SPONSORED: Q&A with Bytes' Jack Watson on Microsoft Indirect CSP

Bytes became a Tier 1 Indirect Provider on Microsoft's CSP programme last year. With the vendor holding its partner conference in Las Vegas this week, Bytes sales director Jack Watson (pictured) talks through how the reseller has found its first 12 months on the programme.

How did Microsoft's approach to selling their cloud services change within the indirect model?

Last year saw changes to the requirements for re-selling Microsoft CSP. Existing and new partners needed to make a sizable infrastructure investment to enable them to transact and manage their customer's subscriptions and it just didn't make sense to invest for many of them.

And that's where we come in, offering a fully customisable billing and invoicing platform as well as professional support and training for our partners and their customers.

How has it gone so far?

It's gone really well. Looking at how things have gone this year, we've seen our reseller partners grow their Microsoft business significantly and the number of resellers partnering with Bytes has increased as well.

We're finding that our partners want to spend time with their customers enabling them to complete their digital transformation projects, and not on managing backend operations -things they're not getting paid for.

Of course, we offer our reseller partners all the plumbing and support as standard, but we go the extra mile with cloud management services and a whole range of key cloud vendors making waves in the market right now. It's really taking off!

Microsoft's partner conference is this week - can we expect any changes for partners?

We've heard there are some big changes to programmes and incentives for the year ahead and that's fine. A deep understanding of the options and access to the highest discount levels is a big part of what we offer to our partners. We advise on the right solutions and can fill services gaps where necessary.

That is why we invest so much time and resource into Microsoft and we believe our knowledge is second to none.

We're constantly looking to improve our service and, being the new kids on the block, we needed to offer something new. Having real-world customer experience has really made the difference, helping our partners increase their Microsoft business and profitability! 

Hear why Bluesource chose to partner with Bytes watch the video here.