months, we were able to migrate 79 clients to the cloud, representing 23,000 seats.”

“Clients adopting cloud have varied from SMEs through to enterprise clients. In the SME space it is the ‘S’ of SME where we have seen the most adoption.  These organisations are quick and nimble, and as a result they can make IT strategy decisions and implementations in a matter if weeks when using Insight’s cloud migration services. In the enterprise space we are working with organisations who have thoroughly reviewed the whole cloud concept and are working closely with us to ‘snap off’ logical elements of their infrastructure and put them into the cloud – such as SharePoint and email.

“The UK midmarket has shown a lot of interest in cloud but, to date, most of these clients have elected not to make the move into the cloud. The reasons are varied, including factors such as where you are in your refresh cycle and whether you are working under restrictive legislation etc.  However we feel it is only a matter of time before midmarket adoption is rife leading to a healthy pipeline of midmarket clients for the foreseeable future.”

“Before moving to the cloud, many organisations were using legacy email systems (Exchange 2000, Lotus, Domino).  A big driver to cloud uptake is the move from old versions of exchange to BPOS for instance, removing CAPEX elements (such as new hardware) traditionally required as part of many software upgrades. We also see cloud adoption in organisations where multiple versions of software are being used, supported and patched – this is painful, and they view cloud as a single swoop, standardisation opportunity for their infrastructure.”

“On another note the carbon factor has been present – moving your infrastructure into the cloud moves your carbon into the cloud owners’ data centre meaning your carbon footprint is reduced. The cloud providers are better equipped to drive down carbon output through the scale and efficiencies they provide. This is rarely discussed as a cloud benefit but should not be underestimated.”

In April of this year, Insight and Microsoft partnered together to outline a growth plan to accelerate cloud services adoption that includes dedicated resources, in-house services capabilities, and increased training to ensure that the Insight teams are skilled and able to sell cloud-based applications and solutions to customers in the region.

Microsoft Vice-President for EMEA, small and mid-market solutions and partners group, Wolfgang Ebermann, said, “Customers are demanding cloud solutions and expertise, and partners are beginning to transform to meet that demand. Microsoft is dedicated to helping our partners succeed in the cloud. Insight has demonstrated strong partnership in this area, and we are looking forward to their continual support to help customers with their shift to IT as a Service.

Insight has around 5,000 staff worldwide and generates revenues in excess of $4 billion. Learn more about their Microsoft BPOS services here.

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