Cloud battle heats up as Ingram Micro launches AU marketplace

Ingram Micro has launched its new Australian cloud marketplace, enabling resellers to directly purchase, provision, price and invoice unique Office 365 bundles from a single dashboard.

The distributor says the cloud marketplace brings to the region 'the first and only automated marketplace to include access to Microsoft Office 365 and migration services'.

The offering includes an integrated suite of migration services from SkyKick, and offers consolidated billing, providing partners and their customers with an easier way to manage subscription costs.

Richard Duggan, Ingram Micro Cloud APAC executive director, says the new marketplace enables resellers to lift their customers' businesses to the cloud with confidence and ease, while elevating their own profitability and footprint in the cloud.

The launch comes as IDC estimates total cloud services end-user spend in Australia, excluding private cloud spend, will hit $3.5 billion in 2018, with a compound annual growth rate of 18.5% - about eight times the growth rate of the overall IT services market in Australia.

Darren Bibby, IDC program vice president for worldwide channels and alliances research, says Australian SMB decision makers are increasingly aware that utilization of cloud-based capabilities is 'absolutely critical' to business success.

"The availability of the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace in Australia will help level the playing field for channel partners looking to establish, grow and more effectively manage their cloud offerings to gain a competitive edge and enhance organisational agility," Bibby says.

Phil Goldie, Microsoft Australia director of partner sales, says the Microsoft cloud solution provider programme and Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace 'will bring a new level of service to the channel by offering great cloud services, delivered on the new Ingram Micro platform'.

"Delivering Office 365, EMS and other complementary services means our partners can truly deliver great solutions to their customers," Goldie says.

Ingram Micro and Rhipe were announced as Microsoft 2-tier cloud solution providers for Australia earlier this year.

As well as the cloud marketplace, Ingram Micro is offering a suite of cloud services and programs designed to drive channel success.

Those services include Cloud Ignite to assist channel partners with data migration and on-boarding of customers and provide free customer service for all cloud services purchased on the marketplace.

The Ingram Micro Service Desk will provide a fee-based customer service which partners can resell and bundle with other offerings, providing 24/7 multilingual Level 1 support for front office, desktop and other IT-related issues via phone, chat and email.

Meanwhile the Cloud Elevate premier loyalty program offers rewards and enablement services to help resellers accelerate cloud sales and profitability. On offer are promotions, discounts, education and sales and marketing support, with Ingram Micro offering partners joining the program before July 31 a credit of $100 on any Microsoft cloud solution.

The Australian cloud marketplace launch means the offering is now available across eight countries worldwide.

A New Zealand version is due 'in the coming weeks'.