IntY revamps Office 365 programme in partner push

Hosting provider's new programme promises 30 per cent margin on product bundles and introduces internal software use rights

Hosting provider IntY has refreshed its Microsoft Office 365 channel programme by introducing several new incentives as it strives to sign up another 400 partners to resell its services.

The Bristol-based firm was one of the first in Europe to become a Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) Syndication Partner before the software giant revamped the product and called it Office 365 last summer.

Being a Syndication Partner allows IntY to bundle its own products with Office 365 and bill customers directly for using the cloud-based office productivity software suite.

The new partner programme introduces a cash-back promotion, which provides VARs with a £5 reward for every licence they sell.

It also promises margins of up to 30 per cent on Office 365 bundles containing IntY's other cloud services, including its security, anti-virus and email archiving tools.

On top of this, partners will receive access to subsidised, not-for-resale versions of Office 365 for up to 250 seats in-house.

Mark Herbert, business development director at IntY, said the programme changes had been given Microsoft's blessing.

"The cost of Office 365 is so low and, with Microsoft selling it directly, we bundle it with other products to allow us to put the price up and – in turn – boost the margin available to our partners," he said.

"Office 365 is an evangelical product, and to use it is to understand it, which is why we have introduced the not-for-resale software. Partners that use it should find it easier to sell and recommend."

Herbert claimed end-user acceptance of the cloud-as-a-service delivery model is increasing, and that the power of server-based applications is diminishing as a result.

To cash in on this, the firm is on the hunt for 400 SMB-focused partners to resell its cloud products to companies with between five and 500 seats.

"A small project of between 20 and 50 seats can take around eight man hours to complete," explained Herbert.

"We understand that it is still early days [in the cloud] for a lot of people, so we provide partners with educational resources and help them to close their first deals," he added.