Aptum CEO on being 'fast tracked' to Azure Expert MSP status

Susan Bowen tells CRN that Aptum is on track to become among top 100 Azure MSP partners

Aptum is being "fast tracked" to Azure Expert MSP partner status, according to the firm's CEO Susan Bowen, as the firm continues to shrug off its legacy telco business.

Previous part of Canadian telco Cogeco Group, Aptum was divested in August 2019 and has been redefining itself as a managed service provider.

Since the spin-off, Aptum has been shedding its so-called "hard assets" selling off 3,500 kilometres of cabling in Montreal and Toronto in May 2020 and then offloading its colocation business in March this year.

Now less than 20 per cent of Aptum's total business - which spans the US, Canada and the UK - stems from its legacy telco and hosting operations, Bowen said.

Almost 40 per cent (38 per cent) of Aptum's revenues now stem from infrastructure as-a-service through vendors including Microsoft and AWS, while another 38 per cent comes from its private cloud offering.

Bowen said the transformation over the last 24 months has been "phenomenal" and told CRN that Aptum is now targeting Azure Expert MSP status with Microsoft.

Azure Expert MSP status is held by only 102 companies globally, according to Microsoft's website, and represent the vendors "most capable" and "high-fidelity" Azure MSPs, Microsoft claims.

UK firms including ANS Group, Claranet and Node4 have achieved the accreditation.

"Microsoft has put in really good incentives for companies like Aptum to go after that Expert MSP track. And I think we will be very keen to continue to partner very closely with Microsoft; it shows our investment is equal to their investment and that creates a true partnership," Bowen said.

"I think it also sends a strong, positive message. As an organisation, we want our teams to be on the development track as part of a managed services provider."

Bowen said that Microsoft and AWS are now leaning on the channel more than ever to grow their infrastructure as-a-service offerings globally.

"I think AWS and Azure are recognizing the importance of managed service providers to help them achieve their goals. And they're also recognising that, in a world where hybrid and multi-cloud demands are there, they need managed service providers to be positioning all of those solutions. So I think, as we go forward, the opportunity for those relationships to flourish is definitely there and I'm very much looking forward to that," she said.

Bowen said that Aptum currently has 130 cloud certifications across its business with Microsoft and AWS, alongside its VM certificates for its private cloud offering.

The CEO said that her priorities for the next few years are to grow Aptum's net new logos, drive more recurring revenue in the business and increase its net install base.

She said companies that have historically been hesitant to move to the cloud - such as law firms - are now coming round to the idea.

"We are actually seeing more and more clients now thinking of relinquishing that on-prem solution, and being more comfortable with private cloud solutions"

"More and more conversations are coming in around public and private cloud and we've had a very positive response to that."